The brainchild of serial entrepreneurs and content marketing experts Joe Pulizzi (The Tilt) and Brian Clark (Copyblogger), CEX focused on how successful content creators—from YouTube personalities to TikTokkers and Twitch streamers—embrace and empower the communities of people who love their content and build genuine connections through storytelling and unique applications for new content offerings, such as NFTs.

“Communities”—not followers, users, or audiences—was the top conference conversation. Listening to your community is key, and these takeaways from six content marketing experts reaffirm that giving the people what they want and need remains the core element in successful storytelling.

1. Create ad content that speaks your community’s aspiration—not what you’re selling.

Content expert Ann Handley understands that successful ad content focuses on what people want instead of what you want them to want. Your brand should stand on its own—the story and the feeling should be the attractor.

Handley put it bluntly and best: If your logo disappeared from your website, would people still be able to tell that it’s you? Universities, for example, should describe how their degree programs can give people a brighter future—a coveted job, the chance to travel, fulfilling a family dream—rather than saying, “We offer this BA or MS.”

How many alumni get promotions after attaining a master’s degree from your institution? What percentage of graduates found a relevant career within six months of graduating? Provide tangible results instead of brand platitudes to drive enthusiasm in your current and prospective community.

2. You don’t have to do everything your community says, but if you listen, they’ll tell you a lot.

Communities thrive when they know they’re being heard, said New York Times best-selling author Daniel Pink. Even if you don’t make every change an audience suggests, you might be surprised by the amount of goodwill you can earn by taking their concerns into consideration for today or in the future.

Not sure where to start? For many of our clients, direct feedback is the best way to find out what is and isn’t working. But it’s not just about offering surveys. There’s no shortage of channels to figure out what your audience views as important. Social media is a constant source of feedback, and chatbots can provide a tangible channel for questions you may not have considered.

From a data perspective, look at your website’s analytics to see what pages are viewed most and for how long. Work with a strategic partner who can help you understand gaps in your current content strategy so you can publish the information your community is seeking.

3. Build relationships before trying to sell. Make connections that last.

The best way to build a relationship isn’t to immediately reach out with a pitch. It’s to be curious and do the hard work of making connections, says Twitch streamer Leesh Capeesh.

Before launching her video game streaming business, Capeesh spent six months getting to know the community members who play her favorite games: what they enjoy watching, how and when they watch, and who they are offline by starting one-on-one conversations.

Think about the last LinkedIn connection or invitation you received. How long after the initial connection did that person try to sell you something? What was your first interaction like? Just connecting with a bunch of people in your space probably won’t yield the results you want.

But being curious about their challenges, asking detailed questions, and learning the ins and outs of a space can help you build relationships that lead to mutually fruitful conversations.

4. Remember: Not every change is progress to everyone.

Self-proclaimed lifelong social distancer and author Chris Guillebeau understands that friction comes with growth. Guillebeau’s session reminded us that just because you’re excited about a new strategy or campaign doesn’t mean your entire community will share your enthusiasm.

Sometimes internal stakeholders don’t understand the goal, and we as marketers must provide data to secure their buy in. External community members want to know what’s in it for them—their needs and desires should be driving our initiatives rather than us creating in a vacuum.

Using new marketing tools or switching gears for our own sake won’t go nearly as far or be as well received as helping key team members get on board through understanding the method to the madness. Bonus: While sharing your strategy and ideas, your community likely will give you ideas and insights for delivery that you might not have considered on your own.

5. Leverage existing content elsewhere. Think big. Think YouTube.

One of my favorite takeaways from CEX reconfirmed what Stamats content experts consistently recommend to our clients: Content is made to be repurposed, and if you’re not leveraging YouTube for added impact, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

This gem came from YouTube creator Roberto Blake, who did a keynote, led a session, and sat outside for hours in 90-degree heat to talk with attendees about omnichannel content growth.

Google and YouTube are the top two search engines. Publishing relevant, entertaining visual content to YouTube on both feeds those engines simultaneously, especially when you craft SEO-rich descriptions and headlines.

And you don’t have to be a video expert to make YouTube work for your organization. Blake discussed how creators can share all different types of content on YouTube: slide decks, podcasts, blog stories, infographics, and just about anything else that can pair audio and video.

