In this session Laura will run through some of the mistakes she has seen in her career that hold back search marketing campaigns' performance and reporting. This will also include remedies for these mistakes to maximise the impact of your campaigns and how you can better report on them.

1. The Biggest
Mistakes Search
Marketers Make
L A U R A C R I M M O N S
@lauracrimmons
#FIGARODIGITAL

2. Staying in
Silos.

3. Teams don’t speak to other teams,
therefore miss out on valuable
shared info
SCENARIO:

4. Paid teams have a wealth of audience data that organic
teams (PR, Content, Social) would find really useful.

5. PR and Content teams produce campaigns that drive relevant
traffic, paid teams could set this up for retargeting to drive
sales down the line.

6. Sales and customer service teams know exactly what questions
your customers/prospects are asking – this is gold for
content teams.

7. Search teams can offer valuable
input to brand teams on naming
products and services.

8. Communication!
SOLUTION:

9. Format >
Idea.

10. “We’d like you to create an infographic
/ viral video / map (delete as
appropriate)”
C L I E N T
SCENARIO:

11. The story should always come
before the format and therefore
dictate the most appropriate format.

12. Start with the story/message and this may lead into a
range of formats
SOLUTION:

13. Not
gathering
feedback.

14. You fall in love with your own idea without getting
feedback from your targets
SCENARIO:

15. Asking journalists/influencers for feedback
will lead to a better campaign with better
results.

16. From experience, journalists/influencers that you ask for
feedback are then more likely to cover/link to your campaign
once live.

17. Test your ideas with warm contacts before your invest
any resource
SOLUTION:

18. Incomplete
Testing.

19. Not testing pages across all browsers and devices
SCENARIO:

20. You don’t know what browser or device every journalist
uses so make sure your asset works across them all.

21. Pre-launch checklist
SOLUTION:

22. Forgetting to
implement tracking
codes.

23. In the rush / excitement of launch someone
forgets to implement correct tracking codes.
SCENARIO:

24. Without tracking codes such as
Google Analytics we have no way to
accurately report on who saw our
campaign.

25. Pre-launch checklist
SOLUTION:

26. Not thinking
cross-channel.

27. You create an awesome PR/Content campaign &
just seed it to journalists & influencers
SCENARIO:

28. If you have a great PR campaign the chances are it will also
work on social…

29. And it will probably also be of interest to
newsletter subscribers…

30. When putting together your media list also think about
the other appropriate channels to seed your campaign
through
SOLUTION:

31. No backup
plan.

32. You launch the campaign but the links and traffic
aren’t rolling in like you thought they would
SCENARIO:

33. Always monitor which angles of the campaign are performing best &
adapt your outreach to match this.

34. Keep some angles/data back in case your first
ones don’t work.

35. Plan for ‘events’ coming up that you can use to newsjack with your
campaign at a later date.

36. Focussing on
empty metrics.

37. “We’d like a campaign to generate X links”
“We’d like all links to be a minimum X DA”
SCENARIO:
C L I E N T

38. Link numbers alone mean nothing.
Nor do link metrics.

39. Emphasis should be on quality not quantity.
Any link should have the ability to drive traffic & reach your actual
audience.

40. Would you rather have 500 links to hit your arbitrary link
target or 10 links that actually improve search performance
& drive potential customers to your site?

41. Instead of focussing on number of links focus on where
those links should come from. Look at outcomes over
outputs
SOLUTION:

42. Short-term
reporting
mindset.

43. You’re implementing a long-term strategy but are
trying to use
short-term reporting
SCENARIO:

44. Content strategies are a long-term strategy therefore you
can’t attempt to measure performance in the short-term.

45. The true value will often be seen six months down the
line (if not longer).

46. Use appropriate reporting timescales for each
strategy
SOLUTION:

47. One night stands >
long term relationships.

48. Focus on the publication we want coverage / a link in &
then move onto the next one
SCENARIO:

49. PR is about relationships.

50. Relationships mean putting
the effort in.

51. Research first, be genuinely helpful and friendly
SOLUTION:

52. Like what you have heard?
Ready to create a campaign that will make
people love and remember your brand…
CALL US
020 3965 1816
E-MAIL:
hello@silverthornagency.com
@SilverthornCo