2012 Marketing Report

2012 Marketing Report

Confidential

Contents Introduction Summary.................................................................................................................pg 4 Considerations......................................................................................................pg 5 2012/13 Spend Snapshot & Detail...........................................................pg 6-7 Trends & Observations..................................................................................pg 8-9

Data Analysis Website Analytics...............................................................................................pg 11 Organic Search Traffic.......................................................................................pg 12

Problem Solving Generating More Conversions................................................................pg 15-18 Engaging Prospects With Relevant Content......................................pg 19-22

Inbound Content Marketing Understanding Inbound Content Marketing.........................................pg 24 Appropriate Content Delivery................................................................pg 25-28

Advertising Online Social Media Marketing............................................................................pg 30-31 Retargeting..........................................................................................................pg 32

Marketing Automation Sales Alignment.................................................................................................pg 34 Lead Nurturing...................................................................................................pg 35 Closed-loop Reporting....................................................................................pg 36

Conclusion Recommendations............................................................................................pg 38 Road Blocks..........................................................................................................pg 39 Final Thoughts.....................................................................................................pg 40

2012 Marketing Report Confidential

Introduction In this section we’ll review the content of this report, spending, and market observations.

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Summary The objective for 2012 is to solidify the Car People Marketing brand as cost-effectively as possible, maintain a presence in the marketplace, study trends, and adjust initiatives accordingly.

Lead acquisition is low. Sales from leads generated by marketing are CONFIDENTIAL increasingly difficult to track.

Allocation of spending for the remainder of 2012 and throughout 2013 should shift. The concentration of efforts should center around an entirely new proposed content delivery and nurturing strategy. The goal for this new strategy is to acquire significantly more sales-ready leads and generate more revenue.

This strategy is outlined in this report.

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Considerations Currently there is no accurate way to measure source, quantity, quality, and performance of leads generated by marketing. For this report, we will assume the majority of said leads, at one point or another, visited our website.

By using our website as a gauge for observing and measuring activity, we’ll have access to a wealth of data that support the recommendations included in this report.

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2012/13 Spend Snapshot Below is a snapshot of estimated marketing spend in 2012 and what is proposed for 2013.

Travel, samples, and miscellaneous shipping are not included.

2012

$48K 2012 Budget

($4,000/mth) CONFIDENTIAL

$33.8K

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2012 Spend

(Estimated, Through Dec)

71% % of Budget (Estimated)

2013

$48K

2013 Proposed Budget ($4,000/mth) CONFIDENTIAL

$38.8K

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2012 Proposed

(Estimated, Through Dec)

80% % of Budget (Estimated)

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2012/13 Spend Detail Below is spend detail by major source for 2012 and 2013. Also included are estimates of (SMB) B2B trends in 2012.

2012 B2B Trends (Source: MarketingProfs.com) 2012 Estimated Spend

2013 Recommended Spend

Magazines & Newspaper

Website & Email

Video Production

Marketing Automation

Online Ads (Social, PPC)

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Trinkets & Trash

Misc.

Campaigns

Inbound Content

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Trends According to MarketingProfs, 83.5% of B2B marketers say they are focusing on and increasing their content marketing over the next year.

Why?

68% say Lead Generation 50% say Thought Leadership 39% say Brand Awareness

Answering common questions with relevant content boosts lead generation.

A recent survey shows SEO* as the number one source for lead generation among B2B marketers across multiple industries.

(Source: SearchEngineWatch.com) Search Engine Optimization

*

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Observations B2B marketers are allocating more year-over-year for inbound marketing content initiatives. This shift is proving to be cost-effective and is now the number one source for lead generation.

Myth: “We’re dealing with an older generation.

They don’t use the internet as much.”

In 2012...

93% of adults ages 30-49 said they actively use the internet.

85% of adults ages 50-64 said they actively use the internet.

58% of adults ages 65+ said they actively use the internet.

(Source: PewInternet.com)

Dealership management teams are seeking industry-specific information via Google now more than ever before. Their needs are changing and they are seeking information online to better themselves.

Later, we will review data to support this claim.

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Data Analysis In this section we’ll look at our website performance and find out what search engines are telling us about our prospects.

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Website Analytics January through October there were over 15K visits to our website resulting in over 39.5K pageviews. Visitors averaged 2.78 pages per visit.

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15K Visits

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39.5K

2.75

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Pageviews

(Estimated, Through Oct)

Pages Per Visit

(Estimated, Through Oct)

(Estimated, Through Oct)

CONFIDENTIAL bounce*, leave, vanish.

But... 62.67%

That is nearly triple the industry average. In fact, over 50% of the bounces occur on our homepage.

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CPM Industry Average

62.67% CONFIDENTIAL

10-30% CONFIDENTIAL

(Source: Google Analytics) * A bounce is defined as someone who visits a website but navigates no further than a landing page (ie. homepage).