On the flipside, think about how you can repurpose the great video content you own. Video transcripts can be transformed into longform blog pieces for people who prefer reading to watching. Soundbites and clips can work as social media posts or on-page content on your site.

At the end of the day, your owned channels are a valuable resource. Remixing your content to work harder for you creates new opportunities to connect with your community.

6. NFTs can be a great way to offer community perks and access to community members.

NFTs—non-fungible tokens—are assets minted on the blockchain that can be purchased exclusively with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Etherium. Most people look at NFTs as pure collectibles or status symbols, but creators like Jerod Morris are increasingly using them as a perk for their most loyal community members.

NFT ownership isn’t easily replicated, which means it can be used as a keycard or ticket for subscriber-only events, like some of the VIP sessions and areas of CEX. Exclusivity is a tenet of marketing and can be a great way to excite current and prospective community members about your product, service, or organization. Unique perks can create a sense of urgency around becoming a more active community member.

Successful marketing revolves around community connection.

Having authentic conversations, engaging with your audience, and making them feel like they have something to contribute—and nurturing the growth of those contributions—can go a long way in building your community. Publishing responsive and community-driven content is a gateway to reaching new members and keeping long-time fans engaged.

Ready to build your community through content? Schedule time with Mariah Tang to learn how Stamats can help you leverage new and existing content assets to make lasting connections.

Read Next: The Role of Storytelling in Post-Pandemic Marketing Strategy

Visit Super Niche

Regardless of industry, publishers are facing many of the same issues—keeping audiences engaged, balancing the growth of digital distribution with the revenue earned from print, and keeping those email open rates high. What is great about our industry is that people are willing to help each other out—just because a reader is engaged with one brand doesn’t mean they can’t engage equally with another!

I was given the opportunity to present to industry leaders some key strategies everyone can take to grow, engage, and retain their audiences.

Know Your Audience

The very important first step to managing your audience is to know your audience. Your audience is not just the people getting your publication—they are the people getting newsletters, downloading white papers, attending your webinars and live events, participants in associations and visitors to your website. Defining your audience is essential for putting plans in place to move your audience forward.

Decide What Data Is Important

There is such a thing as “too much data,” Data that doesn’t generate revenue creates noise and makes it more difficult to find the important data—the data your sales team can use to sell your brand. Making sure that important data is up to date is just as important—advertisers don’t want old data.

Related Reading: Scoring Your Audience and Why It Matters

Set Goals And Create A Plan

Setting goals and creating a plan or roadmap are crucial steps to managing your audience. Set goals that are measurable. Instead of “We want to grow our audience,” set a goal of “We want to grow our digital audience by 10% and maintain our print distribution.” Put in place a roadmap of how you will achieve these goals—and make sure to stick with it! That doesn’t mean you can’t adjust, but making sure you are still working toward the same goal is key.

Engage Your Audience

You need to engage with your audience on all fronts—using conventional methods of email subscription marketing, cover tips, qualification cards, direct mailers, and telemarketing. These tried-and-true methods work well and can help you achieve the goals you have set. Taking advantage of technologies that identify visitors to your website, using that data to retarget those visitors in other platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google) is another great way to engage with your audience—both known and unknown.

Using all those engagement methods in combination with a progressive engagement plan is another great strategy to manage your audience. Get the most demographic information up front and then get additional information in smaller requests over time. This way you don’t overwhelm the reader with a 30-question subscription form, and you keep them engaged along the way.

Examine Content To Audience Match

Finally, examining content to audience match is essential. Publishers routinely produce great content, but the content needs to be what your audience wants. Making sure that publishers focus on producing content that results in high levels of engagement makes the task of managing and developing an audience possible.

Chances are, yours is one of the almost 74% of websites that use the JPEG for displaying images. Other popular formats include PNG and GIF, and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with these methods of image compression, they’ve all been around for a long time now. The JPEG (an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group) was established in 1986, with the GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) following in 1987 and PNG (Portable Network Graphics) in 1996.

You probably don’t have many components of your website that are from the 80s, right? If you do, update those right away. To help with your old images, we recommend a newer product from – who else? – Google.

Believing web images were long overdue for an upgrade, Google launched the WebP format in 2010. The stated goal was to create “smaller, better-looking images that can help make the web faster.”

It’s taken some time to catch on, but now that most browsers, CMS platforms, and photo editors support WebP it’s gaining popularity for its efficiency and positive impact on web browsing experience.

