&Marketing to Present at “Business 2 Business Luncheon” on April 11th at Boone County Fairgrounds

&Marketing to Present at “Business 2 Business Luncheon” on April 11th at Boone County Fairgrounds

by | Mar 28, 2019 | Events

&Marketing to Present at “Business 2 Business Luncheon” on April 11th at Boone County Fairgrounds

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Chris “The Brain” Hoyt, COO of &Marketing, will be presenting at the “Business2Business Marketing and Networking Strategies Workshop & Luncheon” on Friday, April 12th, from 1PM-2PM at Boone County 4-H Fairgrounds in Lebanon, IN. Chris will be speaking about achieving your marketing goals through digital marketing strategies.

The Business2Business Luncheon will address key marketing challenges for small and medium-sized business owners, as well as sales and marketing leaders. The session will focus on digital marketing tips and tools to successfully reach your audience and achieve your marketing goals through digital marketing channels.

For $20, attendees will learn about a variety of modern digital marketing approaches and practical digital marketing tips. Specifically, the seminar will cover:

  • Common misconceptions around digital marketing, including social media and search engine advertising

  • How to decide which tactics are best for your business to invest time and money into

  • What to expect from marketing agencies or marketing professionals you work with

Tickets come with a hot lunch buffet for all guests, prior to Chris’s seminar. &Marketing encourages you to join Chris at the Fairgrounds to learn more!

Register for Business2Business Marketing and Networking Strategies Workshop & Luncheon”

About &Marketing

In today’s fast paced world, many growing businesses are struggling to modernize their marketing approaches because either they don’t have the expertise or the bandwidth to do it themselves.

&Marketing provides seasoned marketing strategy professionals and a nimble execution team to help our clients achieve their goals. Our unique partnership model allows us to augment our client’s existing teams or outsource the entire marketing function in an affordable, flexible, and transparent way.

Understanding and Utilizing Google Analytics Goals

Understanding and Utilizing Google Analytics Goals

by | Mar 28, 2019 | Business Intelligence & Analytics, Insights

Understanding and Utilizing Google Analytics Goals

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Are you tracking the actions taken on your brand’s website? Google Analytics is a free tool that provides baseline metrics for your site and, when utilized correctly, can help you further determine how people interact with it. Through Google Analytics Goals, any organizations can set up customizable actions across a website. Setting up goals for the primary actions users will take on your site is pivotal for segmenting analytics data based on those actions, which gives you insight into what’s attracting and converting customers and what’s not.

Some Google Goals can be set up with ease, while others require custom code and a web developer. However, with proper setup, goals will help you strategize your approach to marketing your website. Here are four examples of goals you should make a priority to track through Google and why these goals are important for your business.

Contact Us & Submission Pages (and Visits)

Unless your website was designed in 1982, chances are you have a Contact Us page where visitors are able to input their information, reach out to someone at your company, and expect to receive a response. Similarly, many websites also utilize landing pages to feature relevant and specific sales messaging in hopes to get users to sign up for the product or service by providing their contact details. With Google Goals, you are able to track how you acquired the contact information from people who took action on these pages.

Why It’s Important

This goal allows you to see which acquisition channels are driving the most submissions, which is essential to gathering intel on the types of landing pages that are triggering more interactions with customers, so you can focus marketing efforts on the methods you know are working. Here are the steps to take for tracking submission page goals:

How to Set It Up for a Submission Landing Page

  1. Create “Thank You” page for visitors to land on after successful form submission

  2. Identify URL of “Thank You” page (everything after domain name)

    • ex) yourwebsite.com/thank-you

      • You will be using /thank-you

  3. Create Google Goal within Analytics

    1. Click “New Goal” and select “Contact Us” in the first step

    2. Name your goal and select the destination

      • ex) Contact Us Submissions

    3. Enter your URL slug identified previously

      • Make destination is set to “Exactly”

      • Verify your goal to confirm it’s working

    4. Save

You can also create a goal to track the amount of contact page hits you receive so that you can review that against the number of submissions you generate. A bad hit to submission rate would suggest that you need to simplify your form. Simply follow step 3 and make sure the destination is just the URL for your contact page.