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Organic Search Traffic In January through October, 4.1K of our website visitors were referred by search engines (ie. Google). Of the search terms used by visitors to find our website, 27% were related to content, brand, and product.

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4.5K

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Search Referrals

(Estimated, Through Oct)

27%

Referrals by Term

(Related to content, brand, product)

The terms our prospects are searching with help us identify potential opportunities. “what % of dealership service repair orders start with a phone call” “learn how to run a successful service department in a dealership” “ideas to increase dollars per repair order” “how many people do you need to run a dealership service department on saturday” “selling tires on the service lane”

How cool is that? Those are real examples from our visitor data.

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Problem Solving In this section we’ll learn to leverage this data to generate more business, enhance branding, and become thought-leaders in our industry.

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Sadly, our prospects aren’t finding what they need.

If, of the 15,000 visits to our website, 63% leave after only one page visit...

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63% CONFIDENTIAL

we can conclude:

1

Our homepage and site structure do not generate conversions.

2

There isn’t enough relevant content to engage site visitors.

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1

Our homepage and site structure do not generate conversions.

Technology changes daily.

The way people consume information changes daily.

Search engine algorithms change daily.

We need to change.

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Plan

1

Immediately begin a strategic website restructuring. The following are the three points of interest to be addressed:

Content Management System Currently using version 1.7.1, upgrade to 2.5.2 for greater flexibility.

Adds drag-&-drop, structure control, and content builder.

Layout Restructure Address visitor bounces with revised homepage and subpages. Add control of sidebar content. Update design. Optimize for mobile*.

Control

Empower marketing with search optimization tools including page title, meta description, and heading control. Enrich blog content.

Approximately 1,300 (or almost 10%) of visitors to our site were from a mobile device.

*

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Investment

1

November Approximately $2K will be reserved for November. The CMS will be upgraded at this time and initial wireframes approved.

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December Approximately $2K will be reserved for December. Layouts will begin to take shape, details to be approved. Mobile optimization tested.

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January Approximately $2K will be reserved for January. Final layout, design, and details complete. Cross-browser testing, debugging. Launch.

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1

Conclusion

This restructuring is crucial; it is the focal point of marketing in 2013.

These steps are the foundation for implementing:

Inbound Marketing Marketing Automation

Lead Conversion

Lead Nurturing

resulting in better:

Lead Generation

CRM

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2

There isn’t enough relevant content to engage site visitors .

Content drives visits to the website.

Content establishes businesses as thought-leaders.

Content enables trust.

Content is everything.

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2

Plan

Immediately begin an extensive three-part content strategy. The following are the three points of interest to be addressed:

Develop Keyword Strategy Dig into site analytics and utilize Google’s keyword discovery tool to identify keywords - short and long tail*. Survey existing customers.

Repurpose Existing Content Optimize existing content on both the website and blog to include new keyword strategy. Address page titles and meta descriptions.

Add Fresh and Regular Content Implement editorial schedule to include content posted twice weekly, quarterly white papers and newsletters. Integrate w/inbound strategy. *Short tail keywords are broad, general words related to something particular (ie. service department, service traffic).

These are generally very competitive and costly. Long tail keywords are longer and more specific relating to a particular subject (ie. how do i run a dealership service department, what can i do to increase my service traffic).

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Investment

2

November-December Minimal, if any. Review analytics, run tests in AdWords, survey existing customers. Investment may be required for paid ads or survey tools.

January-December None. Repurpose existing content to match keyword strategy. Review results and adjust accordingly. Publish content regularly.

January-December Approximently $250 monthly will be reserved for regular outside editorial contributions. This includes assistance with white papers.

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Conclusion

2

This will serve as the backbone for our inbound content marketing strategy in 2013. New content would include:

White Papers

PR

Industry Related Editorial

Case Studies

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Inbound Content Marketing In this section we’ll define Inbound Content Marketing and learn what it means to us and how to generate more revenue.

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Inbound Marketing Entrepreneur Magazine defines inbound content marketing as:

The creation and publication of original content - including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos, and photos - for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.

The goal of our inbound marketing strategy is to increase brand awarness, generate leads, nurture leads with timely content, reassure leads of our capability, and convert leads into revenue.

This is accomplished by composing relevant content that is void of selfpromotion and delivering it to prospects in a pre-defined conversion funnel at the appropriate times.

There are four phases of any conversion funnel where content delivery is key: Awareness, Research/Education, Comparison, and Purchase.

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Awareness During the awareness phase a prospect gets acquainted with our brand by subscribing to a newsletter, attending an event, registering for a webinar, and/or downloading a white paper.

Since we do not have control of what content a prospect first accesses, it is crucial to make it easily available.

