In the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), staying ahead of the curve is crucial for businesses looking to maximize their online visibility. One of the most powerful tools in an SEO professional's arsenal is structured data, implemented through schema markup. This article will delve into what structured data is, its history, and how it can be leveraged to influence how Google displays your website listings in search results.
Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying its content. It's a way of organizing and labeling content on websites so that search engines can better understand and interpret the information. By implementing structured data, you're essentially speaking the language of search engines, helping them to comprehend the context and meaning behind your web pages.
Schema markup is the code used to implement structured data. It's a collaborative effort between major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex to create a common vocabulary for structured data. This vocabulary, known as Schema.org, defines a set of standardized types and properties for describing various entities, actions, and relationships on the web.
The concept of structured data for the web isn't new, but its widespread adoption and importance in SEO have grown significantly over the past decade.
In the early 2000s, microformats emerged as one of the first attempts to add semantic markup to HTML. These were followed by RDFa (Resource Description Framework in Attributes), which provided a more flexible way to embed metadata in web documents.
In 2011, Google, Bing, and Yahoo! jointly announced Schema.org, a collaborative project to create a common vocabulary for structured data markup. This marked a significant milestone in the evolution of structured data, as it provided a unified approach that was supported by major search engines.
While microdata and RDFa are still supported, JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) has become the preferred format for implementing schema markup. Introduced in 2014, JSON-LD offers a more flexible and less intrusive way to add structured data to web pages.
Implementing structured data through schema markup offers several benefits for your SEO strategy:
Schema.org provides a wide variety of schema types for different content. Some of the most commonly used types include:
While there are various ways to implement schema markup, JSON-LD has become the preferred method due to its simplicity and flexibility. Here's a basic example of JSON-LD markup for a local business:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "LocalBusiness",
"name": "OCG Creative",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "6100 Plumas St., Suite 100",
"addressLocality": "Reno",
"addressRegion": “NV",
"postalCode": "89519",
"addressCountry": "US"
},
"telephone": "(775) 324-1644",
"url": "https://ocgcreative.com"
}
</script>
This code would typically be placed in the <head> section of your HTML document.
To maximize the benefits of structured data, follow these best practices:
While basic schema markup can significantly improve your search listings, there are advanced techniques that can further enhance how Google displays your content:
1. Nested Schemas
Nested schemas allow you to provide more detailed and interconnected information. For example, you could nest a Product schema within an Offer schema to provide comprehensive details about a product and its availability.
2. Aggregate Ratings
For businesses with multiple reviews, using the AggregateRating schema can display an overall rating in search results, potentially increasing click-through rates.
3. Breadcrumb Markup
Implementing breadcrumb markup can help Google understand your site structure and may display the breadcrumb path in search results, improving navigation for users.
4. Sitelinks Searchbox
For larger sites, implementing the Sitelinks Searchbox schema can enable a search box directly in your Google search listing, allowing users to search your site without visiting it first.
5. Speakable Schema
As voice search continues to grow, implementing Speakable schema can help identify sections of your content that are particularly suitable for text-to-speech applications.
As search engines continue to evolve, the importance of structured data in SEO is likely to grow. Here are some trends to watch:
Structured data and schema markup are powerful tools in the modern SEO toolkit. By providing explicit, machine-readable information about your website's content, you can significantly influence how Google and other search engines understand and display your listings. While implementing structured data requires some technical knowledge, the potential benefits in terms of improved visibility, click-through rates, and overall search performance make it a worthwhile investment for any business serious about its online presence.
At OCG Creative, we understand the nuances of structured data implementation and its impact on SEO. We don't just generate and paste code; we strategically implement structured data to maximize its benefits for your specific business needs. By staying ahead of the curve with advanced techniques and best practices, we ensure that your website takes full advantage of every opportunity to stand out in search results.
Remember, in the ever-changing landscape of SEO, structured data is not just a nice-to-have feature – it's becoming an essential element of a comprehensive and effective search engine optimization strategy. By embracing structured data and schema markup, you're not just optimizing for today's search engines, but also positioning your website for success in the evolving digital landscape of tomorrow.
Not too long ago, the internet was uncharted territory. Put your website out there, and people would stumble upon it. It felt like a great equalizer, and search engines seemed fair. Fast forward to the present, and digital marketing has evolved beyond recognition. But how does this affect your small business? Let's find out.
