Research -Knowing Your Clients & Products

Agenda

Why Research is important?

How Research can be done?

Sources of Data - Primary & Secondary (Overview).

Key Research & Skill Elements.

Tips on Writing effective Classifieds/Meta Description.

Why Research and How to Do It?

Why Research?

• To know in and out about the business and product of the client. Understand the industry and the competitors. Adopt the right approach to promote the business from the content point of view.

How to Do It?

• Study the website of the client• Visit the websites of the competitors• Conduct online research to understand the Product/Service type in details

Sources of Data

• Data can be defined as the quantitative or

qualitative values of a variable.

• Usually data is a raw form of information.

Though during content research, we often find

structured data in the form of existing research

papers, articles, blogs etc.

• Data can be numbers, images, words, figures,

facts or ideas.

• Often the given data cannot be understood and

to get information from that, one must interpret

it into meaningful information (e.g, table,

charts)

• There are basically two research methodologies

for collecting data - 1) Primary Research and 2)

Secondary Research.

Data Collection Techniques

• Primary

Primary data collection techniques:

- Interviews - Surveys (online, mail)- Documented trend analysis received from the client.

• Secondary

Secondary data collection is all about collecting information from a diverse source such as:- Research Paper - Electronically stored information, - Journal/Newspaper

This is also known as ‘Data Mining.’

CLIENT INPUT = AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF INFORMATION

Scope of Primary Data Collection:The scope of primary data collection emanates when a researcher gains some key insights into the subject by collecting data from reliable sources or by analyzing previously collected primary data.

Primary Data

Disadvantages of Primary Data:

High Cost

Time Consuming

Inaccurate Feedback

Extensive research is needed for fetching adequate resources.

Advantages of Primary Data:

Data interpretation is better

Targeted Issues are addressed

Addresses Specific Research Issues

Greater Control

Secondary Data

How Secondary Data is Collected?In manual research, the scope of collecting Secondary data is limited. On the other hand, for digital world, the reverse is true.

Different Sources of Secondary Data:Research papers, E-books, Journals,Online magazines/Newspapers

Disadvantages of Secondary Data:

Can be biasedIncomplete information

Advantages of Secondary Data:

InexpensiveEasily accessibleImmediately availableWill provide essential background and help to clarify or refine research problem – essential for literature review

Holistic View from Both SEO & Content Perspective

Key Research Elements for Digital Marketing

Proper understanding on Client’s products/services.

Competitor analysis

Understanding the relevance of Keywords

In-depth conceptual knowledge about various product categories that client offers

Writing appropriate classifieds/Meta Description/Social bookmarking

Key Research Elements for Digital Marketing

Briefing on Client’s Products/Services

Purpose :

Providing guidance to the writers with as much direct/indirect information for writing from a creative/neutral perspective.

To clearly understand the brand, and business objective of the client.

Briefing contains the following essential factors:

Information about client's products/services, and the Unique Selling Points (USPs).

Brand Identity of client through documents, and audio-visual material. The target market. Key points or phrases about the products and keywords to generate traffic. Call-to-Action words to be used for classifieds, meta tags and social bookmarking.

Example – Client’s Business Philosophy

Information in the content needs to be in sync with the client's business philosophy

Example - If client's Business Philosophy is:

"Affordable, quality products to fulfil average people's needs"

Content needs to focus on:

•Pricing/Budgeting•Good quality that can substitute expensive products.•Utilities•Real life situations/occasions when such products can make them HAPPY.

Key Research Elements for Digital Marketing -

Knowing about the Competitors & the Market

The internet has become a primary knowledgebase. Research is done through various techniques to obtain industry related news and information about competitors.

Who are the client's competitors?

What products/services do they sell?

Latest facts and trends about the market.

Reading newsletters, and other write ups for

knowledge enhancement and to get new

ideas.

Key Research Elements for Digital Marketing

Understanding the Relevance of keywords?

As per the Client Website:

Does the keyword go with the client branding?

Key Research Elements for Digital Marketing

Result?

Interesting themes, relevant keywords

And

Engaging Content!!

Key Research Elements for Digital Marketing

In-depth conceptual knowledge about various product categories that client offers.

• Study about the product in details.

• Keep in mind the target market as specified by

client.

• Know about the main categories and sub-

categories of products/services.

• Know the utilities of the products to address

the end customers' needs.

• Understand product features and its appeal to

the customers. Do thorough research.

Tips for Writing Effective Classifieds

Classifieds

• Know about client's products/services ; not just by their names, also their features in details.

• Check some sample classifies searching on the internet related to the similar product.

• Take care of the tones that are suitable for a brand. Tones need to be changed as the type of the

product changes.

• Use Call-to-Action worlds such as 'Buy, Call, register, Subscribe.

• Along with CTAs, use phrases like 'Hurry! Offer Expires Soon,' 'Offers for a short period only,

'Order now and receive discount.' These will create a sense of urgency.

Example: Approach for writing classifieds for Suits needs to be different from a Music course.

Use Verbs and Prepositions carefully

Example:

•"Buy suits for $150."•"Protein supplements are available at discounted prices."•"Avail discount up to 40%." •"Get flat 40% discount during/in this festive season." •"Looking for great music courses in New York?"•"Gear up for Summer Jazz workshops at Manhattan, in New York."•"The concert will take place on Manhattan's Upper West Side road at 263 West 86th Street."

Note: Possibility of using asterisks (*) and plus (+) sign in classifieds to draw more attention.

Tips for Writing Effective Classifieds

Tips for Writing Effective Meta Description/Social Bookmarking

Meta Description/Social Bookmarking

• Search Terms: It draws visitors' attention

to your result and increase chances of

click through.

• Brand message: An important

differentiator in a crowded marketplace.

• Compelling marketing message: Write

something that markets the contents of

this page.

• USPs/value adds/discounts/offers.

• Make it unique

Things-to-do when writing Meta Description

Meta description gives Google and other search engines a summary of what a specific web page is all about. Writing a good description provides Google an option to have a good selection of text to match up users’ query.

A well-written Meta description would both generate interest and inform users on the intended search.

Tips for Writing Effective Meta Description

Things-to-do when writing Social Bookmarking:

A social bookmarking service is a centralized online service which enables users to add, annotate, edit, and share bookmarks of web documents.

An Example of Social Bookmarking – Reddit

Social Bookmarking sites are essentially libraries that store links that are bookmarked in categories. Descriptions may be added to these bookmarks in the form of metadata, so users may understand the content of the resource without first needing to download it for themselves.

Tips for Writing Effective Social Bookmarking

Outcome

Useful Links

• Rethinking Marketing Research in the Digital World - www.123rf.com• http://writtent.com/blog/7-effective-call-to-action-examples-and-why-they-

work/• http://marketingbones.com/call-to-action-marketing-the-10-best-the-worst-phras

es/• http://www.fotosearch.com/