1. A Practitioner's Guide to Digital
Marketing
BMC 319-001
Downtown Campus 906, 8th Ave SW, Calgary,
Room: 222
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2. Digital Marketing
2 Questions:
How do we frame our Plan?
How do execute on that Plan?
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3. Digital Marketing Models
This is what we use to execute the plan…
Based on industry best practices that ensure end-to-end project integrity. Its methodology is designed to
specifically accommodate the needs of digital marketing. Under normal circumstances, this process
allows ample room for the creative process to unfold while preserving the discipline of technology-based
project management.
Discovery: Opportunity, initiation, audits, primary
and secondary research and interviews, analysis and
strategy, personas, creative and technical briefing.
Definition: Concept and strategic development,
design concepts, wireframes, site maps, business
and functional requirements, solution architecture,
production plan.
Design: Experience validation, creative and
technical solutions, and functional prototyping.
Development: Creative and technical production,
documentation, backend support and integration,
quality assurance and testing.
Delivery: Launch, end-to-end system testing,
localization of languages, deployment, optimization
and maintenance.
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5. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be
able to:
• Apply Digital and Integrated marketing models as described
in this course
• Conduct a competitive audit of your Website using best-
practice tools
• Understand the fundamentals of target audience definition,
including user goals and persona creation
• Understand the importance of User Experience
Design and Website usability
• Understand the importance of Information Architecture
• Conduct a content audit and understand the basics of
copywriting for the Web
• Understand technology considerations that affect
the success of Digital marketing 5
6. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be
able to:
• Conduct business requirements gathering and analysis as an
input to a Request for Proposal
• Understand the Digital project management lifecycle
• Understand the importance of metrics, Key Performance
Indicators, reporting & analytics
• Understand the benefits and potential pitfalls of Content
Management Systems
• Understand how digital marketing efforts align with other
tactics, including traditional, SEO, paid search, mobile, social
and email marketing – integrated marketing
• Develop a Request for Proposal document to assist in the
evaluation and selection of Digital marketing and
development vendors
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8. Mobile Market
The mobile landscape is changing rapidly, particularly in Canada.
Blackberry continues its sharp decline while Android phones
continue to gain market share.
Canada U.S.
Source: StatCounter Global Stats. Q3/2011 – Q3/2012. http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-US-quarterly-201103-201203
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9. Defining Mobile Optimization
Not Functional on Functional / Mobile Optimized Mobile Specific or
Mobile Devices Viewable on Mobile App
Devices
Cannot view or interact with Site is visible and usable on Mobile-specific styling of Unique site experience and
site on mobile devices. “current” mobile devices (e.g. content and/or navigation. content for mobile devices or
Typically are flash with no iPhones, touchsceen Same content as full site. the development of a native
back-up graphics. Blackberry). Flash elements app specifically designed for
replaced with backup the device.
graphics.
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10. ‘Featured’ Mobile Content
Ideally, a website should be fully optimized for
mobile. The optimization and promotion of
‘featured’ mobile content should only be
considered if:
• The Target Audiences being considered warrants
specific and immediate attention –
• A review of Analytics supports the fact that these
audiences are accessing via mobile
• Due to the site’s size and complexity, a pilot or
phased approach is desired
• A more detailed content audit and site inventory is
necessary before optimizing the entire site
• The target audiences in question do not warrant the
development of a native mobile app (ROI)
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11. Progressive Enhancement
Progressive enhancement is the separation of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Which in turn, separates what the user can see in terms of their
mobile experience. In its essence, we let the ‘user device’ (browser)
‘decide’ what it is capable of handling .
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15. • Business Requirements
1 • As a user, I want to be able to…
• Functional Requirements
2 • The system should permit…
• Technical Requirements
• This will be accomplished using this
3 technology…
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18. What is Bad Design?
Tries to talk itself out of the problem…
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19. What is Bad Design?
WARNING…could cause seizures.
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20. What is Good Design?
…effectively anticipates and works with behaviours as they emerge and
evolve…
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21. What is Good Design?
…works with natural human cognition and anticipates actual human
scenarios and stories…
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22. What is Good Design?
…doesn’t overcomplicate things…
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23. What is Good Design?
“A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand pictures.”
Ben Shneiderman
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24. What is Good Design?
“Homepages are the most valuable real estate in the world…Complexity or confusion make
people go away”.
Jakob Neilsen (www.useit.com)
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25. “Usability:
denotes the ease with which
people can employ a particular
tool or other human-made object
in order to achieve a particular
goal.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability)
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26. What is User Experience?
It’s about how it makes you feel…
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27. What is User Experience?
Usability
Function-
Branding
ality
Content
is more than ‘ease of use’…
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28. 1. The User is ALWAYS right.
You are not the user and neither is your boss…
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32. 2. Understand the User.
28 years old, married, expecting her first child, First – Timer
Janice HR manager, Calgary, Alberta
CHU
My name is Janice Chu and my husband’s name is Tom. We both grew “I want to feel confident
up in Calgary and went to university here. We’ve been married for two
P
years. I’m an HR manager for an Oil & Gas company and Tom is a
pharmaceutical sales representative.
knowing that we’re making
the right decision”
We feel that Calgary is a great place to live and raise children, but we are Attributes:
O
having trouble finding a home in Calgary’s marketplace. Since we are
expecting our first child, we are now looking at the world through the eyes
of our children. This includes where and how we live.
– Currently living downtown in a rented condo
– Intermediate Internet user
– Interests: friends, travelling, yoga, cooking
S
After renting an apartment downtown, we are looking to buy our first
home. Since we are first – time buyers, we are a little nervous about
purchasing. We also don’t know a lot about maintaining a house, so we
are looking for something brand new with few hassles.