Today, more than half of website traffic springs from organic search, leading to a whopping 40% of online revenue. Amid shrinking mobile search results, even desktop displays less than ten results on average. In this era of rapidly changing digital dynamics, an expert guide like OCG Creative, a Reno-based digital marketing agency, could be the compass your business needs.
Did you know, for instance, that most businesses spend over $5,000 on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) alone? And that's just the tip of the digital iceberg. Your online presence includes social media, review websites, online videos, and more, all of which have transformed the digital marketing landscape into an opportunity-rich, yet challenging, field.
Given the pervasive and powerful impact of the internet, establishing a strong online presence is a prerequisite for competitive success. It's worth noting that more than 90% of your in-store customers would have researched your website—and likely your competitors'—prior to their visit. If a business lacks a website, or if the website doesn't support its growth goals, it's not merely sidelined—it's essentially unseen.
That's where OCG Creative steps in. Our digital marketing Reno agency helps businesses build websites that aren't just aesthetically pleasing but also contribute to bottom-line growth. With 51% of website traffic coming from online search and only 10% from paid search, your business needs to be everywhere. As your dedicated digital marketing partner, OCG Creative ensures you're not only present but also visible.
Did you know the average content length of a Google first page result is nearly 2,000 words? Given that 'page one' generates 91.5% of all organic website traffic, at minimum you'll be writing that many words for every search phrase you're competing for. Plus, let's not forget social media. You need to be at least as visible as your top competitors. Depending on your market, that might require multiple posts per day across several channels. Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? That's where we come in. We'll do the heavy lifting so that you can focus on your core business.
In the digital era, your competition isn't confined to 'normal business hours.' You're competing around the clock, across time zones. You may not get to choose how you compete, but you can choose who helps you compete. The OCG Creative team is your team. We're more effective than any freelance marketer and most company’s in-house teams.
Effective SEO isn't just about keyword stuffing. It's about relevance. Search engines, especially sophisticated ones like Google, analyze hundreds of signals related to your website to determine its relevance. It's not just about having the most relevant website or page for the keyword—it's about being the most relevant and interesting.
Web design and internet marketing are complex, multifaceted activities. Consider the digital marketing landscape as an ecosystem comprising your website, key social media channels, email marketing, CRM, marketing automation, online and traditional advertising, direct response marketing, event marketing, and more.
The good news is, you don't have to navigate this landscape alone. We employ expert internet marketers in all areas of marketing, especially digital and data-driven platforms. We're also home to top web designers and strategic engineers.
Digital marketing is no longer an option—it's a necessity. Whether you're new to digital marketing or looking to optimize your current efforts, our team is here to help you navigate this new frontier.
Ready to begin your journey into the wild world of digital marketing? Contact OCG Creative today. We'll be your expert guide on the road to online success. Together, let's conquer the digital landscape.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has emerged as a critical element in the digital marketing landscape. With an ever-increasing number of websites competing for the attention of users, businesses are investing heavily in SEO to improve their visibility and drive organic traffic. However, achieving success in SEO is not an overnight process, and it can often be a long and challenging journey. This article delves into the various factors that make SEO challenging and explains why it requires time, patience, and consistent effort.
The algorithms that govern search engine rankings are constantly evolving. Search engines like Google continuously update their algorithms to provide the most relevant and high-quality search results to their users. These updates can have a significant impact on the SEO strategies that businesses employ. To stay on top of these changes, marketers need to monitor search engine announcements, industry trends, and best practices, and adapt their strategies accordingly. This requires a considerable investment of time and resources.
SEO is no longer solely about optimizing your website with the right keywords. Over the years, the number of ranking factors has grown substantially, making the task of SEO more complex. Some critical factors that impact search engine rankings include site speed, mobile-friendliness, content quality, user experience, and backlinks. To be successful in SEO, businesses need to optimize their websites holistically, addressing all these aspects. This multi-faceted approach demands time, expertise, and consistent effort.
Creating high-quality, relevant, and engaging content is one of the most crucial aspects of SEO. However, content creation can be time-consuming and requires ongoing effort. Moreover, the content must be optimized for search engines, incorporating relevant keywords and ensuring it is easily accessible to search engine crawlers. Additionally, with the growing importance of voice search and natural language processing, optimizing content for conversational queries is becoming increasingly important.
