Domain7

SEO, meet Content Marketing—your new boss.

Much has been said lately about the idea that SEO (search engine optimization) is no longer relevant. Some industry pundits have even gone so far as to succinctly state provocatively that ‘SEO is Dead’. The proponents of this school of thought will often point to comments like this one Matt Cutts, the Head of the anti-spam team at Google, recently made at SXSW:

“ All those people are doing (for lack of a better word) over-optimization, versus making great content and a great site. We are trying to make GoogleBot smarter, make our relevance better, and we are also looking for those who abuse it—like too many keywords on a page—or exchange way too many links, or go well beyond what you normally expect. “

In recent years, experts from the search engine world have strongly downplayed the traditional tactical mix we know collectively as “SEO”: link-building, keyword-stuffing, an unnatural fascination with PageRank, etc. All of this is now considered passé in 2012.

Today, we are to expect, you just need to make great content. Period.

So making great content trumps SEO… sort of. This is the understanding that drives the phenomenal growth of Content Marketing—the recognition that your content lives across many digital channels beyond your website, like email newsletters, whitepapers and podcasts, or shared in thriving social media spaces. But great content should also be found, or it’s like that proverbial tree falling in the empty forest.

Is SEO still relevant? Of course. But now it’s more about deconstructing what the “great” in great content actually means. Great content should be informed by research and a solid understanding of your target audience. For this, we can turn to (among many sources) keyword research tools (like Google’s own version). Keyword Research, which used to provide information for SEO, now helps us understand exactly what content we need to produce if we want to find our people where they are. If people are searching for this content, we need to take the steps to make sure our new content will be found by search engines, and the people using them.

We use keyword research to discover keyword phrases. We try to ensure they are relevant, understand their frequency (how often are they searched), and balance this with an understanding of the competitive landscape (or pressure). We write meaningful and relevant content which takes the form of copy in body sections and headings. We craft descriptive page titles and make sure our links and navigational structure support the content. This is all starting to sound an awful lot like SEO.

So is Content Marketing just the new name for SEO?

No. Content marketing is more than SEO because it is concerned with all of our digital channels. Content marketing is the bigger idea, if you will. It is about delivering content that makes your target audience smarter and builds up your credibility and brand.

SEO is not dead, it just found a new job … working for Content Marketing.

If you would like learn more here are some interesting links:

• Watch the webinar, SEO is Dead. Long Live Content on YouTube (courtesy of Compendium)
• Track Google’s Algorithm Changes (infographic)
• Read some easy and practical tips for creating great content (courtesy of SearchEngineWatch)

Super Bowl or #BrandBowl?

The National Football League may have its teams throughout the US, but football is popular on both sides of the border. The Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup is one of Canada’s most watched sporting events and the Super Bowl is a big deal here too.

Perhaps you were like me and went outside before the game to throw the pigskin around. Then, maybe you sat down in front of a huge television screen with some friends, pizza, chicken wings and malted-beverages. Also like me, you might have been keeping an eye on Twitter and Facebook and those ever-popular ads.

Yes, it was #BrandBowl Sunday and all eyes were on the big game: which would be the day’s best ad campaign?

Offline is online

The web, smartphones and social media have changed the advertising world. Brands need to bring more than celebrities and animated frogs doing something funny for 30 seconds to generate water-cooler chatter on Super Bowl Monday. Today it’s far more complicated.

Advertisers need to integrate traditional (TV, print and radio) advertising campaigns through social channels. They need to extend their reach across second (desktop and laptop), third (tablet) and fourth (smartphone) screens. An ad’s impact outlasts Super Bowl Monday with continued viewing on YouTube and sharing through social media outlets. Eli Manning will be back in training camp while people are still talking about Clint Eastwood’s emotive ‘Halftime In America’ ad.

