In Irish news: A Murder investigation opened after death of girl (2) in Cork . The child was found with serious injuries in an apartment at the Elderwood Apartment complex on the Boreenmanna Road in the early hours of yesterday morning.

In other Irish news: according to a report in the Journal Transport minister Ross has called on government to say what it’s doing about the greyhound industry in wake of the recent RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme (watch here).

Following up: On the story on Brian Cowen The Sun has reported that the former Taoiseach has suffered from a brain hemorrhage.

And finally:Several hundred people marched in the Second Annual Trans Pride Rally in Dublin this afternoon.

Thousands turn out at Rally for Life march in Dublin. In a report by RTE: The organisers of the Rally for Life march in Dublin estimate that around 10,000 people took part in the event. Thousands turn out at Rally for Life march in Dublin

In UK news: It is being reported by the BBC that Some Conservative members have been issued with more than one ballot paper to vote for the next party leader and prime minister.

In America one of the top stories is the 7.1 earthquake in California

http://KCAL/KCBS news anchors

Search Engine Optimization

The bored journalist

Posted on July 6, 2019

The formal definition of Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of refining your website using both on-page and off-page practices so that it will be indexed and ranked successfully by search engines.

What is SEO?

Search engines have two major functions: crawling and building an index, and providing search users with a ranked list of the websites they’ve determined are the most relevant. Put simply SEO is the process of optimizing your online content so that a search engine show it as a top result for searches of a certain keyword.It is the art and science of publishing and marketing information that ranks well in search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search etc…

Why SEO?

It is important to understand how people think to make understanding what people are searching for online, the answers they are seeking, the words they’re using, and the type of content they wish to consume. This is important once you gain traction in the search results the incremental costs of gaining additional exposure helps to grow your brand.

To understand SEO it is important to understand SERP Search Engine Results Page. A SERP is the web page that a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo!, returns that lists the results of a user’s search. A SERP is divided into core sections. At the top you’ll always find paid listings.

Key terminology

Organic versus Paid Listings:

Listings that are displayed on the first page of search engines yield the highest search traffic which in turn leads to more clicks.

Organic search results are the Web page listings that most closely match the user’s search query based on relevance. Also called “natural” search results, ranking high in the organic results is what SEO is all about.

Paid results are basically advertisements — the Web site owners have paid to have their Web pages display for certain keywords, so these listings show up when someone runs a search query containing those keywords.

Keyword research Keywords are single words or whole phrases of a particular SEO importance for a given page or website. Keyword research is a critical component for SEO because when used correctly it provides a road map for both the design and execution of building websites and developing content. Keywords are usually broken up and grouped based on the number of words within the query phrases.

Black hat SEO is the name for all SEO practices that are known for being manipulative or unethical, and in the long run can hurt your website, or even get it banned from search engines.

Backlinks: Backlink is simply a link placed on someone else’s website that points back to your site. Backlinks are one of the most important factors for SEO. Getting a lot of backlinks with relevant anchor texts is the shortest way of improving your search engine rankings.

Further reading:

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html

https://searchenginewatch.com/google-pagerank-algorithm-explained

https://searchengineland.com/guide/seo

Categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: #digitalmarketing, #marketing, #optimization, #seo

Concepts of Inbound and Outbound marketing.

The bored journalist

Posted on July 5, 2019

Inbound: —Pull strategy—Attract leads by providing content that is helpful for them and will organically lead to engagement. Inbound is defined as an approach focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful — not interruptive. With inbound marketing, potential customers find you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media. The development of inbound marketing came from the realisation that traditional tactics did not perform well at developing healthy relationships with customers as they were too intrusive and disruptive. Inbound was influenced by the change in consumer behaviour with new media development, resulting in a shorter attention spans, more choice, information and the possibility to reduce marketing noise in one click Inbound marketing can be achieved through all media types, but is mostly developed through owned and earned media.