Backlinks, or links from other websites pointing to your site, are a key factor in determining search engine rankings. They signal trust and authority to search engines, which in turn improves your website's visibility. Acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks is a challenging and lengthy process. It involves outreach, relationship building, and crafting valuable content that other sites would want to link to, which can take months or even years to achieve.
As more and more businesses recognize the importance of SEO, the competition for the top search engine rankings intensifies. Depending on your industry, you may be competing against established websites with strong domain authority, making it harder to outrank them. Analyzing your competition, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, and developing a tailored SEO strategy to outperform them requires time, expertise, and persistence.
For sure, SEO plays a pivotal role in the realm of digital marketing. However, it is crucial to recognize that attaining success in SEO is a long-term endeavor rather than a quick win. The constant evolution of search algorithms, the increasing intricacy of SEO factors, the ongoing necessity for content creation and optimization, the significance of backlinks, and the highly competitive landscape all contribute to the challenges and time-consuming nature of SEO. By exercising patience, adopting a strategic approach, and maintaining consistent efforts, businesses can progressively enhance their search engine rankings and ultimately benefit from increased organic traffic and visibility.
The rise of social media was a "game changer" says top marketing influencer, Jeff Bullas. The introduction of social networks did much more than make it easier for people to connect, it skyrocketed online marketing. Bullas saw the potential for social media marketing back in 2008, ancient times in terms of Twitter, Facebook, and platforms alike. It came to him after he had noticed the opportunities the platforms had given him in his personal life. Bullas began his own website, JeffBullas.com, where he wrote content about social media and its hidden features and potential. These conversations revolved around social media growth and impact which quickly became relevant to all companies.
As social media grows, so does our knowledge of what trends will take off. I don't mean what clothes will be in style or what meme will cause global laughter, I'm talking about social media marketing trends. What people react to, respond to, and engage with is more of what we're interested in. That being said, Jeff Bullas believes influencer marketing will be significant to social growth and brand exposure for companies in 2019. However, not in the same way as 2018. Data will be the new factor in choosing influencers and measuring their success. Not intuition.
Jeff Bullas has experience working with a ton of different influencer marketing softwares over the recent year and he recommends GroupHigh over them all. GroupHigh helps companies find the best social media influencers. The software filters out fake influencer accounts and leaves you with real data of the top profiles or sites that have engaged and loyal audiences. GroupHigh offers the ability to find influencers in some of the most niche markets also. Bullas has also noted that this marketing tool is more affordable than most softwares similar to GroupHigh. Social media marketing will continue to become more and more integrated into strategies for brand awareness and brand exposure. Check out the Jeff Bullas website to read more about Jeff Bullas or trending marketing ideas. You can also read about our previous internet marketer of the week, Ian Cleary, and the idea of the importance of utilizing technology to achieve optimal inbound and outbound marketing results.
These days, a marketing strategy without technology is virtually nonexistent. Luckily, internet marketing experts like Ian Cleary teach us how to utilize technology so we are seeing real results from our marketing efforts. Our internet marketer of the week is the founder of RazorSocial, a company that helps businesses drive traffic and sales through inbound and outbound marketing. Ian is also passionate about speaking to audiences and passing on his knowledge of internet marketing. Although acquired in October 2018, Ian helped launched a software product called OutreachPlus. The software helps speed up the process of sending personalized emails in order to generate more leads and increase traffic.
As we've learned from many marketing experts in the past, engaging content is the key to getting more eyes on your material. In order to develop content that targets a very specific audience, Ian explains that we need to figure out the personas of who we're targeting. Once you have a clear understanding of who your audience is, the rest falls into place organically.
Once we get qualified eyes on our content, Ian sees that this can help build up an email subscriber list. As we collect individuals who are genuinely interested in the product or service, you can start to target them in a much more personalized way. We, here at OCG Creative, can certainly attest to Ian's theory. The more personalized an email, the higher the open rates and the response rates. Keeping your audience constantly engaged with your material is the best way to keep them coming back for more. Leave something in their inbox that dazzles them and makes it easy for them to access, but difficult for them to refuse.
