July 2015 - Aerospace Marketing Lab

RAMP UP YOUR DIGITAL KNOWLEDGE: TERMINOLOGY GUIDE

Digital marketing is on the rise but coming to terms with the jargon isn’t always that easy. The experts at BDN Aerospace Marketing have put together this digital terminology guide to ramp up your knowledge.

See something we missed? Share it in the comments and we will be happy to help!

You can also download the full guide here!

Analytics: 3 Easy Tools to Start Using Now

Marketers strive daily to validate the effectiveness of the strategies driving their marketing campaigns. A 2014 study done by the Fournaise Group found that “80% of global marketers struggle with being able to properly demonstrate to their management the business effectiveness of their spending, campaigns and activities.”

Engineers, numbers, and analytics drive this industry. Preparing a case demonstrating the return on investments for marketing dollars can fortify the belief that the course is steady and true – and can help avoid repeated cuts to a marketing budget.

The good news is that there are many analytics and tracking tools available — both paid and unpaid. These platforms provide significant insight to website traffic, paid digital advertising metrics, social media performance and page reach. The key to understanding the return from data presented in all of these platforms is assigning a value to the metrics and determining a set of goals for each marketing platform.

Here are three digital marketing tools that can help you assess return on investment for online and offline channels.

1. Google Anlaytics

This free platform from Google provides information about website traffic, including how many people are coming to your website, where the traffic is originating and what your viewers are doing. Google Analytics metrics such as time-on-site, bounce rate and the average number of pages per session provide insight into how engaging and useful visitors are finding a website to be.

By looking at these metrics within Google Anlaytics, you can pinpoint which sources of traffic are producing the highest quality traffic. For example, if you are running multiple display ads on different publications’ websites, you can easily determine if the audience of one magazine is spending longer on your website than the other audience. This will help to determine which advertising platforms are bringing the most qualified audience to your website, and that information can help you decide where to invest your valuable advertising dollars.

2. Call Tracking

Call tracking is one way to monitor the performance of offline marketing channels such as print advertising, billboards or other collateral. Call tracking platforms provide a specific phone number for each campaign that redirects to your company’s phone number. This allows a database to be formed of the calls that are coming through as a result of specific advertisements and the length of those phone calls. Online pay-per-click platforms like AdWords also use call tracking in online advertisements for customers that would rather speak to a company representative than visit a website.

A call tracking analysis could include a situation where you are running two identical advertisements in two different publications. The ads are the same but have different phone numbers. Both numbers would ultimately reach your sales office, but you would directly be able to compare how many calls were received from each ad placement.

3. Social Media

Social media is a common way to communicate directly to your audience, but it is also easy to spend time on social media while being unable to identify the return of social media efforts.

Try tracking the number of followers on your social media platforms and their engagement or actions to see the return on social media investments. Identify the goals of social media efforts (increased web traffic, more phone calls, video views, etc.) to most accurately measure the return on social media.

Most major social networks offer robust analytics for marketers to analyze the effectiveness of the online social campaigns. Take the time to download the reports and measure metrics over a few months. What type of content is your audience more interested in? Does your social audience prefer to watch videos or to look at photos? What types of posts drive additional traffic to your website? These are all questions that can be answered through social media metrics.

The rise of digital marketing has presented many ways to evaluate the advertising spend of both online and offline channels. Depending on what advertising campaigns your company favors, one or all of the above tactics might be a good fit.

You may also be interested in 8 Best Practices For Email Marketing Success or Growing Opportunities in Digital Marketing.

Growing Opportunities in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing opportunities are expanding beyond just SEO, paid advertising, and social media.

For example, by 2017, 74% of all Internet traffic will be video-centric. The good news is that most aerospace marketers are already using video in their marketing efforts. But the bad news is that we are using one-dimensionally, primarily at trade shows and events. We’re really just scratching the surface of its potential marketing power.

There are so many new and creative ways to take our digital marketing in exciting new directions. Not just because they are exciting and new — but because they work.