Don’t believe me? This year, Super Bowl ads for Audi, Bridgestone, Hulu and General Electric all included Twitter hashtags while Budweiser drove traffic to Facebook pages. Coca Cola directed viewers to www.cokepolarbowl.com. With so many socially integrated ads, Twitter launched AdScrimmage—a dedicated site where fans can “Watch, vote and tweet your favorite Super Bowl® commercial”.

Brands can use celebrities and humour, but social and web integration is key to long-lasting and measurable campaigns—did someone say ROI?

A Canadian example

This year, Budweiser launched a Super Bowl ad campaign exclusive to the Canadian market. Budweiser’s film crew told two small town beer-league hockey teams they were making a documentary. While filming a game, 500 screaming ‘fans’ invaded the stadium, broadcasters announced the play-by-play, while mascots used t-shirt guns to shoot prizes into the crowd. The weekend-warrior players could hardly believe their eyes—it was a dream come true. The footage was turned into a Canada-only Super Bowl ad and drove fans to www.facebook.com/budweisercanada. Once there, fans could watch the ‘Flash Fans’ ad. Budweiser supported the campaign with Facebook ads, promoted Tweets and a #BudSuperBowlAd hashtag. The videos can also be viewed on the Budweiser website. Brilliant.

Offense, defense and special teams

Like New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and his offensive, defensive and special team game plans, marketers and agencies must ensure campaign elements are executed and integrated seamlessly––both offline and online.

Stories told through television, radio and print will direct users to spread the campaign on Twitter, engage extended versions on Facebook and YouTube, and interact with supporting content on landing pages and microsites.

Today’s sophisticated consumer and ‘webutante’ expects it ,and today’s marketer wouldn’t have it any other way. This degree of measurability and consumer interaction would have been unthinkable at the first Super Bowl in 1967.

Next year, millions will gather around televisions worldwide to watch the Super Bowl. It will probably draw a larger audience than this year’s record 111.3 million viewers (8.15 million Canadians tuned in). Again, fans will have their laptops, tablets and smartphones in-hand. We may also watch the game on a web and socially-integrated Smart TV. And again, fans will share highs and lows online. Who can blame us? It is the #BrandBowl after all.

Google+ Pages: a Plus or a Minus?

Quick survey:

1. Do you have a personal Google+ profile?
2. Did you create a Google+ Page for your company after the launch last week?

If your answer to either is “No,” then you must know something I don’t, or you have just stopped trying to keep up. Which, at this point, is totally understandable.

Social media channels are like planets—continually being discovered in a expanding universe. The questions remain the same each time a new planet or social media platform is found: can it support life? and will people go there some day?

Here’s the thing: people are already on Google+. It’s a planet that’s inhabited. Since its release this summer, over 40 million Google users have created personal profiles. Who are these people? They’re mostly designers, software engineers, developers, photographers, marketing strategists and other creative and tech-types. It was a good start.

Then, last week Google launched Pages for companies, and the brands came rushing in. Google+ Pages launched with Angry Birds, CNN, Fox News, the Muppets, the Dallas Cowboys, Pepsi, Toyota and more. Now, companies like Domain7 have a Google+ page.

The features (let’s call them pluses) of Google+ Pages include:

• Circles to segment your staff, customers and prospects for messaging
• Hangouts for video conferencing (which our staff use daily)
• Sharing posts, photos and videos
• Analytics for visitor demographics and engagement
• Direct Connect allowing users go directly to your Google+ Page when they enter ‘+[company name]’ in Google search
• Search for Google+ conversations (similar to Twitter hashtags)

Is it time for your company to take one giant leap onto Google+? Well, it depends. Are social media and search marketing part of your web strategy? Are your customers and advocates socially active? Or, more importantly: will they be? If the answer is yes, then go. Build your Google+ Page. Get started.

The problem (or minus, if you will) is having to update the same content to yet another social media channel. With Google+ Pages joining company pages for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you must customize and nuance the content for each audience. Further, the challenge for Google will be attracting more users to compete with Facebook’s 800 million—after all, people will draw the brands and advertising revenue for Google.