What is WebP? Why is it superior to legacy formats? And why should you bother using it for your website?

“ The average web browsing session includes hundreds or thousands of images, so those reduced file sizes can add up quickly. Smaller files mean faster page load times and a better web user experience. ”

Smaller image files with WebP

Google describes its WebP format as a “method of lossy and lossless compression that can be used on a variety of photographic, translucent and graphical images found on the web.” In short, it’s a replacement for popular image formats that aims to improve load times by reducing file size.

With WebP, Google intends to supplant both “lossy” (JPEG, GIF) and “lossless” (PNG) formats at smaller file sizes and comparable quality. To do this, they based the new format on technology used in the V8 video codec.

The “how” gets complicated. Through a process called “block prediction,” WebP forecasts the likely color and transparency values of a block based on the three above and one to the left. Using this prediction method, file is required to contain less data and is therefore quicker to load.

When testing the new WebP format, Google’s teams selected 1 million images to encode. These were mostly JPEGs, but also included GIF and PNG images. The result was images 25-35% smaller than their predecessors at comparable quality. Animated GIFs fared even better. Google has posted image comparisons if you’d like to look for yourself.

The average web browsing session includes hundreds or thousands of images, so those reduced file sizes can add up quickly. Smaller files mean faster page load times and a better web user experience. Today, more than 93% of web browsers and most CMS platforms support the WebP format and as site administrators come to learn the benefits, many are choosing to switch.

Quicker pages, happier users, more traffic

One of the most exciting things about the WebP format is that its reduction in file size with minimal quality loss means it can have a direct, positive effect on your website’s page load time.

“Page Load Time” is the amount of time necessary for a web browser to download and display content in a user’s window. Measured in seconds, load time is calculated from the time you click on a URL until the page is completely loaded. Load time can vary by browser and is affected by the elements (like images) on the page.

Quick page load times are important to the success of your website. Consider the following implications:

• Search engine rankings – page load speed is one of the factors Google’s algorithm considers when choosing what to promote
• Customer satisfaction – from conversions to word of mouth, fast speeds keep customers happy
• Bounce rate – if your audience is waiting for your page to load, they’re likely to look elsewhere. Studies show more than 50% of users don’t complete a transaction when they feel a website is too slow.

If you’re designing a new website, go all in on WebP. Your users will thank you. If a new site or major redesign isn’t in your future incremental improvements are still better than none. Make sure new images are optimized by using the WebP format. When deciding which old files to replace first, start with the largest on your site to get the most bang for your buck.

Note that email clients have been slower to adopt WebP. While many will handle these images properly, don’t leave a portion of your readers behind by getting ahead of the curve. We anticipate it won’t be long before WebP outpaces JPEG and company in email too.

Your website will serve your audience well when it is optimized to their journey and designed in a way that makes logical sense.

Ensuring your site functions well means checking that the elements on the page are as efficient as possible. One way to help your thoughtful, optimized website reach your audience before their patience runs out is to ensure your images are both impactful and quick to load.

Google’s WebP format is a simple way to achieve those goals. It’s supported on most modern image editing tools, so next time you plan to use a JPEG or PNG, consider WebP instead. Google has distributed a free encoder to compress those old images, and it’ll be worth the effort to replace that outdated 1980s JPEG technology when your page loads in the blink of an eye.

Ready to get started? Connect with our digital strategy team today.

Visit National Council for Marketing & Public Relations

Though I found value in every session I attended, the keynote address by Justin Shaifer (a.k.a. “Mr. Fascinate”) was particularly informative and inspiring. An expert in Gen Z marketing strategies, Shaifer shared this key demographic group’s history, priorities, and motivations―insights that can inform every communication effort, large and small.

5 Gen Z Communication Tips

Born after 1997, members of Generation Z are true digital natives. They are on their phones (primarily on social media) for about eight hours each day. And, not surprisingly, they’re the most marketed-to generation in history.

For Shaifer, marketers who hope to reach and connect with Gen Zers must first:

1. Be original and authentic.

Savvy marketers themselves, Gen Zers have little patience for brands without an original and authentic message. Focus on the truth of what you’re trying to convey. Be bold and speak with a fresh voice.

2. Take a stance.

Don’t waver. Express what your brand stands for and then prove it. Gen Zers expect the businesses and organizations they support to put action behind their words.