In today's age, internet marketing is changing constantly. In order to keep up, Ian spends four or five hours a week not producing, but learning. Ian is always reading and testing out new things to see what works and what doesn't. In the internet marketing world, there is no one "panacea" or "miracle drug." Internet marketing is all about trial and error, and putting in the time and effort to develop material that is truly engaging for your audience. And, of course, staying up to date with the latest trends. According to Ian, the best way to do this is to follow influencers and to listen to what others are discovering on a daily basis. In order to learn more about Ian and what he's creating, visit RazorSocial and follow him on social media.
A tequila collector, proud alumni from The University of Arizona, and an internet marketing genius scratches the surface of who Jay Baer is. Though we're all probably curious what types of delicious tequila Jay has stored away, there is much more to be interested in rather than his stash of booze and Wildcats foam finger. Jay Baer is the current owner of his fifth multi-million dollar company, Convince and Convert, which builds some of the best digital marketing strategies. He has also written multiple books including Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype which landed #3 on the New York Times business best seller list and was placed as a #1 Amazon bestseller. To top this all off, Baer is a member of the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame due to his inspiration and expertise in marketing, word of mouth, and customer service.
Jay Baer has an innovative take on how to strategize digital marketing plans. His two-step process is used by his colleagues at Convince and Convert to double the performance of a company's marketing within a year. Sounds pretty enticing if you ask me. Here's the process:
Analyze the entire business. They review social media, content, word of mouth, website, reviews, and more since they are all tied to one another in the eyes of the consumer. After this, they interview members of the company, the stakeholders, and the customers to find where gaps are in perceptions and actualities. They'll even interview your competitors. At the end of this phase, they give the client an overview of what they found with the research conducted and information gathered. The overview is always tailored with spirit for the process moving forward.
This area is designed to finish with a full digital marketing operating plan to leave your company with. All the way from what you need to do, when you need to do it, and how to measure it. Also in the plan is complete guidance on how to staff and the technology you'll need to fulfill the plan's destiny. Jay Baer continues to find innovative ways to market online. Like Convince and Convert, our team at OCG Creative aims to develop modernized ways to effectively meet our clients' goals. For more information on Jay Baer, check out his personal website or his company website.
Every once in a while, a company launches a marketing campaign so amazing and effective, I'm jealous I hadn't come up with it myself. It doesn't happen often, but this year, my nominee for the "Most Amazing Marketing Campaign in 2018" goes to chewy.com. Before I get into it, I'd like to speak directly to the thousands of pet boutiques around the country. It is understandably frustrating when a big, national (global?) dot-com takes market share away from your local economy, let alone your own pocket. Believe me, I get it. Unfortunately, no one in business has the luxury of choosing the competitive landscape. Your competitors choose that for you. Big or small, you have no choice but to stay ahead using whatever resources you have. I work with all sizes of companies every day. I've been a part of so many small business "Cinderella Stories," I refuse to accept the "we're too small" excuse for rolling over and waiting for the phone to ring. What I am about to describe is a really great relationship-builder for Chewy. As you read about it, think of what you can do better. Tell me about it and I'll feature your story too.
About a week ago, my wife asked me to check the mail. All we got that evening was a shiny blue, padded envelope. My wife assumed it was medication for our almost 15 year-old yellow lab, Murphy. It was obviously "holiday" packaging, but nothing aside from that was remarkable. In fact, we let it sit for a couple hours before opening it.
When I got around to it, the package contained a card and a tissue wrapped square "object." The card was addressed to my wife, who had taken an interest by now, since this obviously wasn't medication for an aging lab.
I can only imagine how many of these envelopes the folks at Chewy hand-addressed, but it felt to my wife like hers was the only one. By now, we're both gripped with curiosity. We hadn't yet grasped the significance of the illustration on the card. We just opened it. Inside, there was a note--also handwritten. What's more, it was written using four different pens, each with its own ink color. It was the kind of note loved ones send during the holidays. It took thoughtfulness and creativity, and four pens. We both could paint (see what I did there?) a mental picture of someone we imagined to be a young female crafting a note to someone she knows and cares about.
In marketing, this kind of connection is exceedingly rare. Even the happiest and most loyal customers know they are customers. So, even a personal message like this one will often be met with some degree of skepticism. Even so, who does this? The closest I've seen is holiday cards that are signed by everyone in the office, or a department. Those are nice, but passing a card around the office to be signed just isn't the same.