Eventually, a few of these social media players will MySpace (verb: to gradually fade from public consciousness) and customers and brands will know where to find each other. Until your customers settle in one place (and Google+ may just be it) you’re going to have to keep moving with them. So, build your Google+ Page for your company and add it to your social media mix. Why? Because it’s Planet Google.

Trust Over Signatures

Are you more human than your competition? part 5

Your online marketing is a significant investment, and building a website is a huge undertaking. It’s not a task to blindly assign to the first vendor who matches your budget. Frankly, without trust, web projects can go south in a flash.

Establishing trust with clients is, in my opinion, the most “human” element we bring can to our projects.

When engaging with a client/vendor, you can try to cover every legal aspect of a working relationship, defining every minute feature and nuance of a project. But what might feel like “covering your bases” can actually trigger mistrust. No one wants to feel like they are dealing with a lawyer when engaging an agency.

The fact is, even with the best documentation, communication and signatures, you can’t eliminate the need for a trustworthy relationship.

There are certainly ways to build trust early on, but it’s more often earned than given away freely.

When a potential client meets us for the first time, they are evaluating us as a company and as individuals to see if we are worthy of their trust, time and money. Before we ever get into project details, they ask about our company history, what industries we work with and if we have produced a similar solution in the past. These are good questions, but more importantly they lead to deeper answers the client is really searching for. They want to know we are financially stable; we have the technical skills to do the job; we have a team in place to handle their requests.

For us, it’s more essential to put in the time to answer those questions thoroughly than to dot every i and cross every t in a contract.

I’m not suggesting we eliminate contracts—at Domain7 we certainly value a clear list of requirements and expectations to avoid surprises. But for me, the key to trust is getting the right answers to real questions and concerns.

Here are some important questions you might want to ask us, if you’re thinking about working with Domain7:

• How does Domain7 define success on a project?
• How would Domain7 approach this opportunity?
• How does Domain7 deal with challenges in a project, or changes to scope or expectations?
• How will Domain7 communicate with me so I am up to date and know what’s required of me?

I’ve worked with Domain7 for many years—I’ve left and I’ve returned. Part of what I value in working where I do is I know we will treat our clients with respect and honesty throughout a project.

While we don’t promise there won’t ever be challenges, I’ve witnessed that when problems do arise, our team prioritizes transparency and makes every effort to resolve them to our clients’ satisfaction. At the end of the day, our success is measured by happy clients, and driving tangible results for your business.

And after all, that’s really what you’re looking for isn’t it?

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of the series, Are you more human than your competition?

7 Reasons to Build Your Brand with an E-Newsletter

[Editor’s note: Bart Byl is one of Domain7’s longest standing employees, who has added endless skill, wisdom and wry humour to our team. This is his last week at D7 (sniff!), as he and his family prepare to move to the east coast. Luckily, we managed to squeeze one last blog post out him before he goes. We’ll miss you Bart!]

Crafting an email newsletter is one of the easiest and most effective ways to connect with your clients and build your brand.

Not convinced? Here are seven reasons to invest a little time and money into building an e-newsletter.

1. Save Money. There are no costs for paper, ink and stamps like there are for your print newsletter. So, all you pay in an initial design and setup fee, and a nominal upkeep fee.

2. Waste no time. Within minutes of your email blast, it will be waiting in your client’s inbox. All they need to do is click a to go to your site and take further action.

3. Measure results. You can track exactly who opened your email, clicked on which links, or unsubscribed. Use your e-news for A-B testing, and sharpen your call to action.

4. The system does the work. Subscriptions and un-subscriptions are managed through a web interface, leaving you free to craft your content. All you need to do is copy-and-paste your text and photos into a predefined template.

5. Build client relationships. Sure, you have to wait for clients to come to your website, but you can keep your brand in their minds with a newsletter every month. And if that newsletter is packed with valuable content, they’ll be eager to see it in their inbox.

