Digital Marketing Associate

Building a Digital Market via Websites and Email

Building a Digital Market via Websites and Email

• Over 90% of business-to-business customers conduct online research before making a purchase.

• Essential for businesses to have an online presence to solve customer needs and problems.

• Course focuses on matching customer searches with the right online presence.

• Designing online presence to engage and connect with customers will build strong relationships.

• Optimize website content for searches to increase conversion.

• Examines email marketing for its high ROI, focusing on compelling email communications aligned with the customer's journey to achieve business objectives.

Online Search Behavior

• Consumers use Google to understand problems and find solutions, which also applies in the business world.

• Customers search to find a product or service that solves their problem.

• Understanding what and why people search helps in creating aligned website content.

• Search engines return results based on relevance, which is determined by keywords.

• Websites should contain relevant keywords and content to be the source of solutions.

• Online tools help identify common Google searches.

• Search engines value trustworthy resources; 93% of online experiences start with a search engine.

• Search engines validate websites to prevent user deception.

• Over 60% of searches occur on mobile devices, necessitating mobile optimization.

  • Mobile optimization is critical for easy navigation.

  • Failure to optimize leads to immediate site abandonment and affects return visits.

• Reasons for mobile device search dominance:

  • Consumers need on-the-go information and services.

  • Mobile searches are easier and more accessible.

  • Mobile is the primary search device for many.

• Mobile searchers often call directly from web search results or Google Maps listings.

• User actions vary across devices; complex actions are often performed on laptops or desktops.

Why Businesses Need a Website

• Websites should fulfill customer needs to rank high in search results.

• Common goals for a business website:

  • Generating leads for the business and sales team.

  • Driving eCommerce sales.

  • Creating awareness and educating consumers.

  • Improving customer satisfaction through online services.

• Websites save time and reduce costs by enabling online actions.

Advantages of Having a Website:

• Visibility: Increased customer referrals through website links and discoverability via web searches.

• Tracking: Provides a record of all site activity.

• Convenience: Easier for customers to visit online than in person, especially for remote customers.

• Cost-effective: Lower advertising costs compared to physical presence alone.

• Accessibility: Available 24/7.

• Credibility: Builds trust through varied content formats (text, images, videos, PDFs).

Common Website Features:

• Blogs, home, about, contact pages, videos, white papers, eBooks, and podcasts.

Types of Websites:

• Brochure Website: Provides information with limited interactivity; aims to encourage direct contact.

• E-commerce Website: Enables direct online purchases without assistance.

• Dynamic Website: Offers customer interaction and personalized experiences, such as scheduling services; requires a content management system.

• Web Application: Provides an end-to-end service, like online banking.

Important Pages on a Website

• Home Page: Captures attention and guides navigation.

  • Must act as a home base and provide easy navigation to key elements.

• About Page: Tells the business's story, values, and future plans.

• Contact Page: Provides multiple ways for customers to reach the business (email, social media, chat, phone, address).

• Blog: Communication channel for sharing thoughts and fostering a culture of inclusion.

  • Readers provide feedback.

• Landing Page: Designed for specific promotions, such as offering coupons.

Matching a Website to Customer Need

• Search engines act as question-and-answer tools; websites must provide the answers.

• Companies need to anticipate customer questions and align content accordingly.

• Website content and search terms must align with user keywords.

• Quality content engages users and improves search engine rank.

  • Search engine optimization (SEO) increases long-term website traffic.

  • Optimizing content and links makes the website more accessible via search engines.

  • Higher positioning in search engine result pages (SERPs) improves visibility.

• Search engines penalize deceptive websites.

• Backlinks from other websites indicate trust and improve ranking, as Google correlates quality links with value.

Design for User Experience

• User experience (UX) influences satisfaction and sales.

• UX includes ease of finding information, page load speed, and mobile display.

Best Practices for UX:

• Responsive Design: Web pages adapt to all devices.

• Easy Navigation: Prevents frustration and abandonment of the site.

Ways to Improve UX:

• Add customer reviews and trust badges to product pages.

• Include SSL certificates for secure data transmission.

  • SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) ensures secure information transfer.

• Use clear and easily findable calls-to-action.

  • Changes to call-to-action design can significantly increase conversions (example: RIPT Apparel).