Content Views

If you have ongoing content on your website— which you should to further educate your audience and for SEO purposes— there is a good chance it is all grouped up under a similar URL structure. Most commonly, websites will use www.yourwebsite.com/blog/xyz or youwebsite.com/blog/case-study-xyz. A Google Analytics Goal set to track these URL links as a whole will help you identify how many times your content was viewed and how you acquired those individuals.

Why It’s Important

This Google Goal helps you group content together to determine how many people viewed content and how these viewers found your content. Tracking content traffic allows you to make decisions based on the kind of content users are responding in order to best leverage that interest. Below are the steps to take for tracking content goals:

  1. Identify the URLs of your blogs, case studies, downloads

  2. Create Google Goal within analytics

    1. Click “New Goal” and select “Contact Us” in the first step

    2. Name your goal and select destination

      • ex) Case Study Views

    3. Enter your URL slug

      • ex) /blog/ or /case-study

      • Make sure the Destination is set to “begins with”

      • Verify your goal to confirm it’s working

      • Save

eCommerce Goals

For eCommerce companies, enabling eCommerce goals and tracking for analytics provides an abundance of insightful data on how an action is taken across the site. This intel includes cart abandonments, average order value, and total transactions across any time period. eCommerce is not difficult to enable for your site, but the details depend on what platform your eCommerce is hosted on.

If you already have Google Analytics installed, most eCommerce platforms either automatically provide the data or come equipped with plugins. This includes:

  • Woocommerce / WordPress

  • Shopify

  • Squarespace

Why It’s Important

eCommerce goals with Google Analytics provides in-depth product and cart behavior, including how much people bought and the average order value of all purchases. This intel allows you to make decisions on what marketing tactics to execute for more orders on your site in addition to insights on cart abandonment that can help you course correct any path to purchase issues. Below are the steps to take for tracking eCommerce goals:

  1. Install Google Analytics eCommerce tracking code on the website

    • See how to here: https://ducttapemarketing.com/ecommerce-tracking/

  2. Enable Plugins (as needed)

  3. Enable eCommerce and enhanced eCommerce reporting

    • Enhanced eCommerce reporting gives you access to more insights, including funnel steps taken by users, and only requires that you have the newest version of Google Analytics installed on your website.

If you are still having trouble accessing this data, custom code may need to be implemented to force the data through the system. Let &Marketing know if you are experiencing this, and we’ll be happy to help you set it up.

Event Tracking

Google Event tracking is an advanced way to gather insights on actions taken across your website. Through implementing a custom code, event tracking gives you the ability to specifically view actions taken on buttons and links, even if they are located within a PDF download on your website. Event tracking is a useful tool for tracking these actions and more:

  • Downloads

  • Phone calls

  • Videos

  • Clicks to external links

Why It’s Important

Event tracking lets you track actions on the website that require extra code and provides acquisition insights on individuals who performed the website actions. You can learn what elements are gaining the most traction on your site to better inform your decisions on how to structure your pages to create the most conversions. Here are the steps to take for Event tracking goals:

  1. Understand the custom code and assign values manually.

    1. You must assign a value to ‘Event Category’ and ‘Event Action’. Below is a description for each value option:

      • Event Category: Typically the object that was interacted with (example: “video”). This is mandatory.

      • Event Action: The type of interaction (example: “play”). This is mandatory.

      • Event Label: Useful for categorizing events (example: “summer campaign”)

      • Event Value: A numeric value, often monetary, associated with the event (example: “42”)

    2. Create the custom piece of code in-line

      • ga(‘send’, ‘event’, [eventCategory], [eventAction], [eventLabel], [eventValue]);

  2. Add the custom code to the website page

    • You may need to consult web developer or your marketing agency for assistance

  3. Create new goal in Google Analytics

    • Select “Custom” in the first step

    • Name your goal and select event

      1. ex) White Paper Download Views

    • Input the same values as assigned in step 1

    • Verify your goal to confirm it’s working

    • Save

Google Analytics Goals provide you with information to make informed decisions on how your audience and marketing tactics engage with your site. Goals can be quickly set up and provide valuable insight for your organization’s marketing strategy. The team at &Marketing has installed all of the goals above and more, and utilize the data provided by these goals to determine where to focus our marketing efforts in order to build growth for our client partners.