3. Create interactive moments.

Gen Zers respond to messaging that’s fun and participatory. Explore ways to promote interaction through tapping, swiping, clicking, or voting.

4. Make it meme-able.

Content may be king, but shareable content creates kingdoms. Social media messages delivered through memes are more shareable, and they help showcase a brand’s sense of humor.

5. Use TikTok and Instagram wisely.

These two video-focused social media platforms are not interchangeable. TikTok users prefer quantity over quality (more is better). Instagram users prefer quality over quantity (better is better). Know the difference and use each to your advantage.

Finally, no matter what business you’re in, these tips serve as a good starting point for engaging this tech- and marketing-savvy generation. But with one important caveat: The best people to create Gen Z messaging are Gen Zers themselves. Older generations run the very real risk of not getting it right and producing truly “cringeworthy” campaigns. Remember: Voice and language matter, humor matters, and nuance matters.

In addition, Mariah Tang, Chief Content Marketing Officer at Stamats, has presented and written extensively on Gen Z communication strategies. Check out her blog post for more tips.

With this in mind, if you’re having trouble connecting with your most valued audiences, Stamats can help. Our custom content solutions include

• Content audits
• Strategy development
• Content creation
• Marketing and distribution

Call or email to speak with one of our nationally-recognized content innovators.

Read next: How Teens Use College Websites: A Fast-Scrolling User Journey

Evergreen content continually drives traffic. For clients with active blog strategies, stories can drive more than 40% of total web traffic. And for many of our blog clients, stories we helped produce 4-5 years ago continue to be the top-performing content on their entire websites. Those stories are still relevant, are indexed by major search engines, and generally are not time sensitive.

Regular content publishing is important for SEO and thought leadership. But content can become out-of-date quickly as laws, societal perspectives, and technology change continually.

The decision to archive is not as simple as following a timeline. As you make decisions about which stories stay and which go, first consider your audience’s needs. Then follow these general guidelines for updating and archiving older blog content.

Consider Archiving if the Content Is:

No longer relevant

If you have a blog detailing a program, service, or event that no longer exists or has changed substantially, that content no longer serves the reader. The same is true for any blog post that doesn’t agree with your organization’s mission and values or contains expired content.

Can you update these stories with the next big thing? Or update them with the results of what transpired? If neither option makes sense, consider archiving the page.

Inappropriate

It’s like watching TV sitcoms from the 1990s—topics that were acceptable then often don’t age well. For example, it is intolerable today to publish content that evokes racial, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate undertones or direct statements.

It’s vitally important to stay true to the quality and integrity of your organization. Often, content built around these ideas can’t be gently tweaked and would require extensive overhauling. Archiving is generally the most appropriate step. Don’t be afraid to remove content that isn’t appropriate from your site—do be prepared with a strong, unified response about why you’ve removed it. You don’t want to appear as if you are hiding something. Rather, by eliminating insidious content, you are affirming what your brand stands for and clarifying your stance with the community.

Bylined by Someone Who Got in Heinous Trouble

No one wants their website trolled for information about a person who is being investigated for an abhorrent crime. If you can’t rewrite it or re-byline it, archive it.

Revise if the Content Is:

A Solid Story with New Data Available

We recommend this strategy often in higher education, healthcare, and business-to-business content marketing. For example, if key data points in a 2016 article are no longer current, that doesn’t mean the story is bad—it just needs a little freshening up.

Ask yourself these questions to determine whether to revise the content:

• Is the material still useful to the reader?
• Can you review and rewrite to freshen the content?
• Is new technology available to add (i.e., video, tutorial, interview)?
• Would the addition of internal links to new content or research revive the blog?

If you make changes, remember to update the time stamp and provide a simple statement about when and why the content was last reviewed. For example: This article was updated March 23, 2022, to include new information.

A Little Out of Touch, but Not a Disaster

Socially acceptable terminology changes over time (thankfully). The power of digital content is that it’s living and can be continuously updated. If the content is question is mostly on brand and appropriate—save for a few questionable terms or ideas—you might choose to update rather than archive the piece.

Checking for these elements in your content every 2-3 years:

• Update gender labels and social terms
• Revise tone, verbiage, and/or data points for a new audience
• Consider new platforms for publishing your content (print to digital, text to video, etc.)