• Leverage video marketing to provide more information for buying decisions.

  • Increases sales (example: Amazon, Zappos).

• Collect data (e.g., heatmaps) to analyze customer behavior in order to inform design.

• Use compelling, high-quality images with zoom and thumbnail features.

  • Improves the customer's understanding of product appearance.

• Ensure fast and reliable hosting to avoid slow loading times and poor mobile display.

  • Slow loading leads to high abandonment rates; over half of mobile users abandon sites taking more than three seconds to load.

• Reduce shopping cart abandonment by addressing concerns like trust badges and tedious experiences; over three-quarters of filled carts are abandoned prior to the customer paying.

Customer Journey and Conversions

• The online customer journey includes awareness, interest, consideration, conversion, and retention.

The Five Elements of an Effectively Designed Customer Journey:

• Awareness: Recognition of a need or problem; gathering general information using landing pages, blogs, and informational articles.

• Interest: Product pages and blog posts attract interest and move customers to consider options.

• Consideration: Calls to action and social media links encourage customers to find out more.

• Conversion: Opportunities throughout the site for consumers to complete purchases or other desired actions.

• Retention: Buttons, banners, and related content suggestions keep users engaged and encourage future visits.

• Navigation: The system of links allowing website visitors to move around the site; menu items or links within pages.

Examples:

• Netflix login screen is simple with clear call-to-action and a focus on a no-risk free trial.

• Netflix's plans page highlights the premium package employing strategic choice architecture.

• Netflix payment page reaffirms the no-risk nature of signup and clarifies the payment process.

• Landing Page: A page designed to promote a specific product, service, or sale with a specific call-to-action.

Call-to-Action (CTA):

• A prompt that instructs the user to perform some action (e.g., "Sign Up", "Buy Now").

• Placed on websites, in ebooks, in emails, or at the end of blog posts.

Conversions:

• Actions visitors complete, such as buying a product, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading content.

Types of Website Conversions:

• Macro Conversions: Final conversions that result in leads or realized sales.

• Micro Conversions: Actions taken before a macro conversion, such as watching videos, reading content, or adding items to a wishlist.

Bounce Rate:

• Measures the number of users who leave the website after visiting only one page.

• Important to provide content and timely messaging for each point in the customer's journey.

Key Concepts of Email Marketing

• Email marketing delivers advertisements, offers, education, and other marketing content directly to an interested user's inbox.

• It is important way to form strong relationships with customers to support sales and referrals.

Types of Emails:

• Newsletters: Share company updates, events, and content.

• Promotional Emails: Motivate customers toward conversion with discounts and promotions.

• Re-engagement Emails: Rebuild relationships with subscribers.

• Onboarding/Welcome Emails

• Order and Purchase Confirmation Emails

• Contact Submission Received Emails

Essential Elements:

• Obtaining Consent: Get permission before sending commercial emails. Provide a clear reason for subscribing to demonstrate value (e.g., newsletters, discounts). Follow up soon after subscription.

• Clear Purpose: Understand the email's objective to evaluate its effectiveness.

• Email Design: Includes the subject line, layout, and calls-to-action.

  • Avoid spam subject lines.

  • Use a simple layout with an optimal mix of copy and visuals.

• Timing and Frequency: Consider audience, content, and seasonal demand.

Providing Value Beyond Products and Services:

• Tips, advice, company values, new initiatives, community information.

Getting Noticed:

• Avoid being marked as spam by not sending too many emails, including an unsubscribe link, and providing a valid sender email address.

Advantages of Email Marketing

• High ROI among digital channels.

• Used across the business, from HR recruitment to product and operational updates to marketing and legal communications.

• Acts as a key element of an overall strategy to bring the audience back to your website.

  • Statistics show that 75% of companies agree that email offers good to excellent ROI. Also, 86% of customers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with monthly.

• Drives website traffic with reminders and discounts.

• Keeps brand alive with regular communication.

• Cheap and cost-effective for engaging existing customers.

• Is a great way to provide a taste of new content.

  • Email marketing is the greatest driver of customer retention for retail professionals.

• Can be completely automated.

  • Businesses can send messages at designated times when it's known that customers are more likely to take specific actions.