If you are looking to install Google Analytics Goals and don’t know where to start, we’re here to help! Contact us today to learn more.

About the Author

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About &Marketing

In today’s fast paced world, many growing businesses are struggling to modernize their marketing approaches because either they don’t have the expertise or the bandwidth to do it themselves.

&Marketing provides seasoned marketing strategy professionals and a nimble execution team to help our clients achieve their goals. Our unique partnership model allows us to augment our client’s existing teams or outsource the entire marketing function in an affordable, flexible, and transparent way.

Tale as Old as Time: Why Story Should Matter to Your Business

Tale as Old as Time: Why Story Should Matter to Your Business

by | Mar 27, 2019 | Insights, Storytelling & Branding

Tale as Old as Time: Why Story Should Matter to Your Business

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A popular sentiment in marketing today is, “stories sell.” But how? This directive is like the equivalent of a gym owner simply saying, “you should work out.”

Without the proper motivation, guidance, and game plan, most of us don’t know where to start with either of these. If you don’t have a trainer, an exercise plan, and a nutrition guide, you’re far less likely to succeed in your journey to fitness. The same goes with storytelling. We need a roadmap.

At some point in the life of your brand or business, you’ve probably tried using a story to sell your product or service and have seen little to no results. If that’s the case, you might assume that “story marketing” is just another fad that will fade out of style. However, if you discount the value of a story, your brand could be missing out on the opportunity to tap into one of the richest, most powerful forms of communication we have as people.

To demystify the use of story, let’s simply define it as a framework of communication. Humanity has been using stories to communicate since before recorded history. Storytelling is the road most often traveled to lead someone from ignorance and confusion to clarity and understanding, and when people understand something clearly they are more likely to act.

If you’re given a comprehensive plan for fitness, you’re more likely to embark on that health journey provided to you, right? In other words, if your customer can quickly and easily understand what you are offering them, they are more likely to buy it. Plain and simple.

In his book, Building a Story Brand, Donald Miller quotes a friend of his:

“There’s a reason most marketing […] doesn’t work […] The brain doesn’t know how to process the information. The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest. Story helps because it is a sense-making mechanism. Essentially, story formulas put everything in order so the brain doesn’t have to work to understand what’s going on.”

He goes on to describe the way our brain prioritizes information through Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. First, we’re programmed to fulfill the needs we require to survive (think food, water, shelter). We seek these out instinctively above all else so that we have a sense of well-being and can avoid vulnerability. Once those needs are met, we can move on to our relationships with others. We search for friendships, romantic relationships, and other nurturing connections that will stick by us and help us face any outside threats. After we fill these cups, then finally we can concern ourselves with a higher level of psychological, physiological, and even spiritual needs that give our lives a more enhanced sense of belonging and purpose. First we survive, then we thrive.

Miller also describes two key areas where most marketing fails. The first mistake most businesses make is failing to emphasize how their product or service will help their customers survive and thrive. The second is that customers have to work too hard and burn too many calories to understand that product or service. These two mistakes lead to missed opportunities of engagement, because the customer is wasting precious resources trying to understand something that won’t help them in their own story. After all, none of us want a workout plan we didn’t actually sign up for.

So, how does the story come into play? Story provides a map that leads your customer from indecision: “Will this product/service help me survive/thrive?” to decision: “I NEED this to survive/thrive!” Here is the roadmap provided by Donald Miller:

At &Marketing, we work to leverage the power of story to make the biggest impact for our clients. The majority of our client partners have limited resources or team members to devote to engaging potential customers. The story framework equips us to generate more engagement with fewer resources. Not only does story increase engagement, it improves retention as our clients’ customers actively integrate the product/service into their own narrative.

We’ll dive deeper into this framework through a series of blog posts called Narrative Marketing. In this 3-part blog series, we will explore:

About the Author

Matt Vincent is the Creative Director at &Marketing.  He has worked in digital illustration and graphic design for over 6 years. During this time, he has worked for a variety of clients, including IGN Entertainment and Salesforce, and a host of smaller & medium sized companies.  