Outbound: —Push strategy—Show content to as many users as possible to increase chances of reaching an interested audience. Outbound marketing is an attempt to initiate a conversation about a product or service by rapidly spreading word of its existence, using volume and repetition. Outbound marketing tries to reach consumers through general media advertising as well as through in-person contact. Outbound methods can be broad (TV advertising), thoroughly personal (face-to-face meetings), or “impersonally personal” (cold-calling or blanket emails). Through each outbound method, sales leads are generated and then followed by internal sales representatives.

Sources:

https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/2989/Inbound-Marketing-vs-Outbound-Marketing.aspx

http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/outbound-marketing.html

Categories: Rob's notes

Tagged: #digitalmarketing, #marketing, #notes

In the News: 5-7-2019 Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen in intensive care

The bored journalist

Posted on July 5, 2019

In Irish news: Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen in intensive care after falling ill last night. According reports It is understood Cowen had been experiencing some ill health in recent weeks. More information to follow.

In other Irish news:People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has hit out at the government for opposing the party’s Climate Emergency Bill. The Climate Emergency Bill which is aimed at banning oil and gas exploration in Irish waters was killed off by the cabinet.In a statement earlier today, Smith said that Ireland could be a beacon to the world if the Dáil were to pass her bill.

In business news On 3 July 2019 The Central Bank fines Wells Fargo’s Irish subsidiary €5.8m for “serious failings” in its regulatory reporting capability and compliance. Read their finding here.

In European news: Croatia launched Thursday (4 July) a bid to join Europe’s Exchange Rate Mechanism. A letter of intent to join the mechanism sent to the eurozone countries and EU institutions, signed by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and HNB government Boris Vujcic, was accompanied by a plan for reforms Croatia will undertake before entering it, a national bank etter of intent to join the mechanism sent to the eurozone countries and EU institutions, signed by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and HNB government Boris Vujcic, was accompanied by a plan for reforms Croatia will undertake before entering it, a national bank.

Categories: Journalism, Politics

Tagged: #climate, #economic, #news, #politics

In the News: 4-7-2019

The bored journalist

Posted on July 4, 2019

In the news today the Taoiseach apologises over ‘sinning priest’ comments he made to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin where he likened him to a sinning Catholic priest in his comments in the Dáil yesterday.

Video source

The chances of another recession in Ireland are 100 per cent, as the country is a small, open economy, highly-indebted, and relying on international investors for 90 per cent of its borrowings, according to the head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

In the markets the nomination of Christine Lagarde as Mario Draghi’s replacement at the helm of the European Central Bank (ECB) was seen positively at the close of trading yesterday.

The former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe has likened the UK’s departure from the EU to the emancipation of slaves, as she became the first Brexit party MEP to speak in the new European parliament.

Video Source

Categories: Journalism, Politics

Tagged: #economic, #news, #politics

Rob’s Notes: Content Marketing

The bored journalist

Posted on July 4, 2019

Content marketing is the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential customers, thereby building trust with the audience. Content marketing is about the audience, content marketing is about delivering value to the audience. Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to: Attract attention and generate leads.

Expand their customer base. Content marketing is a powerful tool for businesses to use in bringing consumers along the conversion funnel. Different formats, types, and styles for your content will serve different audience needs and ultimately improve your chances to acquire new customers or clients.

How Content works for you: Always make sure your content has a clear intention on what you are aiming for it to achieve. Content that lacks intention will easily be spotted by customers as lazy, irrelevant, and not adding to your pitch.

Awareness: Let potential customers know you exist, what you stand for, and your USPs versus competitors; show what you do, how you do it, and how you can solve a problem.

Interest: Capture the audience’s attention beyond awareness and convince them of your proposition.

Consideration: Provide further detail on what you do to inform customers on your experience, price, and happy customers. Why you versus competitors? Highlight experience, testimonials, and expert knowledge.

Conversion: Foster a warm and personalized experience between customers and your business. This includes lead nurturing, added value, return purchase incentivizing, requesting feedback, and community management.