  • Saves time, reduces the sales cycle, and increases order value, conversions, & repeat purchasing.

Email Campaigns and the Customer Journey

• Email funnels are automated email marketing chains that guide customers toward a desired action.

Email Funnels Forms by Customer Types:

• New Customers: Focuses on awareness and interest with welcome, promotional, and abandoned cart emails.

• Existing Customers: Focuses on consideration and conversion with regular newsletters, event invitations, and holiday emails.

• Evangelist Customers: Focuses on retention with product/content updates and downloadable content.

Email Best Practices:

• Easy sign-up process.

• Regular monitoring of list growth and delivery rates.

• Content and messaging that is segmented.

Alignment of Email Campaigns with the Customer Journey offers these Benefits:

• Businesses grow sales/revenues faster.

• Consumers resolve needs more efficiently through better decision-making.

Measuring Email Marketing Campaign Success:

• Open Rate: Percentage of recipients who open the email.

• Click-Through Rate: Number of people who click on links in the email.

• Conversion Rate: Percentage of users who complete a goal (e.g., purchase).

• Unsubscribe Rate: Rate at which subscribers remove themselves from the mailing list.

The Four Ps: Essential Factors in Marketing

• Customer knowledge to design products, manage pricing strategies and distribution channels, and plan and execute promotional strategies.

Creating Marketable Product Offerings

• Marketing should be involved in product design, influencing quality, features, and packaging.

• The four tools a marketer uses to make customers choose their product are product offering, price, distribution, and promotion

• Includes physical products, price options, and services offered; marketer insights into motivations help with quality, features, packaging recommendations.

Factors Involved In Setting Price:

• Company goals, product life cycle, and costs of materials and production are key factors.

Managing Distribution Channels:

• Marketers prioritize the retailer and focus on getting offerings in front of as many people as possible.

Developing a Promotional Strategy:

• Communication used to persuade customers; builds brand image.

• Online marketing blends product offerings, pricing, distribution, and promotion. Print, digital, broadcast, and streaming options expand outreach.

Video: Pricing Strategies: The Marketer’s Approach

• Marketing inputs include customers' thinking, market conditions, and competition.

• Three main strategies: cost-plus pricing, penetration pricing, and value-based pricing.

Cost-Plus Pricing:

• Price = cost of production + distribution and selling + overhead + desired profit margin.

• Suits mature products in stable markets; less common for new offerings.

Penetration Pricing:

• Low price to establish/grow market presence, especially for online/retail consumer products.

• Sacrifices profit for market share.

• Example: Razors sold at low prices to drive blade sales.

Value-Based Pricing:

• Price reflects perceived value; maximizes profits and increases market share.

• Suits luxury/artisan products; branding and messaging are key.

• Can create new versions of current offerings like lower-cost or higher value versions.

• Online sales facilitate experimentation with price options and market research.

Distribution Channels: The Marketer’s Role

• Channels impact satisfaction; marketing manages them.

• Three main functions: transportation/storage, buying/selling, support services.

• Marketers need a distribution strategy around density, integration, and online options.

Distribution Density:

• Intensive: High density, many outlets (wide appeal products).

• Selective: Medium density, specialized outlets (expensive goods requiring expertise).

• Exclusive: Low density, limited outlets (luxury goods, enhances prestige).

Integration:

• Helps reduce costs, improve time to market, and connect with customers closer.

• Vertical: Cooperation between levels of the distribution system.

• Horizontal: Cooperation between partners at the same level.

• The example given was Disney acquired 21st Century Fox.

Internet:

• Online stores enable a customer base world wide to purchase a company's product.

• Lowers costs by reducing the number of channel partners.

• Captures customer data for selling additional offerings and improving existing products.

(5) Knowledge Check: Reviewing Your Product Marketing

Question 1

In offering a product or service to the market, what are the core responsibilities of the marketing team?

1. Assisting in managing distribution channels

2. Participating in decisions about setting prices

3. Developing strategies for product promotion

4. Designing products and services based on customer motivations

5. Securing final sales

6. Raising capital to fund product development

The Correct Answers are:

• Assisting in managing distribution channels

• Participating in decisions about setting prices

• Developing strategies for product promotion

• Designing products and services based on customer motivations

Question 2

A marketer selects a pricing strategy based on their organization's product offering goals. Match each goal to the pricing strategy it demonstrates. Pricing strategies may have more than one match.