It just gets better. I was personally transfixed by the different-colored ink and didn't notice the printed message right away. "Surprise! We've commissioned a work of art to celebrate your one-of-a-kind pet!" It didn't register what that could've meant. We just dig deeper into the envelope to discover what the item was in the tissue paper. Everything about the presentation made the contents feel like a gift. More than a gift, this had all the elements. The blue foil packaging... and, we could imagine the giver skillfully writing the message on the card. There was the heart drawn next to my wife's first name. And, what about this "work of art?"
Think about what it's like to receive a gift. If you're like me, you start out delighted that someone cares. First, you'll read the card. There's anticipation mixed with curiosity and excitement. I always pause a moment before charging in to tear off the wrapping. It's a great feeling and I was captivated. This wasn't even my gift, but my wife let me open it anyway. I was also mesmerized by the absolute genius of this experience as a marketing campaign. I pride myself on some pretty imaginative ways of building relationships in business, but what Chewy did was so much more than marketing. And, we still didn't know what the gift was...
When we finally did tear into the paper, what we found was a hand-painted portrait of Murphy. I suppose it is possible our Murphy portrait was pulled from a stack of "yellow lab" portraits, but neither of us believes that to be the case. Our painting of Murphy looks exactly like the photograph of Murphy that we uploaded when my wife created her Chewy customer profile. So, here we are looking at our Murphy immortalized in canvas just before what might be his last Christmas. At that point it's no longer marketing. I know all about the tools--CRM, consumer segments, purchase history, printing... My wife and I stood in our kitchen holding a canvas portrait of a beloved family member we know may not be with us the same time next year.
We, as business owners, are always looking for an edge. We need to. It's a dog-eat-dog (Ha!) world out there, and standing out is hard. But, in finding that competitive advantage, there is a tendency to focus on ourselves. You see it in marketing messages all the time. "We're the number one this" or the "largest that." "We've been in business for X years." "We make the best..." We think this way because these are the things that make us great at what we do. But, that's not what or why people buy. People prefer to do business with people. More than that, they choose businesses with people they know care about them. Your customers feel special when you know their name. They feel even more special when you or someone on your staff goes the extra mile to make them feel important is individuals. It's not the gift. It's the context and the experience that matter most. Chewy won me, along with probably thousands of other pet owners like me. Chewy proved that being big and on the Internet doesn't have to be impersonal. Chewy gave my family a thoughtful gift at the perfect time. That's hard to do when you live with the person. It's incredible for a company that sells dog food over the Internet.
As a high school student, Neil Patel was interested in making money…lots of money. Instead of looking for a job on Monster Jobs, Neil decided to start his own job board called Advice Monkey. He spent $5,000 building the job board, he launched it, and then he realized he would need to market it. He hired three marketing firms back to back, and then ended up firing each of them for providing little to no results. Neil then chose to learn how to do internet marketing on his own…and was pretty good at it. Even though Advice Monkey ultimately never succeeded, it was Neil’s pathway into the world of internet marketing.
During Neil’s first college class, he gave a speech on how search engines work and was able to score a consulting gig with Elpac Electronics. He realized there was a lot of money to be made doing internet marketing for companies, so he and his sitter’s boyfriend started up an internet marketing company together. Over the years, Neil has invested in several companies, some successful, others not so much. Ultimately, what Neil does, is help companies grow their revenue.
Neil Patel is very simply an internet marketing genius. He recognized that the ultimate goal is for more people to see or listen to your content, and to turn those people into customers. And, we agree with Neil, that you need an SEO plan in order to get these kinds of results. Neil's plan consists of three steps that can be done in three months.
The first month of the SEO plan consists of extensive research. In order to turn visitors to your site into customers, you have to make sure you are targeting the right keywords so that your leads are actually converting. Really the best and only way to do keyword research is to use a keyword research tool. Here at OCG Creative, we use SEM Rush to help us understand which words we should be focusing on so that we are bringing traffic to our clients’ sites.
The second month of Neil’s SEO plan is to optimize your on-page code and to build content. At OCG, we’ve taken this recommendation to heart. Because all of our sites are WordPress websites, we use a variety of tools and plugins to make sure they are readable to both Google and users. Also, building up your site's content is crucial, so we make sure to post frequent blogs and continuously update content.
