What are the basics of on-site SEO?

Marketing Automation is a vast field. Too extensive to describe in a support article. The aim of this article is to summarize the basics of Marketing Automation in order to explain the goals of Marketing Automation and to gain an initial insight into the topic.

Why do you need Marketing Automation?

We live in a complex world. Every advertiser tries to assert their goals in this world and thereby achieve what is known in marketing language as conversion.

A conversion can be many things: for example, signing up for a newsletter, visiting a specific page, requesting a service or product, an add-to-basket, and of course, the direct purchase of a product online.

To achieve this, advertisers usually calculate a contact rate of 5-7. This means that this is the minimum number of contacts that must occur with the direct/clearly defined interested party to enable a conversion.

These contacts can be banners, social posts, newsletters, websites, forms, chats, or any other digital measure/advertisement that encourages an interested party to engage further.

Where lies the challenge?

Everything must be controlled, data stored and analyzed. Campaigns launched and evaluated. For this purpose, there are various tools. All of this can be done with up to 10-20 tools, plugins, solutions from various providers. However, the limits are quickly reached, because ...

1. the complexity becomes enormous

2. data is located at various places and with various providers

3. central evaluation and analysis is virtually impossible or extremely labor-intensive

4. maintenance becomes extensive

5. data protection regulations must be observed and implemented at all points

6. 
   

Marketing Automation consolidates all of this into a central platform, allows for real-time data analysis, and creates unparalleled automation based on data and campaign results.

This concerns not only marketing topics, but also sales, customer service, and website management can be integrated depending on requirements.

How does dietz.digital work with Marketing Automation?

We have been working for a long time with HubSpot, the market leader in many countries. We use this system, but it is not always the best choice. HubSpot is very well integrated, offers a wide range of features, and is highly developed. Additionally, the topic can be approached slowly, which makes a lot of sense. The licensing costs are also initially significantly lower.

In professional variants, where the actual automation begins, the licensing costs also increase significantly. Moreover, you must commit to at least one year. There are no monthly terms.

Therefore, we repeatedly explain that Marketing Automation is not just a tool, but a strategic decision. Just because a switch would be relatively labor-intensive, it would always mean a certain amount of data loss. We consult on entry, implementation, and continuously support during the integration of a CRM account. Also in the beginning, to clarify whether it is the right path and if it makes sense in your case. This is not always the case.

Is Marketing Automation always the right approach?

As in many other areas, one must be aware in advance of what MA is meant to achieve and what prerequisites and applications are sensible and necessary. The following steps should be taken, which provide the foundation for any decision to actually use MA.

1. Which systems are already in place in the company?

Generally, one should avoid using systems that serve equivalent areas or topics. Thus, it must be analyzed which systems will become unnecessary through the use of Marketing Automation, as they only cover a part (e.g., newsletters).

It is also important to know whether eCommerce is already being operated with its own platform, e.g., Magento, Shopify, Shopware, etc. In that case, the framework conditions change, and there are overlaps that have a significant impact on the decision.

2. What goals are being pursued, what is a conversion?

Sounds simple, but it is not. Of course, the purchase of a product by a customer is a conversion. But various other activities should also be defined as goals and explicitly clarified in advance.

3. Are there already data available that support a customer journey?

Have data already been stored in a CRM system or other internal systems? How was this structured? Are there analyses or results available?

4. Are there internal structures that allow for active Marketing Automation?

Who should operate the platform? It makes a lot of sense if this is managed by an external agency like us, as the expertise is present, and one is not integrated into internal organizational structures in a consulting role from outside. Depending on the size of the company, there may be a department that deals with this and for which success goals were defined. In this case, active collaboration makes sense.

5. Are you willing to invest a suitable budget?

The budget should not only be aligned with licensing and agency costs. Without adequate creative and media budgets, it will be difficult to operate Marketing Automation effectively. Due to the multitude of influencing factors, we have prepared an internal cost calculation that can serve as a suitable guideline for the annual use of Marketing Automation. It can also function as a step-by-step plan for SMEs or larger companies/corporations.