A. The organization wants to establish itself in a new market by using low prices to attract customers
B. The organization would like to take advantage of customers’ perceptions that the brand is the highest value
C. The organization wants to achieve a 12% profit margin on sales of the product
D. The organization plans to add customers by offering a new version of a product with fewer features at a lower price
E. The organization’s goal is to expand to its low market presence

Targets:

1. Cost-plus pricing

2. Value-based pricing

3. Penetration pricing

Answer:

1. C

2. B, D

3. A, E

Question 3

Most products and services require marketers to develop a distribution strategy. What are the key elements of such a strategy?

1. Using exclusive distribution to reach as many outlets as possible

2. Using vertical or horizontal integration

3. Advertising online to increase brand awareness

4. Determining the density of distribution

5. Using online distribution to connect with customers directly

The Correct Answers are:

• Using vertical or horizontal integration

• Determining the density of distribution

• Using online distribution to connect with customers directly

Promotion: Using Marketing Communication Techniques

• Marketers require promotional techniques to communicate about products and customers to buy.

Promotional Techniques:

• Mass Advertising: Reaches large audiences for building recognition and positive feelings about a brand (e.g., TV, radio, magazines, billboards) and is used for national brands and products use by wide variety of audiences.

• Sales Promotions: Special events and short-term offers (e.g., rebates and coupons) used to get customers to buy now, buy more, or buy again; can be used effectively with direct marketing efforts.

• Direct Marketing: Targets well-defined market segments using direct mail, telemarketing, email, and social media to request more information or to sign up for a free trial.

• Professional Selling: Direct contact by salesperson that builds customer relationship for business-to-business sales or high-priced offerings.

• Public Relations (PR): Generates good messages in order to build goodwill and credibility with press releases, news conferences, and the "About Us" page.
  -Cultural or sporting events, naming rights to venues, and public support of charities are all avenues large corporations might pursue .

Promotion Plans:

• Above-the-Line: Uses mass media outlets to build product or brand awareness.

• Below-the-Line: Targets specific audiences through online offers or direct mail to solicit a purchase.

• Through-the-Line: Combines above-the-line and below-the-line approaches.

Promotion: Media and Messaging Strategies

• Digital customers see thousands of brand messages daily.

Interactions:

• Go beyond postings about new products and special offers, and share content, information, and ideas that will excite visitors.

• The example given was Microsoft tells stories

Other Key Points Provided:

• Frequent Updates.

• Immediate Response.

• Direct outreach through Email Marketing .

• Personalize advertising.

• Mobile Device Messaging.

• Traditional Advertising still is good at building brand awareness on a wide scale.

Knowledge Check: Assessing Your Marketing Promotion Skills

Question 1

Different promotional techniques have different uses. Match each use to the promotional technique best suited for it.

A. Targeting potential customers in a well-defined market segment through e-mail
B. Generating positive messages about an organization through the media
C. Having a short-term coupon offer in order to get customers to buy now
D. Contacting customers directly in order to close sales and build relationships
E. Reaching large audiences through TV commercials and Internet banner ads

Targets:

1. Public relations

2. Professional selling

3. Mass advertising

4. Direct marketing

5. Sales promotions
   Answer (Use/Target):
   A. Direct marketing
   B. Public Relations
   C. Sales Promotions
   D. Professional Selling
   E. Mass Advertising

Question 2

Match each situation encountered by a marketing manager to the media channel best suited to address the situation.

A. A major cleaning product company wants to get the word about its new "green" product line out to as many people as possible.
B. A music streaming service shares informational content to attract users' interest and make a stronger connection with them.
C. A gardening website uses a targeted campaign to bring in customers and build long-term relationships with them.
D. An appliance retailer uses precisely targeted information to tailor its advertisements to people who have searched online for information about appliances

Targets:

1. E-mail and messaging

2. Social media

3. Traditional print and broadcast

4. Digital advertising

Answer (Use/Target):
A. Traditional print and broadcast
B. Social media
C. E-mail and messaging
D. Digital Advertising

