Chapter 9:

Marketing communications
using digital media channels

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Chapter 9 Marketing Communications using
digital media channels
Main Topics:
1. Search engine marketing
2. Online public relations and influencer relationship
management
3. Online partnerships including affiliate marketing
4. Interactive display advertising
5. Opt-in email marketing and mobile messaging
6. Social media and viral marketing
7. Offline promotion techniques

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 Introduction

Digital media channel: Online

communications technique such as search
engine marketing, affiliate marketing and
display advertising used to engage web
users on third-party sites, encourage them
to visit an organisation’s site or purchase
through traditional channels such as by
phone or in store.

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 1. Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM): Promoting an organisation
through search engines to meet its objectives by delivering
relevant content in the search listings for searchers and
encouraging them to click through to a destination site.
Search engine marketing is a key technique for generating
quality visitors to a website.

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Search engine results pages (SERPS):
The page(s) containing the results after a user
types a key phrase into a search engine.
SERPS contain both natural or organic
listings and paid or sponsored listings.
Natural or organic listings: The pages
listing results from a search engine query,
which are displayed in a sequence according
to relevance of match between the keyword
phrase typed into a search engine and a web
page according to a ranking algorithm used
by the search engine.

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There are two main types of SEM that are quite distinct in the
marketing activities needed to manage them
1. Search engine optimisation (SEO) A structured approach
used to increase the position of a company or its products in
search engine natural or organic results listings for selected
keywords or phrases.
2. Paid search (pay-per-click) marketing (PPC) A relevant
text ad with a link to a company page is displayed on the
SERPs when the user of a search engine types in a specific
phrase. A fee is charged for every click of each link, with the
amount bid for the click mainly determining its position. PPC
may involve advertising through a display network of third-
party sites.

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Search engine ranking factors
Google has stated that it uses more than 200 factors or signals
within its search ranking algorithms.
These include positive ranking factors that help boost
position, and negative factors or filters that are used to remove
search engine spam from the index where SEO companies
have used unethical approaches such as automatically creating
links to mislead the Google algorithms.

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 What controls position in paid
search
In early pay-per-click programs, the relative ranking of sponsored
listings was simply based on the highest bided cost-per-click (CPC) for
each keyword phrase.
Since only a small proportion of visitors to a site clicking from the ad
will convert, it is difficult to generate a positive return-on-investment for
these generic terms.
Contrary to what many web users may believe, today it is not necessarily
the company that is prepared to pay the most per click that will get top
spot.
The search engines also take the relative click-through rates of the ads
dependent on their position into account when ranking the sponsored
links, so ads that do not appear relevant, because fewer people are
clicking on them, will drop down or may even disappear of the listing.

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2. Online public relations &
influencer relationship management
Public relations (PR) The management of the awareness,
understanding and reputation of an organisation or brand,
primarily achieved through influencing exposure in the media.
Digital media have become a very important element of public
relations (PR) and the Internet has influenced PR practices.
Online PR is relevant for businesses and relatively cost-effective
and so appeals to small businesses and start-ups who can
potentially make a big impact with online PR, coupled with
content marketing if they harness it effectively

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Online influencer outreach Identifying online influencers such as
bloggers, media owners or individuals with a large online following in the
social networks and then approaching them to partner together to
communicate with their audience.
Minimising unfavourable mentions, for example monitoring and
influencing conversations in blogs and social networks through online
reputation management, is also an aspect of online PR.
Influencer relationship management (IRM) A structured process to
continuously manage and measure influencer outreach as a programme of
campaigns based on content-assets and ‘always-on’ activities against
defined goals.
Today, online PR and influencer outreach are often managed as a
continuous, year-round process.

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 Differences between online
PR and traditional PR
For a marketer the main differences are:
1. Less easy to control.
2. More options to create their own stories.
3. Need for faster response.
4. Opportunities for proactive real-time campaigns.
5. Easier to monitor.

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3. Online partnerships
including affiliate marketing
Resources must be devoted to managing your online partners. Many
large organisations have specific staff to manage these relationships.
In smaller organisations partnership management is often neglected,
which is a missed opportunity.
There are three key types of online partnerships that need to be
managed:
1. Affiliate marketing.
2. Online sponsorship.
3. Co-marketing and influencer outreach.

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A- Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing A commission-based arrangement where referring sites
(publishers) receive a commission on sales or leads by merchants (retailers or
other transactional sites).
Commission is usually based on a percentage of product sale price or a fixed
amount for each sale, but may also sometimes be based on a per-click basis.

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 Figure 9.9 The affiliate marketing model

Affiliate marketing is the ultimate form of marketing communications since

it’s a commission-based arrangement where the merchant only pays when they
make the sale or get a lead.
It’s not so suitable though for business products or lower-priced consumer
products since it will not sufficiently profitable for the affiliates.
Increasingly, affiliate marketing is known as Performance Marketing (PM).

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B- Online Sponsorship
Online sponsorship is not straightforward. It’s not just a case of
mirroring existing ‘real-world’ sponsorship arrangements in the ‘virtual
world’, although this is a valid option.
There are many additional opportunities for sponsorship online that can
be sought out, even if you don’t have a big budget at your disposal.
For the advertiser, online sponsorship has the benefit that their name is
associated with an online brand that the site visitor is already familiar
with. So, sponsorship builds on this existing relationship and trust.

