Digital Minds - 12 Things Every Business Needs to Know About Digital Marketing

266 Pages·2015·4.47 MB·English

by  WSI

D I G I TA L
M I N D S
12 Things Every Business Needs
to Know About Digital Marketing
SECOND EDITION
Copyright © 2013 by WSI
www.wsiworld.com
Second Edition – 2015

ISBN
978-1-4602-3019-0 (Hardcover)
978-1-4602-3020-6 (Paperback)
978-1-4602-3021-3 (eBook) First Edition
978-1-4602-8217-5 (eBook) Second Edition

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
any information browsing, storage, or retrieval system, without permis-
sion in writing from the publisher.

Produced by:

FriesenPress
Suite 300 – 990 Fort Street
Victoria, BC, Canada V8V 3K2

www.friesenpress.com

Distributed to the trade by The Ingram Book Company
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................V
INTRODUCTION: AN EVOLVING WORLD .......................VII
1: Competitor Analysis: Your Road Map to
Winning the Web War .......................................................1
2: Website Development: Seven Steps to Success .....................21
3: eCommerce: A Shopping Revolution ..................................43
4: Content Marketing: Make An Impression ............................57
5: Social Media: Sales, Marketing,
& Reputation Management ...............................................73
6: Digital Advertising: Expand Your Reach .............................89
7: Landing Page Optimization: It’s About
Psychology, Not Technology ...........................................117
8: SEO: The More Things Change The More
They Stay the Same ......................................................141
9: Mobile Devices: They Are Commanding Our Attention ........165
10: Email Marketing: Evolving in a Social World ...................187
11: Marketing Automation: Dream or Reality? .......................207
12: Analytics: The Role of Data in Digital Marketing ..............219
CONCLUSION: TECHNOLOGY OF THE FUTURE .............235
ABOUT THE AUTHORS .................................................239
NOTES .........................................................................251

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
WSI would like to acknowledge the Consultants who
contributed to the 2nd edition of this book. Without their
valuable time and effort, an updated and revised version of
Digital Minds would not have been possible.
Also, a special thanks to anyone who read, shared and pro-
moted the 1st edition of this book. It is because of you that
Digital Minds has become the highly regarded marketing
book that it is and is why we wanted to ensure we brought
you the latest “things you need to know about digital mar-
keting” with this 2nd edition.
vii

INTRODUCTION:
AN EVOLVING WORLD
By Dan Monaghan
The passage of time and growth of our world - its people,
the environment and our technology - is a remarkable
occurrence. For parents, watching a baby grow into an
adult happens in the blink of an eye. Builders erect sky-
scrapers and condominiums faster than you think is pos-
sible. Companies like Tesla, with their electric cars and
lithium-ion batteries, are changing the way our society
perceives automobiles and energy. And the rate at which
these fundamental shifts become realities increases with
each passing year.
Don’t worry, the book you are reading is about digital
marketing, but I mention the way the world is changing
because digital marketing and the Internet are at the core of
these monumental innovations.
ix
WSi
WSI has been around for more than 20 years, which
is even longer than Google, so I like to tell a story about
when we first started the company. By the mid-1990s, the
Internet had started to gain traction. It was nowhere near
what it is today or even ten years ago, but it was growing,
and we saw an opportunity. We flew around the world
evangelizing the Internet and convincing people to start
paying attention to it.
When we had a room full of people, we’d ask them to
take out their business cards and give a show of hands if
they had a fax number on the card. Back then most hands
went up. But when we asked this same question five
years ago, there were noticeably fewer hands raised. And
today? It’s only the older generations who may keep a fax
number on their card. In fact, if you were to ask some
of your employees in the Millennial generation, they may
not even know what a fax machine is or where to locate it
in the office. And if you thought that was big shift in tech-
nology behavior you should have seen the blank stares
and confused faces I’d get back in the mid-1990s, early
2000s when I’d say, “In the future, every one of you will
have an email address on your business card.”
Here’s what happened: the Internet and email developed
at warp speed, and with it came social media, blogging,
and the entire industry we now call digital marketing. No
matter what business or industry you’re in, digital market-
ing, which exists in a perpetually changing state, is vital to
your success.
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