Month 3 of the SEO plan is where the real work begins. Building your domain authority through backlinks is hugely important to Google. Also, doing as much as you can to get eyes on your content is key. That’s why we help clients with developing and implementing a social media strategy.
As one of the top online marketers in the world, Neil is passionate about continuing to help companies grow their revenue. Both the United Nations and President Obama have recognized him as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the ages of 30 and 35. Neil continues to live up to this title and continues to inspire internet marketers like us. Visit neilpatel.com for tips on how to grow your business.
If you have been in business for a while, you’ve likely made discoveries about your industry, customers, and market. Hopefully, you’ve uncovered new opportunities and have a strong understanding of how to prosper and grow. Naturally, marketing plays a role in any growth plan. What follows are tools, especially market segmentation, you can begin using right away to make the most of your promotional efforts. A fundamental technique expert marketers use is to segment your market into groups based on interests and shared motivators. Broad segments like industry, income, and location are obvious. You can imagine how the messaging would be different for each of these, however, depending on the goal, these are too broad. The key is to address motivators of individuals that comprise each segment. The more specific the better. Before getting into specific examples, let’s explore another concept; positioning.
Positioning is the sales and marketing process/technique of matching interests, activities, lifestyle, personal goals, location, income and other attributes to the products and services individual consumers care about. Get started by asking questions. Business books teach you to ask, “who cares?” Let’s take that up a level by listing everything you sell, then asking the following for each product or service you offer. Who cares about this product or service? Why do they care? How much do they care? What problem does this product or service solve? Is this product or service the best solution on the market? Why? How much does the consumer care about this product or service? Why? What is the most important reason consumers want this product or service? What is the most important reason consumers would not want this product or service? How does this product or service make your consumer’s life better? Come up with as many questions as you can and answer them thoughtfully and completely. Try to build a profile and mental picture of individuals that share common motivators. The idea is to match the right consumer with whatever you sell. It can be tricky, but the ones that do care probably care a lot.
Imagine a leaky pipe. It is natural to assume someone with a leaky pipe needs a plumber. However, a different consumer might resolve the problem with a trip to the hardware store and fix the leak himself. It’s a problem with two very different solutions, which is why positioning is critical. If you are a plumber, it is important to position your service for the “call a plumber” group. Likewise, if you own a hardware store, it is pointless to market plumbing supplies to those that have no interest in fixing their own leaky pipes. As suggested, segmentation is the process of organizing consumers into similarly motivated groups. This allows you to position your products or services to the groups that are most likely to be interested, by matching your messaging with their goals. You can to this several ways. The most rudimentary would be to simply list them. Somewhat more advanced would be to use a spreadsheet. One challenge with these and similar solutions is they require manual action to keep up to date. A bigger problem is they make it difficult to work with more than one attribute at a time. Segments are typically built from several attributes (income, interests, special needs, etc.) that add up to form a complete consumer profile. The best tool for this is CRM (client relationship management) software.
You’re probably familiar with client relationship management (CRM). You might even use a CRM in your business. If not, CRM provides a means for storing customer/client information including simple stuff like contact information and purchase history, along with anything else you find relevant. However, storing information is just the beginning. Most CRMs provide tools to manage your sales pipeline, contact clients and colleagues, send emails and even automate tasks. CRM is a dream for managing customer/client segments. Usually, this is accomplished by creating groups by filtering attributes that are stored as fields. For example, you might know from experience that customers that purchase product X, frequently also purchase product Y. With a few keystrokes, your CRM will provide a list of customers that purchased product X, but did not purchase product Y. Now you have a segment for a future campaign to market product Y. Segmenting this way makes it possible to focus your message on those who will be most likely to make a purchase.
Once you have developed consumer segments, create personas to represent individuals in each segment. Personas serve as real people that have a reason to be interested in your services. They help you develop a relatable, personalized understanding of what motivates individual consumers to make buying decisions. This will be especially useful when deciding on the marketing mix and to develop messaging. Personas will help you avoid talking about yourself by focusing on the needs of individuals rather than you and what you sell. Imagine a friend coming to you for advice. The first thing you’re likely to do is listen and make sure you understand the problem or need. You’ll ask clarifying questions and think about similar experiences of your own or others before offering ideas.