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 C- Co-branding
Co-branding an arrangement between two or more companies
that agree to jointly display content and perform joint promotion
using brand logos, email marketing or banner advertisements.
The aim is that the brands are strengthened if they are seen as
complementary.
Co-branding is often a mutual arrangement, which can occur
without payment as part of a wider agreement between partners.

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4. Interactive display
advertising
Display advertising Display ads are paid ad placements using
graphical or rich media ad units within a web page to achieve goals of
delivering brand awareness, familiarity, favourability and purchase
intent.
Many ads encourage interaction through encouraging the viewer to
interact or rollover to play videos, complete an online form or to view
more details by clicking through to a site.
Display advertising is still informly known as banner advertising.

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5. Opt-in email marketing
Email marketing
When devising plans for email marketing communications, marketers
need to plan for:
1. Outbound email marketing: Emails are sent to customers and
prospects from an organisation, where email campaigns are used as
a form of direct marketing to encourage trial and purchases and as
part of a CRM dialogue
2. Inbound email marketing, Management of emails from customers
by an organisation, such as service enquiries

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 Opt-in email options for
customer acquisition
For acquiring new visitors and customers to a site, there are three main
options for email marketing. From the point of view of the recipient,
these are:
1. Cold email campaign List rental is not practical today under privacy
laws since permission hasn’t been sought. Instead, co-branded emails
are used.
2. Co-branded email. Here, the recipient receives an email with an offer
from a company they have an affinity with and from whom they have
agreed to receive ads.
3. Third-party e-newsletter. In this visitor acquisition option, a company
publicises itself in a third-party e-newsletter. This could be in the
form of an ad, sponsorship or PR in a publisher newsletter.

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 Opt-in email options for prospect
conversion
Some options for in-house email marketing include:
1. Conversion email. Someone visits a website and expresses interest in a
product or service by registering and providing their email address.
Automated follow-up emails can be sent out. Similarly, retailers will follow-
up with ‘abandoned basket’ emails.
2. Regular e-newsletter type. These are commonly used to update consumers
on the latest products or promotions, or business customers on
developments within a market.
3. House-list campaign. These are periodic emails to support different
objectives such as encouraging trial of a service or newly launched product,
repeat purchases or reactivation of customers who no longer use a service.
4. Event-triggered or behavioural emails and sequences. The marketing
automation services send out a series of emails, with the interval between
emails and messages determined by the marketer. Examples include
welcome or reactivation sequences.
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6. Social media & Viral
marketing
Social media marketing Monitoring and facilitating customer
interaction and participation throughout the web to encourage positive
engagement with a company and its brands. Interactions may occur on a
company site, social networks and other third-party sites.
Social media marketing is an important category of digital marketing
that involves encouraging customer communications.
It can be applied as a traditional broadcast medium, However, to take
advantage of the benefits of social media it is important to start to
participate in customer conversations.
These can be related to products, promotions or customer service and
are aimed at learning more about customers and providing support, thus
improving the way a brand is perceived.

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Viral marketing
Viral marketing Online viral marketing, or buzz marketing, is a form
of electronic word-of-mouth marketing. Brands and promotions are
discussed and awareness of them transmitted in two main forms, either
as pass-along email or discussion in a social network.
When planning integrated campaigns, it is important to note that the
online viral affect can be amplified through offline media mentions or
advertising either on TV and radio or in print.

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WOM
Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing According to the Word-of-Mouth
Marketing Association (WOMMA) it is giving people a reason to talk
about your products and services and making it easier for that
conversation to take place.
It is the art and science of building active, mutually beneficial
consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications.
It is an established concept closely related to viral marketing, but
broader in context.
Research shows that recommendations from friends, family or even
other online consumers are trusted and are a major consideration in
product and supplier selection.

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7. Offline promotion
techniques
Site owners find that greater levels of investment in offline advertising
using TV, print or radio results in a greater number of direct visitors to
websites.
If someone sees an ad on TV, they can easily search via their mobile
device for a brand or the category.
The influence of TV can be tracked by web analytics, which shows an
increase in searches containing the brand or campaign name or the web
address, or direct visitors who enter the site URL into the address bar.
Research has identified that there is a clear correlation between
investment in offline advertising and visits to a website.

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Despite the range of opportunities for using new online communications tools,
traditional communications using offline media remain a significant form of
investment in marketing communications for most.
When the web analytics data about referring visitors are assessed, for most
companies that are not online-only businesses we find that over half the visitors
are typically marked as ‘No referrer’.

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 Incidental & Specific advertising of
the online presence
Two types of offline advertising can be identified:
1. Incidental offline advertising Driving traffic to the website is not
a primary objective of the advert.
Reference to the website is incidental offline advertising if the main
aim of the advert is to advertise a particular product or promotion
and the website is available as an additional source of information
if required by the viewer.
2. Specific offline advertising Driving traffic to the website or
explaining the online proposition is a primary objective of the
advert.
The advert will highlight the offers or services available at the
website, such as sales promotions or online customer service.

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