7 To-Dos for Every Entrepreneur

1. DIY Digital
Marketing
7 To-Dos for
Every Entrepreneur
Tracy Bains
May 2, 2013

2. Agenda
Introduction
Know your customers
Engage your customers
Anticipate your customers
Q&A

3. Me.
• Digital Marketing
Manager @ ICBC
• @tbains
• Linkedin.com/in/tbains
• tracybains.ca
• me@tracybains.ca

4. My publications.
• Digital Media
• Social Media‘s Diversity Problem, Sparksheet
• Mobile Multicultural Marketing, Sparksheet
• Engaging Canada‘s Ethnic Communities Online, DX3
Digest
• Three Ways Target Canada Won on Oscar
Night, Techvibes
• Community Reporting
• Unlocking Canada‘s Secret History of Dealing with
―Undesirables,‖ Huffington Post Canada
• Empowering Minorities Through ―Me in Media‖
Event, Vancouver Observer,
• Fired Up? Start a Twitter Petition, Vancouver Observer

5. Digital
marketing
Online
Advertising
Email
Marketing
Content
Marketing
Social
Media
Marketing
Mobile
Marketing
SEO

6. 7 To-Dos for Every Entrepreneur
Know your
customers
1. ID your
top tasks
2. Track site
stats
3. Survey
your visitors
Engage your
customers
4. Be social
5. Build an
email list
6. Draft a
content
calendar
Anticipate
your
customers
7. Think
mobile

7. First, a question.
Is your website
up and running?

8. Only 46% of Canadian small
businesses have a dedicated
website.
46%
54%
Canadian Small Businesses
Dedicated website No website
Source: RBC Ipsos Reid
Small Business Survey
2012

9. Less than half of that
46% sell their
products and
services on their

10. But Canadians love the internet.
• In 2012, Canadians continued to lead the
world in Internet usage with an average
of 45 hours a month spent
online, according to comScore Inc.
• Last year, Statistics Canada says
Canadians spent $15.3 billion shopping
online; 83 per cent of those shoppers
placed orders with business located in
Canada.
• Rates of Internet access in 2010 were
highest in British Columbia (84 per
cent).
Sources: comScore.com; Harris-Decima
poll done for Canadian Press; Statistics
Canada; internetworldstats.com

11. So, launch your site—it’s home
base.
Your
website
Social
Media
Email
Newsletter
VideoMobile
Apps

12. Know your
customers
1. ID your
top tasks

13. Your visitors are on your site to
complete a task.
Buy a product
or service
Donate to your
social cause
Register for an
event or
webinar
Sign up for your
email newsletter
Contact you to
make a complaint
or request
assistance

14. Many web teams don‘t even know what
their customers‘ top tasks are. Even
when they do, these tasks are not at
optimal performance. That‘s because
many web teams have a ‗launch and
leave‘ culture, rather than one of
continuous improvement of top tasks.
- Gerry McGovern

15. Start with your “Contact Us”
form.
What tasks lead to the most
questions from customers?

16. Audit your social media
accounts.
If your customers are reaching out for help with
something on your site, then take notes.

17. Know your web data.
There are lots of numbers you can track—here, just focus
on your most viewed pages and the top keywords your
visitors use to get to your site.

18. Find your Top Pages.

19. Spot the Keywords.

20. Know your
customers
1. ID your
top tasks
2. Track
site stats

21. Avoid analysis paralysis.

22. Focus on metrics that matter.
The only metrics
that matter are
those that you will
act on.

23. My suggestions.
• Traffic sources
Search
Referral
Direct

24. My suggestions.
• Exit Rate
– Every page has an Exit Rate, which is the %
of people who left your site from that page.
Exits may have viewed more than one page in
a session.
• Bounce Rate
– Bounce rate is the percentage of people who
landed on a page and immediately left.
Bounces are always one-page sessions.

25. Knowing your Traffic Sources.

26. Find losing pages.
http://youtu.be/LCNoVZptCfs

27. Know your
customers
1. ID your
top tasks
2. Track site
stats
3. Survey
your visitors

28. Go direct to the source.
• Ask your customers
anything using online
survey software
• Branded forms
• Launch surveys or
polls on your site
• Freemium model
allows you to try for
free until you‘re ready
for a monthly
subscription

29. # of questions
• With
FluidSurveys, which
is a Canadian survey
tool, you can ask up
to 20 questions.

30. But you could start with just
three.
• What is the purpose of your visit to our
website today?
• Were you able to complete your task
today?
• If you were not able to complete your task
today, why not?
Sources: Avinash Kaushik

31. Engage your
customers
4. Be
social

32. Don’t do this.
DON’T
• DON‘T open an
account on every
network—think about
your customers and
resources.
• DON‘T leave social
media to an intern or
an agency.
• DON‘T talk only about
yourself.