As a self-taught graphic designer and illustrator, he is constantly learning and growing his repertoire of creative skills, and sharing those with the world. His primary passion is equipping creatives to be storytellers; to see the narrative threads and archetypes that exist in all things, and to tap into them to get their audience to think, grow, and act.

About &Marketing

In today’s fast paced world, many growing businesses are struggling to modernize their marketing approaches because either they don’t have the expertise or the bandwidth to do it themselves.

&Marketing provides seasoned marketing strategy professionals and a nimble execution team to help our clients achieve their goals. Our unique partnership model allows us to augment our client’s existing teams or outsource the entire marketing function in an affordable, flexible, and transparent way.

The Most Important Thing to Demand from Your Marketing Agency

The Most Important Thing to Demand from Your Marketing Agency

by | Mar 5, 2019 | Business & Marketing Strategy, Insights

The Most Important Thing to Demand from Your Marketing Agency

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Businesses tend to see digital and online marketing like magic. They want to hire wizards to make it work, and seldom ask the right questions or get involved in the process. The thinking seems to come down to “Am I getting leads?” If yes, good, if not, then they look for a better wizard. This cycle has left the marketing industry largely unaccountable, with all the activity happening behind a curtain that businesses owners can’t see.

While this may feel like it is just part of the nature of digital marketing, it isn’t. There is no good reason for your marketing agency to keep you in the dark, and staying in the dark is the biggest mistake you can make for your business. Digital marketing has the capability to be the most transparent, and least “magical” form of marketing ever. Here is what to ask for to make sure you see behind the curtain and own your own data regardless of which agency you use.

Get access and ownership of all your accounts.

Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, and all major online services that sell ads also allow for multiple users. You have a right and responsibility as a business owner to have administrative access to any ad accounts an agency manages for you. Do not believe any excuses like “we have a proprietary ad platform” or “we run our clients under our own account.” If you hear this, your agency is lying to you.

The best thing to do is set up a Gmail account like yournamemarketing@gmail.com, and use that to share with agencies and marketing professionals to set up on all your ad accounts. Even if they “have their own account” they can add that Gmail account as an admin user to all your ad campaigns. This means that if and when you change agencies and marketing professionals, all your accounts and history comes with you.

Own your own hosting account and domain.

NEVER let a marketing agency sell you website hosting “through” them. With few exceptions, agencies don’t actually have any hosting they run themselves. They white-label hosting solutions like WPEngine, HostGator, SiteGround, etc. There is no valid reason that they can’t build and manage a site for you on a hosting account you own directly.

After helping businesses with websites for two decades now, I am still shocked at how many of them fall for this. Having your marketing agency own your hosting means they have you by the balls in a dispute. Always sign up for your own hosting account, buy your domain name yourself, and then share access to it with marketing professionals you work with.

Own your own analytics.

All marketing agencies produce reports for their clients, but these reports come from data you should have access to. The purpose of a marketing report should be to help make data understandable but not to hide it from you. Even if you think you will never look at it, make sure you are an owner or admin user on all your analytics.

Some marketing companies do have their own analytics platform, this is the one place they might be telling the truth. But there are lots of free analytic platforms, like Google Analytics, that they can also set up on your website and online marketing campaigns. Even if they have their own platform, make sure you have Google Analytics, or another third-party platform, installed that you have ownership over. Doing this means you own your data and can check to see if they are giving you bad data.

Fire bad agencies.

If you get anything but enthusiastic cooperation in asking for these things, fire your agency. If they won’t work with you on owning your own data and having transparency, something is fishy in their business. Many well-meaning agencies simply don’t think to make sure you have access to everything, but bad agencies will fight against you or refuse to give you access.

I’ve been in this industry for a while, and have had to help clients fight to take back ownership of their data way too often. Everyone needs to know this is the best way to ensure the marketing professionals you work with have your best interests in mind.

About &Marketing

In today’s fast paced world, many growing businesses are struggling to modernize their marketing approaches because either they don’t have the expertise or the bandwidth to do it themselves.

&Marketing provides seasoned marketing strategy professionals and a nimble execution team to help our clients achieve their goals. Our unique partnership model allows us to augment our client’s existing teams or outsource the entire marketing function in an affordable, flexible, and transparent way.