Retention: Encourage repeat business but also to shine a light on positive customer experiences for new potential customers. This involves heroing champion customers and amplifying user-generated content through your content marketing channels.

As you can see, there’s no one size fits all and it’s important to consider the agenda with your content strategy to make sure it’s serving the right objectives but also speaking in a relatable way to your intended recipient.

Categories: Rob's notes

Tagged: #digitalmarketing, #marketing, #media

Rob’s Notes: The buyers journey pt1

The bored journalist

Posted on July 3, 2019

The Awareness stage represents the moment when the consumer becomes aware of a problem they want to solve in their life and perceives your product ad as a potential solution.

In this stage, marketers should focus on creating visibility and recognition. This is a critical stage for new products, brands, or added benefits to an existing product. This stage will focus on getting your product out there, implementing it as part of a broader scope of existing solutions for an issue.

In this example, our consumer Mary is not satisfied with the state of her hair. Maybe she saw an advertisement for a shampoo attracting attention to split ends, or maybe she has a friend with healthier-looking hair than hers and also wants to be able to enjoy rich, glossy, and fabulous looking hair. At this stage, understanding where this need emerged from will help you know what your product can actually bring.

There is a difference in building a strategy for consumers whose motivation comes from confidence issues about their physical appearance and beauty than one from consumers with hair-related conditions that will need a more medical approach. Solving for the Awareness stage is one of the most expensive, because it relies mostly on repetition, scale, and developing new content that will match the consumer’s motivation and need. Achieving awareness requires being present in the places that consumers look for solutions. At this stage of a consumer’s research, 72% will turn to Google for answers.

Ask yourself:

Why is the consumer trying to solve this problem?

What is the root of the problem?

Where will they go to find solutions?

What solution can your company bring?

How does your company’s solution fit into the consumer’s knowledge and lifestyle?

The Interest stage represents the moment when the consumer is looking for options that will help solve their problem.

During this stage, consumers will look at possibilities and prioritize what they need and how to find a solution to meet that need. For instance, they might look at different shampoos and brands, and compare price, ingredients, features, and packaging of the shampoo. They will prioritize their research around one or multiple criteria, such as finding a shampoo that is low in price but one with natural ingredients.

At this stage, the consumer will have a selection of products in mind but will need more information and experience to make a decision. This is a quest for knowledge that, in the digital marketing landscape, translates into reading reviews, blog articles, social media, and ad product websites in order to gain as much information as possible. We can consider that this stage is influenced by earned media, as the consumer will turn to peer recommendations to scope solutions to their problems.

Now, consumers are active and open to finding new content, so this is a great stage to push your content out organically, send well-timed marketing emails, and develop relevant articles that attract that interested audience. These consumers are what we call prospects, who can be turned into leads. They are showing interest but haven’t yet actively engaged with your company. The goal is to engage them emotionally, by appealing to their needs.

The Consideration stage represents the moment when the consumer knows about your brand and thinks it is a good fit for their needs or what they are trying to achieve. They may have other brands in mind, but your company is in the top five possible choices. A more aggressive approach is needed from the marketing strategy in order to strengthen the relationship with the consumer and prove the brand’s value through content, testing, promotions, and staying relevant.

The consumer might have decided to follow the brand on social media and subscribe to a newsletter to get more information that could influence their choice. They have shown interest by taking these actions and are waiting to be convinced. At this stage, your product is compared with a selection of your probable direct competitors. This is where differentiation will play a major role in decision making. You need to answer some questions for the customer: Why is your product better? What is the added value? How difficult is it to buy your product? What is the level of effort involved in using your product? What are previous customers saying about your product? Is your product used by any trusted sources, such as influences or friends?

In our example, Mary may have two or three brands in mind that meet her needs. They could repair her hair, be low in cost, and use natural ingredients. These products and brands are slightly similar with different positioning and Mary is trying to learn more about the quality of each. She will browse their website, follow them on Instagram, look at reviews on Amazon, and consult her favorite beauty blogger for more insights. The influential factors that help her make a decision at this stage might be any of the following: a special collaboration with her favorite artist, an aspect of the product that impacts on the environment, and seeing lots of content related to one brand.