6. Generate revenue. Your clients may love your company yet not know the broad range of products and services your offer. Let them know what they’re missing out on and generate additional revenue.

7. Drive traffic to your site. Every email you send will include multiple teasers and links back to your website, keeping your customers engaged with your brand.

Making QR Codes Work

QR codes are everywhere. You know, those strange, square barcode-looking things? They’re on bulletins in coffee shops and the sides of buses, on business cards and newspaper ads, on transit station floors and t-shirts. They’ve become the subject of many articles and blog posts. Most are titled “What’s Wrong with QR Codes” or “What’s Right with QR Codes”.

The fact is, advocates often have a vested interest in seeing QR codes succeed, while detractors quickly point to statistics and declare them a failure. Here’s the thing, QR codes (and soon NFC technology) do answer a question that needs answering: how does a marketer link online and offline channels to truly integrate campaigns?

QR codes sit in the middle of these channels–like a bridge. A person can see a newspaper advertisement with a relevant message, pull out their smartphone, scan the ad’s QR code and be directed to a custom-made landing page with a clear call-to-action. Followed to its natural conclusion, this offline advertisement may lead directly to an online conversion. For a marketer, this represents a true, measurable success! So, what’s the problem?

The problem—as documented by many a naysayer—is that the QR code ecosystem is disorderly. Some QR codes are proprietary and will only work with corresponding apps. This limits reach. Others lead to a homepage that isn’t mobile friendly. This discourages the consumer. So, does this mean QR codes are doomed?

Maybe. As a marketer who has had success with QR codes, I still believe there is an opportunity here.

Here’s my challenge to my fellow marketers: ensure value and a tailored user-experience after the scan. Scans should direct the user to a mobile-optimized landing page with an easy conversion opportunity to enter a contest, ‘Like’ or Tweet something, check-in to an event, subscribe to communications, make a phone call or even make a purchase. If you want to bridge the gap between your offline and online marketing campaigns, don’t give up on QR codes just yet. Instead, make them worth scanning.

Google Gives Advice: Be Relevant

Every so often in the world of SEO, Google shuffles the deck a little and performs an algorithm update. The latest in the string of updates was (oddly enough) tagged the Panda Update and was rolled out in April of this year. For the ‘algorithm-chasers’ of SEO this kind of update always spurs a flurry of activity and rampant speculation from everyone. What is maybe a little different this time around is that Google is actually talking about it (without giving away the farm with too much detail of course).

Amit Singhal of Google mentions in his blog post at Google Webmaster Central Blog that “we incorporated new user feedback signals to help people find better results”.

In other words, how real users respond to your website content.

Towards that end Google offers some helpful advice as to what you need to know to make a ‘high-quality’ site. The long and short of it is that Content Marketing matters. Creating your place as a thought leader and industry expert is paramount. You want to stop selling your product and start delivering information to your potential customers that makes them more intelligent and better informed consumers and clients.

Talk to us at about assessing your organizational abilities and leveraging the tools to help you get there. Content Management Systems, eNewsletters and Blogs are just a few of the tactical components. We can help.

Measuring Success

Meet Gerry Wiebe. He’s a data junky.

As the VP of Marketing and Business Development at Eagle West Cranes, he came to Domain7 with a pretty simple goal: grow his business.

Like most of our customers, his primary concern is his bottom line. Gerry won’t do anything in his business that doesn’t have a proven ROI.

In fact, these are his exact words:

“If you can’t quantify what you spend on marketing, you need to get a new job. When managed correctly, marketing is always a profit centre, not a cost.” Smart guy!

So when he set out to develop a new website with Domain7, he wanted to make sure everything was in place to measure its success. Working in partnership with Eagle West, we engineered a digital marketing strategy that tracked the sales process from start to finish—automating it wherever possible.

In addition to designing and building the Eagle West site, we integrated a robust CRM tool along with the Core Motives software. Together they give Gerry all the data he craves.