Personas not only make your market segments human, they make you human. No one wants to be sold, but we all want to learn from someone we trust. Try to imagine how you will earn the role of trusted advisor to each of your personas. As mentioned, each persona represents a larger group of similarly motivated individuals, but be careful not to simply give your market segments names. Give them context, challenges, goals and even objections. Here is an example persona for a real company that arranges educational group travel for students. These support an effort to increase bookings for performance tours, like band festivals, parades, and other playing opportunities.
Bob the High School Band Director Bob is a 30-something band director in his 5th year teaching 9th through 12th grades. His predecessor had grown complacent in the years leading up to retirement and the band program was suffering. Bob’s first struggle was to reignite student interest in music. A decade of attrition and neglect had taken a toll on the program. He’s worked very hard to build an excellent program and wishes to reward students with opportunities to perform and compete outside their hometown. He has minimal support from school administrators but has successfully grown a network of active parents. He has never traveled with a band but would like to and is being approached by competing tour companies.
The reason this persona works is it provides context. Even though his persona is fictional, scores of high school band directors share the same motivators and challenges. Using Bob as the model, we can build a market segment that includes band directors that share similar attributes. This allows us to focus the marketing mix and messaging on the things these specific individuals care about. In Bob’s case, he also has an active group of supportive parents. It makes sense to build personas, messaging and a marketing mix aimed at garnering their support. Their motivators are related but their frame of reference (context) is not. To reach them, we need to address the needs and goals of parents, not band directors.
Market segmentation is not a new concept. Same with buyer personas. The challenge for most small business owners is limited time and budget constraints. However, taking time to define and address groups of customers as individuals can mean the difference between thriving and merely surviving. The good news is your competitors probably won’t put in the effort. Advantage: You.
André Morys is the CEO and founder of konversionsKRAFT (Web Arts AG), the leading conversion optimization agency in Germany. André Morys and konversionsKRAFT’s focuses on learning how businesses can increase their conversion rates through understanding your customers’ emotions, psychology, and behaviors. André Morys and his team have published many studies centered around these three topics and the effect they can have on businesses.
One of the major studies André and his team have conducted centered around the study of empathic product design. When you incorporate empathic design you are framing your product’s (or service’s) design process around your users’ needs, wants, and limitations. André’s study sought to determine the subconscious needs that customers don’t even know they have. With this information, any business could align the messaging of a product or service to these unknown desires and increase purchase motivation. Using shoes as an example, André’s team fleshed out the different buyer personas and then typically buy the offered shoes. Then, the team used a limbic map to identify which emotions resonate the most with a particular buyer persona. From there, a picture was painted about the overall values a persona subconsciously had. Here are three persona examples André found:
André suggests building landing pages tailored to these specific values to motivate your customers to buy. The success of your own landing pages will rely heavily on using A/B testing to frequently fine-tune the messaging. For more information on André Morys, visit his Linkedin, or visit konverionsKraft's website.
Hana Abaza is the head of Marketing for Shopify Plus, Shopify’s eCommerce platform for big-name online stores and brands. Hana has had years of experience in a variety of leadership roles, including being both the Head of Strategy and VP of Marketing for Uberflip, a content marketing software that aggregates a business’s content into one powerful user experience.
With her years of experience marketing to both individual customers and businesses alike, Hana has developed some valuable insights about the marketing funnel and the true buyer’s journey. She has found that a person’s journey is not so linear. In reality, people will switch back and forth between stages, drop out entirely only to re-enter later, or simply sit stagnant in a stage. With this in mind, how you engage with customers can (and probably should) be different than how you are currently. Basically, rather than have the customers conform to your sales process, consider your customer’s process and adapt to them.
Working with large brands at Shopify Plus means that Hana and her marketing team have spent plenty of time collaborating closely with sales teams. When working closely with a sales team, the most important key to being successful is to set shared goals. Hana’s sales and marketing teams share what’s called a “revenue playbook”. Essentially, a revenue playbook is a shared document that defines objectives, goals, and actions in response to both hitting and missing goals. Unlike a service-level agreement (SLA), a revenue playbook unites the sales and marketing teams into one unified team. As Hana puts it, acting as one team driven by the same goals leads to stronger communication and greater success. At OCG Creative, every day we are inspired by leaders in the marketing industry. For more information on Hana Abaza, visit her website to follow her work.