Goals:
– Starting a family
– Owning a home without a lot of hassles
– Get the best value for money
– Get recommendations from trusted sources
T
We began our search for a new home on the web, and we look for
trustworthy sources, such as www.mls.ca. We have been in touch with a
real estate agent who is a friend of Tom’s dad, but we are also doing our
own research. We find the whole process overwhelming, so we are
– Living in a safe and fun environment
Insights:
– Look for value in their purchase
looking for information that is easy to understand. – Joint decision – making process
– Need to know how their new home’s features will
We both grew up in the suburbs, so we are comfortable living outside the simplify and benefit their lives – location, safety,
city center. We’ve heard some good things about McKenzie Towne, so layout, household appointments, local amenities
we’re looking to buy there.
Other brands in Janice’s life: Everyday brands: ‘Aspirational’ brands:
Persona Creation
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40. 6. Form Follows Function.
“Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one,
joined in a spiritual union.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
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41. 6. Form Follows Function.
What is the best way for the user to interact?
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42. 7. Content is King.
95% of users don’t read 80% of your content
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43. 7. Content is King.
Content auditing and mapping
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53. The importance of Form Design.
Forms make or break the most crucial online interactions: checkout (commerce), registration
(community), data input (participation and sharing), and any task requiring information entry.
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54. Gradual Engagement.
Make the process transparent and not overwhelming…
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59. Who is the typical Project Manager?
Who are the people in your neighborhood?
Strategist Client
Quality Account
Assurance Manager
Info
Developer
Architect
Project
Manager
Creative
Tech Lead
Director
Copy Art
Writer Director
Prod
Designer
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60. Technical Building Blocks
This is how your website looks
and behaves.
This is how the data gets
presented (in real-time) to the
website layer.
This is where are all of the data
lives.
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61. Content Management Systems
You do need one…
• IF you’re going to be updating content and copy regularly
• IF you don’t want to have to pay someone to touch your site every time there is a
minor change
• IF you have staff that have an interest and aptitude for it.
• IF you require workflow processes before content is published
You don’t need one…
• IF your site is relatively static
• IF you have an in-house web developer
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62. There are a bunch
of different kinds
of CMS’:
Open Source:
• e.g. Drupal, WordPress
• ‘Free’; require some skill to set up and
run; are good for simple applications
Licensed:
• e.g. OpenText, Documentum,
SharePoint, Sitecore
• Expensive, require upfront
development; are good/required for
complex sites
‘Proprietary’:
• Developed by the company themselves
• RUN!!!!
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63. Back of the Napkin Costing…
• 31 Pages
• 4 Unique Templates
• Hardcoded
UT
UT UT
UT
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65. The RFP Process.
1.Determine Your Evaluation Criteria:
•To start the RFP process, determine what criteria you are going to use to evaluate the vendors'
proposals and establish the weight each criterion will hold in relation to the others. Common
criteria include experience, design ‘chops’, team strength, project understanding, differential
advantage and price.
2.Vendor Research:
•Next, select a series of possible vendors and form a list with their contact information. Try to
diversify your list in the areas of price, expertise and any other factors you feel are important.
3. Request for Information:
•The next step, which is commonly forgotten, is to submit a request for information (RFI). The
responses you receive will allow you to eliminate all obvious inferior vendors. Following this
simple step can save hours of evaluation time and help you to initially narrow your vendor search.
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66. The RFP Process.
4. Write the RFP and Send to Vendors:
• Once you have eliminated the inferior vendors, write an RFP and send it to those who remain
on your list. By following this step, you typically have eliminated 50% of the vendors from your
original list.
5. Review the Proposals:
• After receiving all the proposals, holistically evaluate each proposal based on your evaluation
criteria. Once your evaluations are complete, eliminate the bottom 25% from your vendor list.
6. Interview Vendors:
• The most important, albeit time-consuming, step in the RFP process is the interview. Once
you have narrowed the search, develop a standardized interview outline.
7. Select Your Vendor:
• If the RFP process went smoothly, the last step of selecting a vendor should be narrowed to
only a few lucky companies. If you remain undecided, it is not uncommon to request a final
interview, wherein another project stakeholder evaluates the vendors independently.
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68. Client-side
Project request prep
Before you talk to the agency:
• Know what you need to
achieve: outline objectives,
requirements and constraints
in advance
• Have a budget in mind & tell
the agency – budgeting in a
black hole is a waste of
everyone’s time
• Don’t ask for spec work
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69. Client-side
Selecting an agency
Pick a good vendor
• Go by reputation, not just price
• Tune your BS detector – just
saying what you want to hear?
• Review recent work
• Ask for references from past
clients
• Ensure cultures click
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70. Client-side
Time investment
Be ready for a lot of work
• Be available to put in the
background work
• Be ready to answer a lot of
questions
• Ask for a rough schedule of
reviews and deliverables for
your team
• The tighter the timeline, the
more demanding they’ll be on
your time
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71. Client-side
Be clear
Steady and stable
• Keep project objectives and
criteria constant – otherwise
project will be a dog’s
breakfast & will cost more
• Be clear on what you want,
and on what you don’t want
• Communicate why you don’t
like something
• Be flexible – know that some
deliverables may take a few
extra days
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72. Client-side
Let the pro’s do their job
Don’t sweat the small stuff:
• Keep focused on your goals –
don’t micromanage
• Lean on the project team to do
what they do best – empower
them but don’t get in their way
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73. Client-side
Information flow
Communicate
• Request regular status
meetings so you are informed
• Make it comfortable for the
project team to communicate
bad news to you – better that
you find out early
• Communicate UP to your
supervisors, project sponsors
and bosses – don’t let them be
surprised
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