Search Engine Marketing considerations

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A complex exercise to make sense out of search data
If a picture is worth one thousand words…

Suppose that someone is searching online for a car engine performance tuning solution or for an engine diagnostics tool. How could the analyst who is looking at the data be in a position to understand what kind of person is typing this search term? Could it be a professional who is searching for new equipment to hire? Or rather a professional who is researching the market for competitive products? Can he/she be a car enthusiast who is looking for a servicing workshop with equivalent capabilities?

The answer to this question could only be provided if the search term is sufficiently specific and the relevant analysis be detailed enough. What if the person is experimenting with versions of his / her own search term in order to end up with a search output that is really useful to him / her? In the process, each one of the searches, probably involving respective clicks, are being counted as independent searches from the search engine.

Let us look at this from the perspective of the service or the product owner who wants to attract new customers. Can the keywords that he / she chooses to employ be detailed enough to match the potential customer’s search term? Keywords that are employed for specific campaigns should strike an optimum balance. They should be aiming to reach a sizeable audience, at the same time avoiding to be too vague  resulting in meaningless website traffic.

..what is one thousand words worth?
..what is a thousand words worth?

It is evident from the above considerations that in a digital world where there is a plethora of data, careful analyses of the data sets have to be carried out. This will output to the subsequent data transformation exercise as well as the choice of the metrics to focus on in order to have a good chance to develop powerful insights that have the potential to drive the business forward.

Developing valuable insights takes a lot of effort, using tools and techniques that help to make the leap beyond the obvious and to identify the key to unlock customer behaviour.

 

 

 

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At Pyxis Insights we understand very well how organisations live and breathe thus we focus on the facts. By providing high quality insights we help you steer your organisation towards the right strategic direction.

Marketing Campaign ROI

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Return On Investment
Nobody wants their marketing budget to sail away

For any campaign with SMART objectives set upfront, its performance in the market place should be able to be measured in various ways, either simplistic or sophisticated. There is a trade-off to be considered though. Measurement should be able to support a streamlined marketing and business planning process without acting as an additional hurdle in this process. On the other hand, decision making should not be purely based on impressions and gut feeling, as this runs the risk to derail the whole planning process.

Deciding on a measurement framework requires an understanding of the information sources and their data that are readily available or can easily be obtained. On the other hand, a campaign ROI calculation approach necessitates an obvious link between the objectives of the campaign and the higher level strategic business goals of the organisation as this is the only way to translate campaign objectives and attribute a monetary value to them in order to facilitate Return On Investment calculations.

 

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At Pyxis Insights we understand very well how organisations live and breathe thus we focus on the facts. By providing high quality insights we help you steer your organisation towards the right strategic direction.

Organisational Structure and Organisational Culture

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Organisational culture
The right organisational culture can facilitate customer engagement

One of the key resources that an organisation has at its disposal, is its capability to shape its structure. This has to be wisely managed as the organisational structure can ultimately become one of its competitive edges. On the other hand it can also end up to be one of its major drawbacks. Right decisions about the organisational structure facilitate better decisions about skillsets required, and people recruitment. A proper investigation of the industry requirements and dynamics that the company is operating in, both current and future ones, is a major driver in the journey to shape the desired organisational structure. Strategic organisational goals constitute another major driver towards the desired organisational structure.

Ultimately, the strategic organisational goals aim at making the organisational efforts to produce returns and to become successful in the market place. The customer is the major player there. Hence, decisions about the organisational structure have to be greatly influenced by the customer. They have to be influenced both in terms of design as such but also in terms of how the elements of this structure communicate and work together to deliver.

The organisational culture is shaped by the organisational structure,  the people and the skillsets that populate this structure, its historical efforts and successes but also its future plans and goals. The organisational culture is the end result of previous management decisions and because of inherent organisational inertia, it is very difficult to change.

The right organisational culture is a prerequisite for high organisational effectiveness. The right organisational culture will facilitate the development of successful product, services, and campaigns. The right culture will communicate and relate better to the end customer. The right culture will adapt and respond in a flexible way to market changes. The right organisational culture will identify what is important and what is not and will take the right decisions going forward.

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At Pyxis Insights we understand very well how organisations live and breathe thus we focus on the facts. By providing high quality insights we help you steer your organisation towards the right strategic direction.

Marketing Insights for decision making

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The marketing message has to stand out and engage
The marketing message has to stand out and engage

Marketing Insights are insights developed for the purpose of marketing of products and services. An insight can be any finding about the customer within a product category that is not obvious and rings true in hindsight.

And what is the big fuss about insights? Well, insights are not easy to come up with. Insights can become a springboard for a strong competitive advantage within a given industry or category of products and services.

Usually an insight is developed following a systematic cross examination of diverse datasets, qualitative information or mere evidence and leads to a territory where nobody else has gone before.

Only a small fraction of new product launces and services ultimately become truly successful in the market place. This is not only because the new launch has to be supported by a powerful insight, but also has to be implemented / executed correctly and at the right timing. The powerful insight is the engine. Without an insight, there is no launch.

Many fail to distinguish a powerful insight from a mere finding. This is because they have no reference point or criteria to help them qualify insights among a sea of information. They also lack the skills and the processes to engage in the task to develop insights.

 

 

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At Pyxis Insights we understand very well how organisations live and breathe thus we focus on the facts. By providing high quality insights we help you steer your organisation towards the right strategic direction.

Social Media Marketing

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Desk with Social Media and Connection Concept
A Social Media Marketing Plan requires deep knowledge of the market place and the target audience

Due to a limited marketing budget, a small business relies heavily on social media channels to reach out to the market. This does not come as a surprise as the main resource that is required for social media marketing is some skills  and a lot of time.  A larger business faces a different challenge which is centred around the issue of how to integrate traditional media and social media within the same marketing plan and of course any organisational challenge that may come as a result.

It is evident that online endorsement is much more important than direct word of mouth as it has the potential to influence prospects in many ways and for a longer period of time since the comments remain online. Social Media Marketers have the opportunity through social media to make the most out of this by applying amplification techniques.

In the absence of other criteria to base a judgement on, or when alternatives seem identical, a higher customer rating plays a significant part in transforming consideration to preference or even triggering a purchase.

A Social Media marketing plan should incorporate the following elements:

• Objectives to be achieved
• Target audience to be reached
• Brand ambassadors and Brand Influencers
• How to drive engagement and advocacy (marketing funnel tool)
• Relevance / Appropriateness of alternative Social media platforms to meet its objectives
• How to capitalise and execute across Social media platforms
• Social media Policy for the organisation
• Resources and budget
• How to integrate within the wider marketing plan
• Time frame and performance measurement

 

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At Pyxis Insights we understand very well how organisations live and breathe thus we focus on the facts. By providing high quality insights we help you steer your organisation towards the right strategic direction.