KPIs and Tools for optimising mobile marketing results

As mobile marketers get to grips with planning activity and budgets for 2014, this post takes a look at using tracking and analytics tools to optimize your mobile investment and performance. Consumers expect and demand an exceptional user experience on their mobile and tablets, competition for their attention and loyalty intensifies, and your internal stakeholders will be looking to maximize their investment in mobile. A structured approach to tracking and analytics provides three core business benefits which will help justify your mobile investment. 1. Conversion Rate Optimisation Your #1 priority must be converting traffic to your mobile site or downloads of your app to delivering key goals -  such as generating leads, quotes, bookings or sales. 2. UX improvements Use customer journey tracking to identify the best / worst performing pages on our site or apps.  Focus on pages which experience high drop off (eg registration, check-out). 3. Better informed…

What and Why and When And How and Where and Who?

What and Why and When And How and Where and Who are words we use throughout the day, but not necessarily together! Combining them gives a simple check that you’re you're using the right approach for business planning. In this post, I’ll outline what to consider and link through to some posts giving more detail. I like to think of them in this order when relating to planning, although they don’t have the nice poetic rhyme which their original source has, as I explain at the end of the post.

WHY plan?

Start here, since the need to plan isn’t obvious, or at least making planning happen isn’t obvious according to our polling which shows that over half of businesses don’t have a digital marketing plan - here are 10 reasons why we think…

Are you looking in the right place for ideas generation?

We recently launched our Plan to Succeed campaign and as a part of our Slideshare deck we feature a whole bunch of ideas to help marketers improve their planning. One factor in effective marketing planning is building up strategic ideas around which you can build a plan - these are specifically customer problems to solve, or outcomes they are seeking. As the brand representatives, we all too often explore in the wrong areas to seek answers to those questions, or focus in on a single area. We created this simple graphic to help you find the sweet spot. We feel there are four dimensions that provide a starting point for strategic planning: Your brand: This is the where marketers are most likely to start, and unfortunately end, their thinking.…

Google to follow Facebook by adding more 'Social Proof" into its ads

Value/Importance: [rating=5] (For Marketer's investing in Google AdWords]

Recommended link:  Google's Shared Endorsements

You may have seen the new privacy agreement in Google recently?

It's the precursor of a big change to Google's Sponsored Ads, the intention is revealed in Google's Terms of Conditions for the ads above that state that

'We want to give you, and your friends and connections, the most useful information. Recommendations from people that you know can really help. So your friends, family and others may see your Profile name and photo, and content like the reviews that you share or the ads that you +1’d.

This only happens when you take an action (things like +1’ing, commenting or following) –…

Do you recognise these 5 Marketing Sins?

It’s that time of year again, and I’m not referring to some of us heading towards winter. We’re reviewing the results of this year's marketing efforts, rueing some decisions and celebrating others. We’re also looking to next year and asking “where do we go from here”? Dependent on this years results you're possibly busy justifying, arguing, rejoicing and, if you’re smart, we’re planning what’s next.

Are you about to screw it up?

The next three months is when, we’d suggest, you’re most likely to screw up next years marketing, and it'll be down to what you don't do. A marketing screw up will most likely be down to one or more of five dynamics - we call them The Sins. Unfortunately they tend to fall into each other and accelerate, like the proverbial plug-hole. The good news is that, it's all fixable with some…

New new customer acquisition reports give quicker, more useful reports

Value: [rating=4]

Recommended link: Google Analytics blog - Act, Empower, Access

It’s now over two years since Google last made a major update to its interface and report when it launched (version 5) in Beta as described in Dan Barker’s post. Since then, there have been regular updates and we have highlighted the most important in our Google Analytics updates channel. This new update is one of the more significant and useful - definitely worth an alert.

Google always has interesting announcements on major updates at its annual partners conference. This year, it’s focusing less on new technology as it did with last year’s announcements about Universal Analytics. Rather it’s tackling the “elephant in the room” for analytics which is the relative lack of use of analytics…

2 major changes within Google and Pinterest are the main platform developments

Each month we review the developments in digital marketing and share our alerts on what we see as the "must-know" developments across all the digital marketing platforms.

We also share some of our own advice for marketers. This month we start with two new free guides to help with marketing planning. Watch out for more advice on Planning and Strategy in the Autumn as we countdown to 2014 with our new #PlanToSucceed campaign.

Strategy and planning

2014 Digital Marketing Trends briefing. Each year, I look ahead to review the latest trends in Digital Marketing to help define digital technologies and marketing techniques which give options for companies to grow their businesses. This year, I have identified 22 Digital Marketing techniques that demand attention and you can listen / download a free briefing I have recorded.We hope this trends roundup…

6 illnesses B2B (and other marketers) may suffer from

No I don't mean "sick" in a "down-with-the-kids" way, just "ill". I like useful infographics, that's our bag, but really like this one since it's useful and funny - well to me anyway. These look like common ailments across sectors...

Kudos to g2m Solutions - I like the way they integrate it with a B2B Healthcheck CTA on their site, although not on the infographic. If you're looking for treatment, Rene Power also has his infographic showing 7 Steps to a Brilliant B2B Marketing Plan.

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Mastering 'actionable data' in your organisation

'Actionable Marketing Advice' is our 'mantra' at Smart Insights, since we are passionate about helping our colleagues to develop their businesses and personal skills, to get results from integrated digital marketing.

We believe that using insight from research, analytics and transactional systems can play a big part in improving results, if  the right Systems, Processes and People are in place to  source and integrate data, understand it and apply it effectively.

This Infographic from Monetate highlights 4 key points to 'mastering actionable data', along with highlighting the obstacles which may be familiar:

1. Compile all of your stats. Perhaps 'Stat's is the wrong word, as it should be 'Insight' as we are not producing Averages or Normal Deviation charts. As the Infographic points out its collecting data available within the company and more to create a 'portrait of your customers'.2. Appoint a Data…

Key ingredients of the modern marketer's portfolio

For many new graduates encountering the job market for the first time, they’re discovering a very harsh and competitive environment. In the UK, unemployment has been falling recently, but the number of long-term jobless has hit a 17-year high illustrating that competition for jobs has never be tougher for both young and experienced professionals.

However, with the explosion of social media and other digital communication channels, it’s sometimes difficult to understand why prospective employees still rely primarily on the trusty 2-page CV to promote themselves. Whilst still a very important tool, the CV often paints a very one-dimensional picture of one’s professional history, skills and achievements.

In contrast, digital channels such as websites, blogs, podcasts and social networks can be used to build up a much deeper, more fluid representation of one’s interests, passions and professional experience. When we look at what these channels…