I have worked with small business owners for a very long time. As a marketing agency, OCG Creative is approached every day by owners and managers looking for help meeting their growth objectives. Most often, they have something in mind. They’ll ask about building a website, utilizing social media, running print ads, or implementing more sophisticated tools like marketing automation, CRM or ERP. All of these tools are incredibly powerful, but must be focused on specific business goals. The purpose of this article is to provide tools to help you assess opportunities and better understand your competitive environment. Ultimately, the goal is to carve out a bigger share of your market—to help you to think and act like a much larger company.
The definition of “big” will vary depending on your perspective. For this purpose, we’ll define big based on market position, resources, perspective and operating practices. “Big” usually means market leaders in an industry or region. They not only dominate their market, but have ample resources to stay on top. The executive team is nimble and focused on growth strategies and market influences as much as daily operations. Management might be a team of two or twenty-two, so long as those criteria are met. In fact, all the requisite traits can be present in a single individual. Regardless of actual size, “big” companies have the brains and resources to continue to attract the most customers.
Smaller companies tend to share common characteristics. Almost always, the business was started by a passionate founder with mad skills and a sincere desire to be in the business he or she is in. Generally, that same individual works inside the business, performing all the duties required for daily operations. Focus is task oriented, and tactics are more about survival than growth and profits. There are many “lifestyle” business owners that wouldn’t have it any other way. But, for others, the “lifestyle” can evolve into a daily grind, which is not fun at all. It is possible to transform these kinds of companies. It begins with a shift in perspective.
Business leaders understand their first responsibility is to provide value to the company’s shareholders. Public or private, shareholders expect a profit from their investment in resources. If you own a small business, “shareholders” means YOU. Notice I said “resources” rather than invested capital? Resources certainly includes capital, but your greatest business resource is you. It is essential that you invest that resource wisely so that there is a handsome payoff for your primary shareholder. Treat your time like any other investment. Expect a profit, and invest differently if you aren’t seeing it.
Any business or industry worth being in has competitors. It is natural to view competition in terms of “us versus them” yet what really matters is market size, growth and relative market share. Here are a few terms big businesses use to asses their competitive landscape. TAM: TAM stands for total available market. This represents the total demand for your product or service. The TAM is usually a very large segment. Imagine a product like canned peas and all the producers and consumers that have an interest or need for them. It’s a lot. TAM is useful for assessing service businesses as well. The important thing is to understand the industry you are in and where it’s headed. SAM: This is the serviceable available market. This is the subset of the TAM that is within reach of your business. Trade organizations, business journals, the government and even your local university can help you determine or assess the SAM for your particular business segment. SOM: Sometimes termed, “where we play,” this is the serviceable obtainable market. It is the subset of the SAM your company is equipped to pursue. Once you understand the unbiased scope of your market, you can asses your position in it. For most, this requires a shift in strategic thinking. Knowing the numbers, how big your market is, and what it’s made up of will provide clues about your best moves, given your available resources.
It is often said that 90% of marketing dollars are wasted. There are hundreds of reasons, but one common theme underlying failed marketing efforts is that they focus on the business rather than the consumer. It might sound harsh, but no one cares that you’re the number 1 dry cleaner for over 60 years. Dry cleaning customers care that their shirts are clean and starched just the way they like. They care that they don’t have to park a block away. They care that your kids play soccer together. Marketing must be about the consumer. Your message needs address their desire to make their lives better through your product or service. How you deliver that message depends on the business you are in. Social media might be a huge influencer, or not at all. Same for radio commercials, PPC, etc. Before investing in marketing, be certain a given channel will reach your intended market, and get the messaging right.
It’s time to formulate a plan, so grab your pencil and make two columns on a sheet of paper. Label the first, “What I know.” Label the other, “What I need to know.” Start with the TAM, SAM and SOM. Chances are you’ll need to do some research. If so, unanswered questions go in the “need to know” column. Do the same for anything you can think of that is important to your business. In particular, list the things your customers care about like where they hang out, demographics, etc. Include what you know and don’t know about your competitors also. Eventually, you’ll want make multiple lists that are specific to each aspect of your business. Commonly, these will include customer segments, competitors and market forces. Chances are, you’ll discover dozens of things you “need to know.” The next step is to do the research to find answers. That process alone will shed light on potential strategic moves that will make you a stronger competitor. Longer term, the information you gather here can be used to form the basis of a reliable blueprint for growth. The important thing is to get started.