33. Remember, it’s not all about
you.

34. What you should DO. Says me.
• DO share videos and photos.
• Videos are shared 12x more than links
and text posts combined; photos are
shared 2x more than text updates
Sources: Mbooth
infographic, http://t3n.de/news/social-
media-fotos-videos-410872/framed-
visualstorytelling/

35. What you should DO. Says me.
• DO use #hashtags.
• A hashtag is a word or expression
preceded by the ―pound sign‖. The symbol
makes the word or phrase searchable and
helps group content from many users
together—exposing you to more people.

36. 71% of social media
users employ
hashtags to explore
new content from
their mobile devicesSources:
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/27/
are-hashtags-geeky-71-of-social-
media-users-say-no/

37. #PopularHashtags
• #tellviceverything
– When Min. Vic Toews
tabled Bill C-30 and
Canadians worried
about their internet
privacy, they used this
tag to flood his
feed, ―confessing‖ in
protest.

38. #PopularHashtags
• #kdpocalypse
• In light of the end of days on Dec. 12
according to the Mayan Calendar, Kraft
Dinner asked Canadians to tweet their
final meal, using this hashtag.

39. #PopularHashtags
• #love is the most popular hashtag on
Instagram
• Many networks including Flickr and Facebook
have either added support for hashtags or are
about to roll-out this feature.

40. And the last thing you should
DO.
• DO test the right time to post.
• People check their profiles at lunch or after
dinner during the work week.
• And on weekends.
Sources:
http://www.connectsocialmedia.com.au/ti
ming-your-social-media-posts-for-
maximum-engagement/

41. Experiment.

42. Engage your
customers
4. Be
social
5. Build an
email list

43. 77% of us want to get
marketing messages
via email—and
there‘s no close
second place.Sources:
ExactTarget‘s 2012 Channel Preference Survey

44. Email itself is only
increasing in
popularity, especially as
more devices make it so
easy to check messages
anywhere and anytime.
Sources:
http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/2013/03/a-
look-into-email-marketing-trends-for-2013.html

45. 79% of people use their
smartphone for reading
email, a higher
percentage than those
who use it to actually
make phone calls.Sources:
Adobe –2013 Digital Publishing
Report: Retail Apps & Buying Habits

46. You NEED email subscribers.
• Ask permission. Email subscribers must
opt-in and give you permission to email
them.
• Treat their information with care and
respect. Remember Canadian Anti-Spam
Legislation will be in effect soon.
• Build your list online and offline.

47. Tomorrow, start building a list.
• Add a sign-up form on
your website—on the
homepage, footer, and
after blog posts.
• Put social sharing buttons
on your email template.
• At events, sign up fans of
your business.
• Create downloadable
white papers or e-books.
Customers will sign up for
more IF they find the
content valuable.

48. Engage your
customers
4. Be social
5. Build an
email list
6. Draft a
content
calendar

49. Plot what, when, where you
publish.

50. Start simple—open a
spreadsheet.
Plot out key dates for the next 12
months, namely:
– Seasonal dates/months where your product or
service is in highest demand.
– Events you‘ll be hosting or attending like
webinars or industry events.
– Holidays that may be relevant to your business.
– Critical dates in each quarter—if you‘re rolling out
new products/services, then you‘ll need new
content to promote awareness.

51. Then, start brainstorming ideas.

52. Determine where/when to
publish.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

53. Anticipate
your
customers
7. Think
mobile

54. Canadians are mobile.
In 2012, smartphone
penetration in the
Canadian
marketplace moved
up from 45% to
62%—an increase of
17 points.
Sources:
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations
_and_Whitepapers/2013/2013_Canada_Digital_
Future_in_Focus

55. And super-connected.
And 43% of smartphone owners own
a connected device like a tablet, iPad
or e-reader as compared to 28% of
Canadians who own feature phones.
Sources:
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations
_and_Whitepapers/2013/2013_Canada_Digital_
Future_in_Focus

56. We‘re also seeing a spike in Canadians with
smartphones watching videos/TV on their
mobile devices—jumping from 16% to 37%
over the course of 2012.

57. So get mobile.
• Create a mobile-friendly version of your site
or—better yet—use responsive design.
• Produce mobile-friendly emails. If your emails
don‘t display right on a mobile device, then
nearly 70% of consumers will delete it
immediately.
• Optimize your social networking accounts to
perform well on mobile devices because 56%
more smartphone users are accessing these
networks or blogs on their devices now than
a year ago.
Sources:
BlueHornet study

58. 7 To-Dos for Every Entrepreneur
Know your
customers
1. ID your
top tasks
2. Track site
stats
3. Survey
your visitors
Engage your
customers
4. Be social
5. Build an
email list
6. Draft a
content
calendar
Anticipate
your
customers
7. Think
mobile

59. Q&A