Here’s an overview of what’s possible, and specific ideas about how to make these new approaches work for you.

Interactive content is a creative and effective way to engage and interact with your audience. Interactivity helps audiences find and engage with content that is specifically of interest and relevant to them, at the same time providing marketers with valuable insight and information about customers.

Examples of interactive content include design tools (ex. design your own aircraft livery and interior) calculators (ex. how much time or money can I save by installing your product?), quizzes and questions (ex. what aircraft upgrade will most benefit my specific operation?), interactive whitepapers or infographics (ex. show maintenance intervals and costs for every component in your product), or contests and sweepstakes. It may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. There are numerous tools and services to help. Ion, Marketo, and Snapapp are several to consider.

Video marketing has exploded in popularity and effectiveness, with consistently high levels of engagement, and video is an ideal way to communicate the value of benefits of aerospace and defense products. From high-quality branding productions that showcase the sex appeal of an aircraft in flight, to technical pieces that explain the inner workings of a product – having the ability to show and tell your story is a marketer’s dream. Videotaping and sharing customer testimonials is also worthwhile, because trusted recommendations are highly influential with B2B buyers.

Once you have the video assets, put them to use strategically and creatively to reach a range of audiences as part of your overall marketing program.

Looking for inspiration? Check out BDN’s own newly released video program.

You may also be interested in You Need Great SEO, And Here’s What You Need To Know To Get Started or 8 Best Practices for Email Marketing Success.

8 Best Practices for Email Marketing Success

It isn’t sexy. It’s often annoying. And everyone gets too much.

Even with three strikes against it, email can be a powerful and effective tool for aerospace marketing.

E-mail marketing is a permission-based communication tool and a good way to appropriately interact and engage with customers, partners, and prospects.

It can be personalized, targeted and tracked, is extremely cost-effective, and, unlike old school printed pieces, is quick and easy to produce.

The inbound marketing experts at Marketo advise that in order to be truly effective, your email marketing must be trusted, relevant, conversational, coordinated with other channels, and strategic. We agree.

For example, BDN used our own marketing automation system to send aerospace marketing professionals an eye-catching offer to help improve their marketing with a complimentary consultation. We were offering something of real value, and by presenting it in an authentic and credible way while cross-promoting through social media, we gained audience attention and interest. We were able to track those who opened the email, those who clicked through to our website, and, of course, those who requested a consultation. The result? Three qualified leads, two sizeable new clients, and a growing list of prospects for future communication and nurturing.

If you use email marketing in a thoughtful and responsible way, the customers will come. But an unfocused, shoot-from-the hip approach will do more harm than good, alienating or angering your potential buyers. Here are 8 best practices to guide your first or next campaign.

Determine the goals of email communication. Setting goals for each email will guide your selection of content and metrics.

Build an acquisition strategy. How will you build a list? Develop a plan for how the email list will grow organically over time. For example, visitors to the BDN website are invited to subscribe to our blogs and other content of interest. As this happens, our list grows.

Determine a content plan. What will you say, when, and why? Make sure everything is connected to your goals, strategy and audience needs. This blog, for example, is part of an overall content plan and calendar that was mapped our earlier this year.

Email should be portable, personal, and prescriptive. Make sure that the emails display well on mobile devices and tablets; and eliminate the term “click here,” because clicking is a desktop action. Personalize your emails to increase engagement. Keep messages short and to the point, and always provide valuable information and clear call to actions.

Email layout should be simple and consistent. Emails with a single column focus and large calls to action tend to perform best. Always include relevant pre-header text to spotlight your key message or call to action.

Get creative with email strategy. Be creative about when you send emails and interact with customers. Aerospace marketers can make trade shows more productive, for example, by using timely email to generate interest in advance of events, drive attendance, and even schedule meetings with prospects.

Ask customers what they want. Don’t be afraid to ask the customers how many emails they would like. Stop sending emails to people who just don’t care.

Be ethical. Research CAN-SPAM laws and make sure that your emails are compliant. Honor opt-outs promptly.