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Research/Education During the research/education phase the prospect identifies a problem they wish to resolve and researches potential solutions, including our products and services.

Appropriate content to deliver to prospects in this phase might consist of white papers and/or informational webinars.

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Comparison/Validation During the comparison/validation phase the prospect examines options and begins narrowing the list of vendors.

Appropriate content to deliver to prospects in this phase might consist of case studies and/ or demonstrations.

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Purchase During the purchase phase the prospect has determined from whom to buy and has communicated a desire to speak with someone.

Appropriate content to deliver to prospects in this phase might consist of monthly newsletters and/or important updates.

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Advertising Online In this section we’ll learn where to reach prospects online by advertising on social networks and with retargeting.

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Social Media Marketing The quickest way to fill the top of the funnel is to reach our prospects through advertising on the appropriate social networks. Engaging in their groups with content is also effective, and free.

B2B marketers are turning to LinkedIn for strategic content targeting.

According to a report

by BtoB Online, 30% of marketers are leverging LinkedIn for content marketing.

(Source: MarketingProfs.com)

With LinkedIn, we can cost-effectively target by position, place of employment, age, region, demographic, and salary.

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Dealer Communities In addition to sharing content on popular social networks, such as LinkedIn, we’ll actively engage industry-specific communities.

1,700 Members 8,000 Monthly Visits 22,500 Pageviews CONFIDENTIAL

(Source: AutoDealerPeople.com)

7,200 Members 19,967 Monthly Visits 55,250 Pageviews CONFIDENTIAL

(Source: DealerElite.net)

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Retargeting Thousands of prospects visit our website and leave, we know that.

Retargeting presents a unique solution for keeping our brand and product offerings top-of-mind after they leave.

Banner advertising just became affordable.

Using retargeting technology can substantially reduce ad budgets by serving ads only to prospects that have engaged with your brand.

(Source: ReTargeter.com)

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Marketing Automation In this section we’ll learn why sales alignment, lead nurturing, and closed-loop reporting are crucial to our marketing strategy.

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Sales Alignment It is imparative to invest in and implement systems embraced by both the marketing and sales teams to achieve quantifiable success. These systems must be enforced by management.

“Pressure salespeople to adapt to the changing market just like you had to adapt. If your salespeople are not socially active in working towards being digital natives then make them do that.�

(Source: Frank Belzer, Sales Development Expert)

According to a recent study, organizations with good alignment between sales and marketing teams achieved 20% annual revenue growth. Those without alignment saw declines of 4%.

Without Alignment:

With Alignment: +20%

-4%

(Data Source: Aberdeen Group)

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Lead Nurturing Earlier, a detailed outline for appropriate content delivery was reviewed.

Lead nurturing (or, ‘workflows’) is necessary to execute prospect management of this scale.

Powerful automation tools make list segmenting and task-based nurturing simple.

Automated Nurturing

Behavior-based Email

Custom Messaging

- Automatically trigger timed emails based on form completions and downloads.

- Set custom timing and templates for campaigns.

- Use automation to update a prospect’s profile information and lifecycle stage.

- Automatically add or remove contacts from custom segments.

- Trigger emails based on page views, social media mentions and other activity.

- Personalize emails with any field from marketing database.

- Access email analytics to track the impact of messages.

(Source HubSpot)

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Closed-loop Reporting Measuring results is imperative to guaging the success or failure of specific marketing initiatives. When marketing automation and sales CRM systems are married, closed-loop reporting is achievable.

Identifing what works and what doesn’t, adjusting, and reporting results are necessary.

In addition to measuring campaigns, closed-loop reporting can be utilized to pass detailed contact history to the sales team. This includes prospect and current customer activity logs (ie. opened this email, downloaded this white paper). This information is invaluable.

(Source: HubSpot)

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Conclusion In this section we’ll review the recommendations that were made in this report and identify potential road blocks to achieving goals.

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Recommendations Marketing - Shift advertising dollars to measurable, effective, inbound strategies - Restructure website for conversion - Implement marketing automation platform for content tracking, landing page deployment, email marketing, and lead nurturing - Work with sales managers to design lead nurturing campaigns - Design improved keyword strategy - Optimize existing content - Leverage social communities with content offerings

Sales - Implement CRM system - Enforce use

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Road Blocks - Spending authority and management CONFIDENTIAL

- Company-wide adaption and participation - CRM implementation for sales - Sales team adaption

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Final Thoughts It’s clear that we must adapt to a rapidly changing ecosystem. Engaging prospects in the right place and at the right time is paramount to ensure our long-term success.

Our competition is already implementing some of these ideas; it’s our CONFIDENTIAL time to take control of the market.

In closing, I sincerely believe in the strategies outlined and the recommendations I’ve made within this report. We have hard evidence to support the claims presented and a detailed plan of action. The time is now.

-Joshua Hays

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