Are there alternatives?

Of course, there are alternatives. For example, ActiveCampaign. A provider from the USA that also offers a good Marketing Automation tool. It is significantly cheaper than HubSpot, but can also be less in some parts. It is always a question of usage, so it is advisable to carry out an evaluation here.

At this point, the various CRM tools like FreshWorks, Pipedrive, Evalanche, etc. should also be mentioned, which could also be part of an evaluation.

The core of Marketing Automation

With workflows or a so-called workflow engine, processes can be automated in systems like HubSpot, Evalanche, Pipedrive, Active Campaign, etc. These processes are always based on a so-called trigger. A trigger is an impulse that allows a process to start. To understand this better, here is an example of a typical workflow.

Newsletter registration with double opt-in and qualitative questions (optional)

A potential interest registers for the newsletter. They fill out a form and optionally answer additional questions alongside the email address, but these are not required fields. At the same time, they confirm that their data may be stored and that they want to receive further emails for the purpose of the newsletter.

Trigger: Newsletter form submitted

Scenario 1: They only fill out the email address

Result: The workflow classifies the user as a "normal" newsletter recipient and saves them. At the same time, it sends an email back to the sender requesting confirmation of the email address. By clicking the confirmation link, a landing page is called up that welcomes the interested party.

If this confirmation is clicked, the workflow generates a confirmation in the system and defines the email address as GDPR compliant. Thus, the recipient can also receive newsletters.

The workflow triggers another email and thanks them for the successful newsletter registration. At the same time, it communicates that everything has gone smoothly.

Scenario 2: The interested party answers additional questions in the form

Result: Here, it depends on what was answered and how these answers can be qualitatively assessed. For example, if it concerns an online shop for wines, a question could be about interest in red wines or white wines. It could also be a query about the quality of wine, whether higher-priced wines are interesting or rather cheaper alternatives.

Depending on what was chosen, the workflow can now work with these characteristics and classify the interested party. Since we now know a bit more about the interest of this specific user, an automated assignment to a persona can help to address them even more accurately in the future. Depending on this, other aspects of communication would be considered according to the profile.

Since a 1:1 individual approach would often be too complicated and detailed, classification based on defined personas makes a lot of sense. In the chosen example, the focus is therefore on strategizing the inquiries and assigning them to desired groups/characteristics/personas.

Conclusion

The workflows are technical tools to perfect communication. They do not relieve you of conceptual work. Only suggestions for typical scenarios are conceivable.

In the concrete case, it must always be considered what the best way to the goal may be and this should be implemented in a workflow concept.

Benefits of the Yoast Plugin

The following essential benefits are offered by the plugin. For clients for whom we manage and support the entire website, we also utilize the premium plugin for a fee.

• Definition of one or more focus keywords (FK)

• Traffic light system red/yellow/green for displaying the quality of SEO optimization

• Comprehensive analysis of the optimization with suggestions for what still needs to be done

• Definition of meta descriptions and assignment of pages, posts, categories, etc.

• Schema.org integration

• Readability index check

• Suggestions for linking relevant pages, posts, portfolios (Premium)

• Managing redirects (Premium)

• Setting up social connections with image and text (title, description) (Premium)

• Google Sitemap creation in XML format occurs automatically

Yoast is therefore the solution to excellently optimizing websites for SEO and simultaneously obtaining validated results. However, it requires some familiarization and, above all, profound SEO knowledge. Not everything can be taken over 1:1 and must be professionally interpreted. Nevertheless, Yoast is a very good basis for structuring and professionally tackling SEO optimization.

What can't Yoast do?

Good SEO is primarily good and relevant content. We often deal with final websites that are to be SEO optimized. However, no one built the content for this in the framework of an SEO concept beforehand. No tool in the world can help with this. Good SEO content must be thought out and designed from the start. Yoast can then help optimize this content in a structured and valid way, but it does not create its own content, as, for example, AI tools do.