Many organizations review their most popular or traffic-driving evergreen content every six months or annually. Assign a point person or team to check SEO performance, Google Analytics, and key metrics on a set timeline—or sooner, if a big shift in terminology or mindset occurs before your planned review date.

A Past Topic that is Trending Again

In healthcare, blog posts focused on heart-healthy topics get new views every February. And in B2B, annual conferences around a specific topic lead to new eyes on existing content. News media, societal flux, and online conversations resurface generic topics over and over, giving existing pieces new life almost cyclically.

When you see a topic rising on Moz, Twitter, or Google Trends, search your existing stories and see if you have an older piece to spice up. Adding a fresh intro, hot take opinion, or new call-to-action can give that existing content new legs.

Related reading: How Strategic Calls-to-Action Improve the User Experience and Marketing ROI

A Few More Tips

Best practices for archiving a blog will change alongside the social and political landscapes. Consistently checking your past blog content is crucial to maintain your blog’s depth, credibility, and SEO traction.

A good rule of thumb after you’ve been publishing for two years or more is that approximately 50% of your blog traffic comes from articles more than six months old. These stories have long-standing value and can continue to work for you if you tend to them over time. While investing in new stories is important, make sure your editorial calendar has a clear plan for past blog review.

If you would like to talk blog strategy or need help crafting one, schedule time to talk with me. We’d love to help support your thought leadership goals.

Read Next: 6 Content Strategy and Marketing Trends to Expect in 2022

In our post-pandemic world, the rules of engagement have changed. To adapt a Madonna lyric, we are living in a hybrid world. Marketers and event planners know that professional development didn’t disappear with the advent of COVID-19—it simply became more agile.

People attending conferences expect to connect in-person and online. Attendees seek interactive experiences that boost their knowledge and further their careers, and they want easy, clear pathways to the content they crave.

So, how can you ensure a seamless hybrid event experience for in-person and virtual attendees? After nearly two years attending and hosting hybrid events, we’ve put together five tips to ensure you treat your online and live participants equitably and equally.

1. Start with a Firm Foundation

Now that your logistical planning is complete, it’s time to get creative. Here are six effective ways to build excitement:

• Determine the best channels for your brand and targeted demographic: your company website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social platforms.
• Brainstorm a unique and snazzy hashtag. Publicize it several weeks before your event.
• Set up event pages on your website and chosen social channels. These are useful spaces where attendees can connect before, during, and after the event.
• Design a targeted email campaign for your specific audiences. For example, consider crafting different messages for virtual and in-person attendees, Gen Z and older attendees, and so on.
• Detail your plans for building social communities and promoting interaction, no matter where the participants take part. Keep the messaging brief and include visuals and videos.
• Mail swag bags or boxes to virtual attendees. Include event-branded items and other creative options. Encourage these folks to post social media selfies using your hashtag. Offer a prize for the most creative post to boost participation. In-person attendees may get excited and start commenting, too!

4. Encourage Cross-platform Networking

The beauty of hybrid events is that you can connect people across zip codes, time zones, and miles. To engage your attendees, we recommend the following five strategies:

Digital business cards: Don’t expect that everyone will have business cards. Instead, encourage attendees to participate in a digital business card exchange. There are lots of apps available.

Live social streams: Another great way to engage live and virtual attendees is through the smart use of live social media channels.

Digital mixer: Give virtual and in-person attendees the chance to network digitally. For example, many event apps allow you to connect with each other regardless of attendee status. You might even consider a fun contest, like selecting the most creative cross-platform video or Instagram story (make sure they use your event hashtag).

Interest-based communities: For a broader reach, build and promote communities that attendees can join before, during, and after the event, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook groups. These might be based on work function, career goals, educational interests, or hobbies and passions. As people interact in these spaces, the lines between in-person and virtual will blur and disappear.

Instant polls: Plan to release instant and dynamic polls throughout your event. These provide you with rich data and feedback and also engage participants, whether they’re sitting at home or sitting with others at the live event.

5. Keep the Party Going

Your event was a success—you provided a seamless hybrid experience. Now you are the proud owner of rich, evergreen, user-generated content.

Think big. Think long-term. Consider one or all the following ideas:

1. Provide on-demand speaker video recordings on your event site and through targeted emails to attendees. This is a great way for people to catch the sessions they couldn’t see during the event.
2. Re-share user-generated tweets and photos on your social platforms.
3. Choose two or three popular sessions (based on data from your dynamic polls) and write blogs or record podcasts about the content.
4. Use new information to create infographics you can share on LinkedIn.