At this stage, the inbound strategy makes even more sense because, if it is correctly realized, the brand or product will organically occur in the consumer’s search and social media feeds. But using all three types of media (owned, earned, and paid) will yield even stronger results, using an influence’s voice and re-targeting consumers that have previously shown interest.

The Conversion stage represents the moment when the consumer is ready to buy your product. The consumer has done their research and, based on their needs and motivations, has decided that the product is providing the best solution for their problem. At this stage, the consumer has not yet paid for the product or service and the role of the marketer is to create a point of contact to drive the conversions. This is generally achieved with targeting and re-targeting, promotional offers, and creating a sense of urgency. Thanks to analytics on website, social media, and marketing emails, marketers can gather data that will qualify a lead for sales based on actions taken.

If we take our example, Mary has read reviews online, asked her friends, been on several brands’ websites, and started following some products on social media. Recently, she went on the website of product X, selected a few products, added them to her basket and saved it, but didn’t convert. She came back to the company social accounts and product pages a couple of times during the week. These clues give the marketer information that she is actively considering the product and might be ready for conversion. As a result, it might be a good idea to send a marketing email reminding her of the product she left and offer a promotional code for her first purchase that will be valid for the next few days. Another tactic can be to use social media re-targeting capacities on Mary’s social media newsfeed, showing relevant ads that showcase the product and the brand.

The Retention stage is often overlooked, but it is a key stage for ensuring reoccurring revenue and creating a group of active brand advocates. Once the consumer has used the product and is satisfied, it is crucial to provide added value and create a real relationship. This, on one hand, delights the customer, who will feel special and part of the brand’s community and, on the other hand, this encourages repurchase and thus additional revenue from an existing customer.

From a cost point of view, it is more cost effective to retain existing customers and encourage re-purchases than getting new leads that might only be at the Awareness stage. In this stage, you are addressing an already convinced consumer who thinks your product is great for them, but you still need to keep them satisfied and create a desire to come back to your product.

This is achieved by many tactics, such as content development, special promotions, events, newsletters, community management, and so on. If we look at our example, Mary has purchased the product after seeing a re-targeted ad on Facebook. She used the product and her hair became much healthier, so she posted on social media about her experience, and is currently happy with the product’s promise. Her purchase might last her a month or so, thus the brand over this period of time has to ensure that her next purchase, if only to renew the product, will be within their product range.

The brand can send a post-sales message to thank Mary, giving her a voucher for additional purchases and also provide content about other products she might like. The company could also use research to understand what other buyers in their community have bought and, if Mary fits any existing buyer personas, that could provide extra information. If they know that she visits the blog often, they can set up a lead flow to subscribe her to their newsletter and use smart content to show relevant articles.

Today with digital marketing, the Retention stage can be extremely rich and relevant based on all the information gathered using online analytics. The more you know about your customers, the more you will be able to provide additional value to them and delight them, not only with your product, but with your brand experience and personality.

Categories: Rob's notes

Tagged: #college, #digitalmarketing, #marketing, #writelife

Robert Geoghegan.

Social commentry.

In the News: 6-7-2019 Murder investigation opened after death of girl (2) in Cork

The bored journalist

Posted on July 6, 2019

Search Engine Optimization

The bored journalist

Posted on July 6, 2019

Concepts of Inbound and Outbound marketing.

The bored journalist

Posted on July 5, 2019

In the News: 5-7-2019 Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen in intensive care

The bored journalist

Posted on July 5, 2019

In the News: 4-7-2019

The bored journalist

Posted on July 4, 2019

Rob’s Notes: Content Marketing

The bored journalist

Posted on July 4, 2019

Rob’s Notes: The buyers journey pt1

The bored journalist

Posted on July 3, 2019