When a lead comes in, his team knows exactly what steps were taken along the way: how a customer found the site, what page they landed on, where they left, and everything in between.

The CRM recognizes IP addresses, so when a potential customer returns to the site, it pulls up historical data and gives that customer a weighted value. When that customer finally emails, Gerry’s team know what equipment they are interested in and can choose the perfect expert to respond to the lead.

Gerry had hoped to double the number of web-sourced leads in a year, but after the year’s first quarter, he estimates he’ll surpass that by an extra 15%.

As for his bottom line, he cut his marketing budget in half because he’s not spending on paper or postage. Or as he likes to say, “I’m not killing any trees, and I have total accountability, and a proven ROI.”

And about that ROI:

Gerry’s hope was to pay off his web investment in two years. But instead, his data shows the Eagle West website paid for itself in less than four months. In fact, he is already seeing an ROI worth several times his initial investment. And he’s got the numbers to prove it.

Art & Copy: A Review

The film Art & Copy has been making its way around the design community for the past two years now. It debuted in 2009 and was featured at the Sundance Film Festival, Hot Docs in Toronto, and won Best Director for a Documentary at the Atlanta Film Festival.

I had the opportunity to watch it on a recent train trip to New York. The film aptly portrays how powerful and influential people in the advertising business can be, through hearing from some of the greatest creative minds of our time. It really hits home when watching the documentary. There are fantastic examples of past advertising campaigns that jump out at you right away. One that really struck me was “Where’s the beef?” I couldn’t help but laugh, remembering how funny that commercial was but also how effective.

As creatives we have a chance to really make a brand stand out from all the rest. This film really demonstrates that but takes it to the next level by analyzing the way we as designers think and achieve these results. Hal Riney, one of the people featured in the documentary explains it best: “The most difficult thing about being what someone calls a creative person, is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your thoughts come from, and especially that you don’t have any idea where they are going to come from tomorrow.” Yet some of the greatest ideas come from these thought processes.

Add this documentary to your must-see list. For me, it was the perfect film to watch right before rolling into its outcome, standing in the middle of Times Square.

Website Strategy: It’s the Process

If website design and technology are concerned with the ‘how’ or ‘what’ of your website presence then the strategy component is all about the ‘why?’

At Domain7 we believe all web activities should be strategic. They should align with your broader organizational goals and objectives and therefore naturally flow from business, marketing and strategic planning processes. So what does this all mean in practical terms?

We have to begin by really understanding the goals and objectives of your web-facing activities. Besides the clear and obvious definition of your product or service we attempt to understand your core competencies and competitive advantage. What are you really good at doing already? What is the competition doing online? What external factors are potentially impacting your industry? This is all part of an important discovery process that can take place in a phone call or over several meetings.

We know that websites (and the technologies that they employ) now extend well beyond the purview of marketing and communications – meaning they are no longer simply the ‘e-brochure’. Companies can achieve significant cost-savings and improve their operational effectiveness by better integrating elements of their value-chain online. Customers are increasingly demanding self-service environments and transparency from the organizations they do business with. Sales and marketing automation, intranets and e-business tools are all an increasingly important part of the mix and should be considered within the website project dimensions (now or future).

So systematically we can then examine what is available and start to determine priorities. This is where my colleague Doug van Spronsen’s post about ‘Opportunity Costing’ last week often comes into play. What is the most important to your organization - and what can you do first?

When we engage a client on a new website project we have to determine the broader set of objectives that define success for the client. From these web strategic objectives we should be able to define more tactical elements such as specific website features and functionality desired within the context of cost, scope, resources and even scheduling.

Then how do we measure success? We discuss and setup analytics tools and other metrics to help define key performance indicators. These KPI’s form the basis for ongoing evaluation of the success of your implementation and inform ongoing modifications or revisions to the strategic plan.

Simply stated, everything should be considered within the strategic lens.