Ready to navigate hybrid event planning? Request a consultation.

Essentially, A/B testing allows you to compare two versions something—an ad, webpage, or landing page—against each other to see which version works/performs best.

Historically, A/B testing was done most often for magazine covers. To test audience preference, for example, one issue of Time might show a picture of Tom Selleck and the other a picture of Burt Reynolds or perhaps Diane Keaton and Sigourney Weaver. Of course, now you can test everything from homepages to email subject lines.

Why A/B Test

There are two reasons to conduct an A/B test. First, to reduce uncertainty. And second, to improve performance.

For the digital marketer, for example, A/B testing can quickly help you:

• Increase traffic to your website
• Increase click-throughs
• Improve conversion rates
• Reduce bounce rates

What Can You Test

You can use A/B testing to evaluate, and improve, almost all facets of your print and digital marketing by testing such elements as:

• Headlines and subheads
• Body copy
• Taglines and slogans
• Email subject lines
• Design and layout
• Testimonies
• Photo, image, or illustration choice
• Directions to audience
• Navigation
• Content
• Call(s) to action
• Forms (arrangement, number of fields)
• Pop-ups

Let me give you a couple of examples of how you might use A/B testing. For our examples we will focus on the call-to-action (CTA) on your homepage.

First, you might want to test how your audience responds to where the CTA button is located on the page. For one group you might leave the button in the traditional location (say the upper right corner). For another group you move the CTA button to the lower left. The test, of course, is which button in which location is “pushed” more often.

In another test, you might simply test the color of the CTA button. If you traditionally use a green CTA button and the new version, say red in color, is pushed more often, then changing the button to red will improve your click rate.

Performing an A/B Test

Undertaking an A/B test is relatively straight forward. First, you need to prepare two versions of the item you wish to test: A, the control and B, the challenger.

The control is the page or ad or subject line that you traditionally use.

The challenger is the new/altered page, ad, or subject line.

It is important to make sure versions A and B are noticeably different. If the changes are so subtle they will likely be overlooked by the audience. Testing different shades of yellow is likely a waste of time. Testing audience preference for red or green is more likely to yield results you can use.

Next, show these two versions to two similarly sized audiences and analyze which one version performed better over a specific period of time; a period of time long enough to make accurate conclusions about your results.

A/B Testing, Sample, Randomness, and Confidence Levels

Most A/B tests are relatively simple and not overly rigorous. However, if you are testing a critical element of your campaign and want a higher degree of confidence in your answer, it is important that your A/B test follows the same guidelines as a quantitative study when choosing the composition and size of the sample. Of course, issues of randomness are also involved.

A Couple of Reminders

As you think about A/B testing, remember:

• Test only one variable at a time.
• Don’t test elements of your marketing that are already performing well.
• Make sure you test subjects (audience) match your target audience in critical areas.
• Only test when you have time to implement any possible changes. If you test too close to launch date you won’t have to incorporate changes.
• Give yourself time for a proper test. Typically, a test should run a week or more.
• Always be testing something.

When A/B tests are a routine part of your marketing protocol you will see continual improvement in your marketing performance.

Ready to get started? Email us for a free consultation.

Cost Per Click – Insights and Limitations

First, a little background.

Almost every business has, as one of its chief components, the use of Google’s search engine marketing platform which is part of a larger array of services called Google Ads.

Launched some 18 years ago, Google Ads gives organizations the ability to purchase keywords that are searchable by their respective audiences. You can choose words based on common choice characteristics used by prospects, or you can target keywords that relate directly to your specific industry. When a prospect searches for these keywords, and clicks on your ad, they are directed to a landing page. In most cases, you only pay when a user clicks on your ad.

For a pay-per-click campaign, you can set the maximum amount you’re willing to spend for each of those clicks. You can also adjust your bid for key words up or down based the time of day, which device they are using, or where they are physically located, or other variables.

Cost per Click (CPC)

Cost per click, or CPC, is the amount you pay for each click on that someone makes on platforms such as Google AdWords or Bing Ads.

The formula looks like this:

Total spend/Total number of clicks

Let’s run through a demo.

Suppose you invested $1,000 in a pay per click campaign and received 8,200 clicks.