Review of Key Concepts Covered

-A marketing professional uses their understanding of target customers to help design a product offering, including its price and any associated services.
-The marketer's choice of pricing strategy depends upon the organization's goals for the offering. Cost-plus pricing delivers a reliable profit, penetration pricing builds market share, and value-based pricing is based on the perceived value of the offering.
-The marketer then uses the techniques for promotion to communicate about their brand or product. Whether mass advertising, direct marketing, sales promotions, professional sales, or a mix, the product and target audience must be taken into account to be successful.
-Vertical or horizontal integration and the use of online distribution.
Final, the media landscape offers marketers a variety of ways to get customers' attention, each with specific advantages for establishing a connection.

Definitions:

• Cost-plus pricing Basing the price of a product or service on the cost of producing, distributing, and selling it plus overhead expenses plus the desired profit.

• Density of distribution For a particular way of distributing a product, a measure of the number of places, or the number of ways, that the product is available for purchase.

• Exclusive distribution strategy A low-density distribution system that enhances the perceived value of a product or service through scarcity. See also intensive distribution strategy and selective distribution strategy.

• Horizontal integration Cooperation or shared ownership between partners at the same level of a distribution network. See also vertical integration.

• Intensive distribution strategy A high-density distribution system in which a product is available for sale in many places. See also exclusive distribution strategy and selective distribution strategy.

• Penetration pricing Setting a low price for a product or service in order to enter a new market or expand market share by attracting buyers. Especially useful when the value of competing products is perceived as similar.

• Selective distribution strategy A medium-density distribution system using specialized retailers that add value to the offering. See also exclusive distribution strategy and intensive distribution strategy.

• Value-based pricing Basing the price of a product or service on the marketer’s understanding of the value that customers assign to the offering.

• Vertical integration Cooperation or shared ownership between partners at different levels of a distribution network. See also horizontal integration.

You have estimated the number of clicks a paid search campaign will generate. What do you need to do to forecast the budget required for the campaign?

Key Concepts:

1. Paid Search Campaign: This is a type of digital advertising where you pay for your ad to appear in search engine results (like Google Ads).

2. Clicks: The number of times users are expected to click on your ad.

3. CPC (Cost Per Click): The amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

"Multiply Clicks by CPC"

This is correct and here's why:

Formula:

Budget=Number of Clicks×Cost Per Click (CPC)Budget=Number of Clicks×Cost Per Click (CPC)

Example:

If you estimate:

• 1,000 clicks

• CPC is $0.50

Then:

Budget=1,000×0.50=$500Budget=1,000×0.50=$500

So, you would need $500 to fund the campaign.

This calculation helps marketers plan their advertising spend effectively. If you know how many clicks you want and how much each click costs, you can easily forecast how much money you’ll need.

Formulas

CPM (Cost Per Mille)

• Definition: CPM stands for Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (mille = 1,000 in Latin).

• Use: It’s used when you're paying for ad views, not clicks.

• Formula:

  CPM=CostImpressions×1000CPM=ImpressionsCost​×1000

• Example: If you pay $5 for 1,000 impressions, your CPM is $5.

✅ Used in: Display ads, video ads, brand awareness campaigns.

Quality Score

• Definition: A score (usually from 1 to 10) that Google Ads assigns to your keywords based on:

  • Ad relevance

  • Expected CTR

  • Landing page experience

• Why it matters: A higher Quality Score can lower your CPC and improve your ad position.

✅ Think of it as a "credit score" for your ads—the better it is, the more efficient your campaign.

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

• Definition: The percentage of people who click on your ad after seeing it.

• Formula:

  CTR=(ClicksImpressions)×100CTR=(ImpressionsClicks​)×100

• Example: If your ad was shown 1,000 times and got 50 clicks:

  CTR=(501000)×100=5%CTR=(100050​)×100=5%

✅ High CTR usually means your ad is relevant and engaging.

What is Single Opt-In?

Single opt-in means that as soon as a user enters their email address into a form (like a newsletter signup), they are immediately added to your email list without needing to confirm their subscription.

Key Characteristics:

• No confirmation email is sent.

• The user is subscribed instantly.

• Easier and faster for users to join.

• Higher risk of fake or mistyped emails being added.

Single Opt-In

• What it is: A user enters their email and is immediately added to your email list.