Access these resources for additional information about email marketing: Really Good Emails, HubSpot, Marketo

YOU NEED GREAT SEO, AND HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED

If prospective customers don’t know about you, they can’t buy from you.

If prospective customers know about you but can’t find you online, they won’t buy from you — because most B2B buying decisions happen online.

MarketingProfs.com shares that 71% of buyers prefer to conduct research and purchase on their own, with an access to a sales representative only if needed.

Today, your website is arguably the most important part of your sales and marketing effort. But if your website has not been optimized to achieve top search rankings, it’s wasting time and money. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important to all industries and all marketers, including aerospace.

We notice that SEO is a term that gets tossed around a lot. But what does it really mean?

Let’s say you are a mid-size MRO provider working to increase sales. Your brand is fairly well known, but you aren’t one of the really big guys, and you have a lot of competition. If you Google a relevant phrase, like “helicopter engine overhaul” and your business name does not appear on the first page (preferably in the top three positions) your prospective customers won’t find you, but they will find your competition.

You need great SEO, and here’s what you need to know to get started.

Google rankings are based on more than 200 different factors, but essentially they all come down to content and credibility.
The more frequently you add relevant, quality content (blogs, white papers, videos, photos, links, news) to your website, the more your rankings will improve.
Building links to your site from other trusted sources, and updating search directories, social media and other website promotion tools to establish credibility will also improve your ranking.
Finally, address basic optimization activities, such as updating meta titles and meta descriptions, creating a proper URL structure, and optimizing internal links.

Achieving better rankings does not have to be complicated, and you don’t necessarily need an SEO consultant to be successful, you just need the dedication to producing a quality website that your customers care about. As with all good things, there are no short cuts, and the cheaters get caught — and punished — by Google.

Don’t be afraid of SEO. You just need to get started, stay focused, and update your site. It won’t happen overnight. When it comes to SEO, slow and steady wins the race, the rankings, and, ultimately, the customers.

For more information, take a look at this graphic. It’s a BDN favorite for explaining SEO.

Digital Advertising: How and Why it Can Work for You

Aerospace marketers unanimously cite budget constraints as one of their most significant professional challenges. As many have been forced to re-evaluate how and where to invest their limited marketing dollars, paid digital advertising has become a viable alternative to traditional methods — and with good reason.

Digital advertising is often considerably more affordable, targeted, immediate and measurable than traditional advertising.

But is it right for our industry and your business? Let’s define three options and how to use them most effectively.

Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC, is widely used in aerospace marketing. In fact, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are all using it extensively.

In PPC, advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC, but it is not the only option available. PPC ads may be placed through website publishers, directly through social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) or through an ad network like Google Ad Words.

Benefits of PPC advertising include the ability to track conversations and the fact that you only pay for the actual website visits that occur. Additionally, most PPC platforms allow you to set a strict spending limit, so costs can be monitored closely.

In aerospace marketing, PPC is well suited for a specific campaign, like a new product launch. As opposed to SEO efforts, which may take more time, you’ll get instant recognition with targeted audiences through the use of specific, carefully selected keywords.

Bonus Tip: Purchase the names of your competition as keywords. If a prospect searches for that competitor, they’ll see your ad at the same time.

Here is more information to get you started.

Display advertising is the online placement of visual ads on targeted websites. Display ads may be purchased directly from a publisher or through an ad network like Google.

Before you purchase from an aerospace industry-specific publisher, explore ad network options. Many websites in our industry are overrun with competing ads in limited space, potentially diminishing the chance that visitors will notice and engage with you, and you’ll probably be surprised by the precise targeting that is possible with other options.

And while it has always been challenging to quantify the effectiveness of print advertising, digital methods offer instantaneous information about click-through and conversion rates of web traffic that comes to you as a result of a digital ad. Monitor and measure everything you do, and adjust your spending to support what works best.

Learn more about display advertising here.