Your average CPC, or cost per click, would be 12 cents.

The good thing about this calculation is that it is easy to conceptualize and perform.

The challenge, of course, is that it doesn’t tell you the full story and may, in fact, be misleading.

What It Means

The danger is comparing one campaign with a CPC of 12 cents with another campaign that has a CPC of 48 cents.

The unformed might think the lower CPC of the first campaign means that it was more effective.

What is missing, however, is understanding how many of those “clicks” converted to become students or other customers.

If the more expensive campaign did a better job landing customers, it might actually prove to be more cost effective than the campaign that had the lower initial CPC.

The key, as with all measures of marketing performance, is actual (ROAS) return on ad spend, or cost per acquisition (CPA) rather than initial cost.

Understanding how CPC works, and explaining its limitations, will guide leaders to better marketing decisions.

Read Next: Brand Salience: Beyond Brand Awareness

But skipping the natural steps in the user journey can create a poor user experience, which can result in lost business opportunities. Personalizing calls-to-action (CTAs) tailored to the user experience can increase conversion rates by more than 200%.

On many sites 26-70% of users bounce (leave your site without taking action). In theory, only 30-34% are ready to get more information or purchase your services. So, how can you engage this majority who are still learning about you?

Get back to the basics of audience-centric CTA strategy. Instead of only giving visitors full-commitment options like “buy now” or “apply today” on their first visit, use a range of CTAs that are based on their needs—and where they are in their journey of learning about and trusting you.

6 Basics of Audience-Centric CTAs

The overall goal of a CTA strategy is to make it easy for your site visitors to access your services with as few action steps as possible. The best CTA strategies share six key traits:

1. Audience-centric: Focus on what’s most important to your audience.
2. Built on digital best practices: These include using color elements that are appropriate for screen readers and using specific, action-oriented words.
3. Data-driven: Use A/B testing to track what’s working and not working and make adjustments on the fly.
4. Designed with relevant user journey story pathways: Consider what makes the most sense for the reader, from where their eyes should go on a page to what they next step should take when they leave the page.
5. Educational and entertaining: You don’t have to be witty but use a friendly and personable tone.
6. Infused with media and text elements: CTAs should stand out but align with the design and flow of the page.

Pro tip: Think about these questions as you develop each step of your CTA strategy:

• Call: What will you show and/or say to generate action?
• To: How will you get your visitors to the conversion action?
• Action: What will they do when they get there?
• Response: How will you reciprocate when they call or message you?

What You Say…

Every element on a page or a blog or news story—from pictures and words to the CTA’s location—should reflect the user’s end goal. Get them excited about taking that next step by “speaking” to them the way they want to be spoken to.

Are you helping them solve a problem? Learn something? Make a decision? That should guide your tone and word choice. Use simple but strong language that encourages and clarifies the action you want them to take.

Instead of providing the whole kitchen sink of options, narrow the goals of a page to just one or two and then give people ample opportunities—and slightly different variations of those opportunities—to take action.

By consistently giving the user something to do or something different to look at in relation to those goals, you help them connect the information you provide to the next logical action they should take.

…and How You Say It

To do this, use several types of CTAs on one page, such as:

• Inline links, which help people do more research and stay engaged with your content
• Banner ads, which help to break up the page and draw immediate attention
• Buttons, which make the requested action clear and easy to take
• Images, which easily capture attention — but ensure any surrounding text, alt text, or photo captions also include the directive

Pro tip: Our brains, eyes, and screen readers like structure. Adding too much information is likely to result in just one click—the exit button.

It’s especially important to follow these guidelines when you’re adding CTAs to the pages you’re driving paid traffic to, such as landing pages, blogs, or sponsored content, to increase return on your marketing investments.

Related reading: Accelerated Content Pathways

Measuring Return on Investment

Writing and designing CTAs is only half the fun! You also need to track their effectiveness. Return on investment (ROI) measurement tools make this much-needed task easier.

A few of our favorite tools include:

• CrazyEgg provides heat maps that show you where site visitors click, scroll, linger, and navigate. This data clearly illustrates if people are responding to or ignoring your CTAs and can help you adjust wording and placement.
• Google Data Studio dashboards help you see which content is resonating with what audiences – and how they’re accessing it. It then helps you create visuals based on this data that you can present to stakeholders when determining where to focus your marketing efforts.
• Domo dashboards are like Google Data Studio dashboards on steroids. They use real-time, holistic data to show you customized, robust cloud-based visuals.