• Pros: Fast and easy for users.

• Cons: Higher risk of fake or mistyped emails, spam complaints.

✅ Example: A user signs up for a newsletter and starts receiving emails right away.

Double Opt-In

• What it is: A user enters their email, then must confirm via a link in a follow-up email before being added to the list.

• Pros: Ensures valid, interested subscribers; reduces spam.

• Cons: Slightly more friction; some users may not complete the second step.

✅ Example: A user signs up, receives a confirmation email, and only after clicking the link are they subscribed.

Conditional Opt-In

• What it is: The user is added to the list only if certain conditions are met—like checking a box or agreeing to terms.

• Pros: Adds a layer of consent or qualification.

• Cons: May reduce sign-ups if conditions are too strict.

✅ Example: A user must check a box agreeing to receive promotional emails before submitting the form.

Express Opt-In

• What it is: The user explicitly agrees to receive emails, often by ticking a checkbox or selecting a preference.

• Pros: Clear, documented consent; good for compliance (e.g., GDPR).

• Cons: Requires clear communication and user action.

✅ Example: A form with a checkbox that says “Yes, I want to receive updates,” which the user must tick.

Ads Manager

• Purpose: Central hub for creating, managing, and analyzing Facebook ad campaigns.

• Insights Provided:

  • Campaign performance (clicks, impressions, conversions, etc.)

  • Budget and spend tracking

  • A/B testing results

  • Audience engagement metrics

✅ Best for: Real-time performance tracking and optimization.

Audience Insights

• Purpose: Helps you understand your audience better before or during a campaign.

• Insights Provided:

  • Demographics (age, gender, location)

  • Interests and behaviors

  • Page likes and activity levels

✅ Best for: Building and refining target audiences based on real data.

SERPs stands for Search Engine Result Pages. It's the page displayed by search engines in response to a query by a searcher.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) ensures secure information transfer. SSL certificates are included for secure data transmission on websites.

Collect data (e.g., heatmaps) to analyze customer behavior in order to inform design; It is a way to improve UX (User Experience). Heatmaps help website owners understand how users are interacting with their site so they can make informed design decisions that improve user experience and increase conversions. Heatmaps identify areas where users are clicking, scrolling, or spending the most time on a webpage. Thus, allowing you to optimize those areas for better engagement and conversion rates. Overall, heatmaps are a valuable tool for website optimization, providing actionable data to improve user experience and achieve business goals. Analyzing customer behavior with heatmaps can reveal patterns and insights that can lead to a more effective website design, which leads to better user experience and conversions. An example of this could be a business finds that many users are clicking on an image that isn’t a link. They can then turn that image into a clickable link to provide users with what they are looking for, improving their experience on the site and increasing the likelihood of conversion.s/retaining them as customers.)
It is also a visual representation of data where values are depicted by color. In the context of website analytics, heatmaps show user behavior on a webpage using color-coded data to indicate areas of high and low activity. Typically, warmer colors (like red and orange) indicate areas with more user engagement (e.g., clicks, hovers), while cooler colors (like blue and green) indicate less activity. There are different types of heatmaps, including click maps, scroll maps, and move maps, each providing unique insights into user behavior patterns. This kind of data is leveraged to optimize website design, content placement, and user experience, because it helps businesses understand how users are interacting with their site. By analyzing heatmaps, businesses can increase conversions and engagement which will lead to the retention of customers.. Heatmaps are used to collect data to analyze customer behavior therefore informing design. They are also a way to improve UX (User Experience). Heatmaps identifies areas where users' are clicking, scrolling, or spending the most time on a webpage, allowing you to optimize those areas for better engagement and conversion rates. Heatmaps are a visual representation of data where values are depicted by colors, where warmer colors (like red and orange) indicate areas with more user engagement (e.g., clicks, hovers), while cooler colors (like blue and green) indicate less activity. A business can then turn that image into a clickable link to provide users with what they are looking for, improving their experience and increasing the likelihood of conversion and/or retaining them as customers.
The most common types of heatmaps:

Click Maps: Display where users click on a page. Help

Bounce Rate measures the number of users who leave the website after visiting only one page. It is important to provide content and timely messaging for each point in the customer's journey.