Learning Materials
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Explain the use of content marketing, email marketing and user experience to achieve a digital marketing goal .
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of content marketing, email marketing and user experience to determine their role within a digital strategy.
Content Marketing
Content marketing involves creating a piece of content for a specific audience to consume. This often includes case studies and whitepapers, but it can also be applied to PPC advertisements or emails. In fact, any piece of text or graphic that is used for marketing purposes is technically content marketing.
As you read the study materials, reflect on the types of content that you read on a regular basis, what emails you open and consider the power of providing a great user experience and easy path for website visitors to find what they are looking for. Can you think of a website that makes it easy and one that makes it hard?
Consider how you feel as a visitor when a website is easy to navigate. The study materials should prompt you to consider the effectiveness and scenarios that you would use the different types of content marketing and user experience in a digital strategy.
Email Marketing
Email is one of the longest-standing forms of digital marketing and is still extensively used in various formats. In this study section, you will learn about the different kinds of emails that can be created.
It is also worth noting that while this reading primarily considers email from a Business-to-Consumer perspective, emails are one of the most common methods of directly selling to other organizations in Business-to-Business companies. Furthermore, emails are a great opportunity to incorporate content marketing.
As you read the study materials, consider the different types of marketing emails you have read in the past. Are there certain kinds you are more likely to read or not read?
Which emails are you more likely to interact with (e.g. contains hyperlinks, a call to action, etc.)?
Study
User Experience (UX) is the practice of designing digital media to suit the user’s needs and desires. This is simply the art and science of ensuring that people know how to navigate and where to click on the website in order to purchase products, view content, or use their services.
User experience is about understanding your user personas (i.e. how users think and operate online) because the last thing you want is for your users to become confused or lost and leave your website. Since user experience is a crucial element of conversion rate optimization and the overall design of a site, it should be an important part of any digital strategy.
As you read the study materials, make note of the strengths and weaknesses of this digital tactic. Also, consider how you would go about implementing this digital tactic to achieve a set of campaign goals.
Study
Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing
Read Chapter 16: Effective design, e-commerce and user experience (UX) (13 pages, pp. 265-277)
eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing v. 1.0
Read Chapter 13: Web Site Development and Design, opens in a new tab (25 pages, Sections 13.1-13.7)
Practice
This practice activity is an opportunity for you to apply the content marketing tactic to a case study.
Read the Business Profile: Barbecues R Us, opens in a new tab
Answer the following question:
Explain a few different ways that Barbecues R Us could leverage content marketing in their strategies.
Check your answers: Module 9: Answers, opens in a new tab
Module 9: Summary (5:16 min) | Transcript, opens in a new tab
By Josiah Shelley for McMaster University CCE
References
Kingsnorth, S. (2019). Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing (2nd ed.). London, UK: Kogan Page.
Saylor Academy. (2012). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing (v.1.0.) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, opens in a new tab. Washington: Saylor Academy. Retrieved from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_emarketing-the-essential-guide-to-online-marketing/index.html