Retargeting, sometimes called remarketing, is a type of display advertising and is an excellent tool for businesses with long sales cycles, where lead nurturing is essential. Retargeting works to bring visitors back to your website site over time by regularly showing them relevant subject matter ads when they visit other websites. For example, if a potential customer is doing buying research and visits both your website and that of a competitor, retargeting provides you an opportunity (that your competition may not be using) to lure them back with a clickable special offer or a promotion for interesting content.

Retargeting works as users visit your website, their machine gets cookied. This cookie passes important data to retargeting platforms like Google and AdRoll, signaling that the user has visited your website before. The list of cookied machines gets added to the retargeting list and will begin displaying ads for your website.

Learn more about retargeting here.

Measurement is an essential part of any digital marketing effort. The goals of each online campaign will determine which metrics you should track and analyze. Impressions can indicate the success of a branding campaign, clicks can show increased web traffic, and form fills or conversions represent increased leads or even sales.

It’s important to remember that digital advertising is a tool that should be employed strategically as part of an overall marketing plan. BDN’s digital media coordinator Savannah Ivanitski works with our team and our clients to develop and deploy effective digital marketing strategies. Contact us to learn more.

You may also be interested in: Aerospace Marketers: 5 steps to establish or improve your use of social media…and the FTC regulation you need to know now

Aerospace Marketers: 5 steps to establish or improve your use of social media…and the FTC regulation you need to know now

The use of social media for aerospace marketing is no longer a question. It’s now an essential part of the aerospace marketer’s toolkit.

If you work in defense, know that some of your most important customers — the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — were early adopters that now fully leverage the power of social media. They use it for its convenience, reach, affordability and effectiveness, the very same reasons it has become the medium of choice for terrorist organizations worldwide. Like it or not, it works.

In a recent study that looked at the use of social media in the defense industry, Defence IQ found that 62% of respondents (prime contractors, subcontractors, and the media) believe that it is very important or essential to improve their online and social media presence by 2017.

Here’s how to make social media work for your business.

Have a plan and a purpose

To be effective, it’s essential to understand why you are using social media, how it will connect to your overall marketing and communications strategy, and what you want to accomplish. Your plan should also include a budget, process and dedicated staff fully qualified for the work. Maintain an editorial plan, but be flexible enough to react to timely events. And always support your brand and maintain a consistent voice across platforms.

Pick your platforms

From Facebook and Twitter to online forums, LinkedIn and YouTube, you’ll have more options than time, so be strategic in selecting the correct channels. The Defence IQ report found, for example, that government-related audiences favor corporate websites by a wide margin, followed by YouTube, LinkedIn, targeted content, Facebook, Slideshare, and Twitter. It’s interesting to note that government contractors vastly misjudged what channels their customers view as most effective. As with any form of marketing, it’s critically important to fully understand the people you are trying to reach.

Know your audience

Find and follow your audience to learn what interests them. Search hash tags or use a tool like “we follow” to listen and learn, then use the knowledge to tailor content. Bear in mind that social media requires some trial and error. You’ll need to experiment with each channel’s unique audience to determine what resonates best with your fan base. But if you give them what they want, your audience will find you.

Make it worthwhile

Whatever you do, don’t sell. Don’t make it all about you. And don’t bore your audience by recycling press releases or rehashing old news. Help, engage and inform, all in a relevant, audience-centric way. If you give them a reason to return, they will.

Analyze and improve

By establishing a plan and purpose, you have set goals for your social media program. Now it’s time to monitor and measure success. It’s important to keep track of posts, frequency, and engagement to determine the best social media plan moving forward. For example, you’ll want to determine when users are active online on each platform and post during those times. Also, Google Analytics is an important tool that can tell you if social media is driving traffic to your website, because that’s where the majority of B2B buying decisions start and end.

Did you know?

The Federal Trade Commission requires that you disclose any relationships with anyone you may be promoting. A helpful article explaining this regulation can be found here.

B2B expert MarketingSherpa recently published new information detailing engagement and reach of the top social networks. Learn more here.