Fun fact: Stamats is a now a proud Domo partner. Request a consultation today.

So, what data should you measure? That’s a good question with an umbrella answer: Measure what matters. Pointed metrics give you better insight into your users’ needs, wants, and preferred contact points, which will help you more accurately deliver services and information.

Digital project leaders tend to focus on clicks, downloads, and page visits. But don’t forget about the real-life, 3D conversion points, which can also be digitized. Basically, any data point you can track on a spreadsheet can be collated and displayed in a dashboard.

Online conversion points

• Subscribe clicks
• Click-to-call
• Inline links/callouts and related reading
• Social engagement/shares
• Video views
• Podcast listens

Offline conversion points

• Calls for demos/appointments
• In-person mentions
• Email opens
• Bringing in a flyer or brochure
• Calls or clicks to a vanity URL/number used only in print

Success Story: Implementing CTA Best Practices

In 2020, a Stamats higher education client launched a virtual campus experience to support recruitment efforts during the height of the COVID pandemic. The goal was to reach prospective students through:

• Entertaining video and text content
• Personalizing the virtual campus tour experience
• Showcasing their diverse student population
• Making it easy to apply
• Sharing inspirational, user-generated images and stories from alumni and current students

They used a variety of elements, such as bold images, buttons, and wide callouts, to place CTAs throughout the virtual experience:

• Watch immersive videos with students who look and think like you.
• Make connections on social media.
• Schedule time to talk with an advisor.

Each CTA required a different level of commitment, based on where the site visitor was in their journey of learning about the university. By mirroring visitor goals in their business goals, our client experienced excellent results almost immediately.

Read next: How to Find Good Stories in Healthcare

Effective CTA Strategies Support User Goals and Business Goals.

Every page, article, blog post, and ad needs at least one CTA, regardless of your industry. Provide the next step for your user to stay engaged and give you their mindshare—and business.

The key is understanding how your users’ journeys mirror your business goals.  What do they want from you? What do you want them to do? Create CTA pathways that serve this give-and-take relationship; you will naturally increase your audience’s loyalty, transforming visitors into cheerleaders for your brand, which will result in increased brand recognition and sales.

Ready to set up your content for success? Request a consultation to learn how Stamats can help you develop a data-driven CTA strategy.

Though presented in the context of a cyberattack, the best practices outlined below can apply to any crisis communication strategy. Consider these tips a starting point for developing an effective communication plan that can protect your organization, clients, and brand.

Managing a Security Breach: Communication Best Practices

Follow State Notification Protocols

Firstly, each state has its own laws about who must be alerted in the event of a cyberattack (government agencies, individuals impacted, etc.). Know the data breach notification laws in your state and follow all protocols for the type of breach you’ve experienced.

Unite

In challenging moments, unity matters more than ever. Bring organizational leaders together and encourage everyone to echo the same message both internally and externally.

Additionally, funnel all information through a single point of contact (ideally, an experienced staff member who’s already serving as media liaison or communication lead). Remember: Messaging should be authentic, timely, and consistent.

Be as Transparent as Possible

Criminal activity thrives in darkness. Help demystify cyberattacks by shining a light on your experience.

Though some details may need to be withheld as part of an investigation, share what you can honestly and directly. Remember: Communication needs will vary for internal and external audiences. If you’re unsure about what you can/can’t communicate, consult a data security professional.

Offer Solutions

Data breaches can impact operations immediately and indefinitely. Offer solutions to those you serve. What short-term workarounds can you offer? What services can be provided while systems are offline?

If the breach has put personal data at risk, consider providing employees and clients with free credit monitoring or other identity protection services.

Educate

Turn the situation into an educational opportunity—for your own organization and for others. In general terms, explain how your teams are working to prevent future breaches and what others can do to minimize the threat of security incidents.

Start a Dialogue

Finally, cyberattacks are a universal threat. Use your organization’s experience as an opportunity to raise awareness and start a larger, solutions-focused conversation. Chiefly, engage clients, partners, security experts, and the media as you talk about the source of the breach and examine proven security strategies others can use.

From audience research to strategic messaging, Stamats can help you communicate clearly, intentionally, and far more successfully. Email us to learn more about our wide range of communication services.