Cross-Channel Marketing for Argos

eCommerce marketing for Argos
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Cross-Channel Marketing for Argos

One of my favourites yet most challenging projects that really put my knowledge and experience of cross channel marketing and use of technology to the test!

38% Increase in Revenue YOY

Enhancing their cross-channel marketing strategies, maximising the use of audience lists, better use of technology and data insights increased revenue by a whopping 38% YOY!

  • 19% COS reduction YOY from 4.5% to 3.66%, despite a 12% cost increase. 
  • 44% increase in revenue YOY for Black Friday week with a 21% reduction in COS.

Multi-Channel Strategies and Tactics

  • Rollout of an in-house tool very similar to the Google Performance Planner, to better allocate budgets to areas more likely to bring a better ROI.
  • Use of insight data (ICC: initiator, contributor & converter model, time to buy and seasonality curves) to improve cross-channel marketing strategies focused on targeting the right users with the right ad when they are more likely to convert.
  • Use of insight data (ICC: initiator, contributor & converter model) to upsell and cross-sell products across all marketing channels
  • Introduction of cross channel RLSA audience lists to retarget users based on their previous activity, enabling us to optimise to a more efficient ROI, targeting users with the correct ad at the time they’re more likely to convert.
  • Introduction of structured day to day plans to better prioritise tasks based on the effect of account efficiencies.

PPC

  • Implementation of inventory rules for PPC using an in-house tool (using Google scripts) to automate ad status based on product inventory.
  • Better use of technology to automate ad creation at product level, using an in-house technology “Portfolio Manager” (similar to dynamic search ads / creating ads based on data feeds using Google Scripts)
  • Emend bidding strategies to match SERP changes, whilst doing a full rollout of expanded text ads

Shopping

  • Better feed management integration for a richer product data feed. 
  • New optimation rules  implemented to the feed management platform to automate optimisation, both enhancing feed quality and reducing working hours within the team.
  • Quick rollout of Bing product listing ads in time for Black Friday week
  •  Application of Google local inventory ads to maximise likelihood of in-store visits

Display

  • Quick application of search query ads (1st in UK) and location extension (1st in UK).
  • Use of “in-market” audience lists to better target people who are actively searching for the products Argos sell.
  • Use of “similar to” audience lists to better target new customers that share the behaviours and characteristics of existing customers.
  • Use of ICC (initiator, contributor & converter model), time to buy and seasonality curves to increase ROI by showing the correct ads to the right users, at the right time
  • Use of ICC data to identify category relationships and interdependencies, to help upsell and cross-sell 

Social Media

  • Use of customer lists to make custom audiences, targeting in-market users
  • Launch of dynamic retargeting ads to remind users of products they’ve browsed whilst also looking at ways to upsell and cross-sell products
  • Apply locations to the Facebook page to enhance our click and collect strategy
Example of Google local inventory ads for Argos
Data insights used for optimising a multi-channel marketing strategy for Argos

Achievements by Marketing Channel

PPC

  • Revenue increased by 33% despite a 6% reduction in marketing spend
  • COS reduced by 21% YOY, from 3.77% to 2.98%.
  • 11% spend increase to Black Friday week with a 34% increase in revenue at a reduced COS of 2.46%

Shopping

  • Improved performance of over £270m in revenue at a 4.92% COS.
  • Launch of Local Inventory Ads (LIA) and Bing PLA
  • Record Black Friday week with over £16m in revenue at a 3.39 COS

Paid Social

  • 23.2% decrease in COS despite 183.3% increase in spend
  • 370% increase in revenue 

Display

  • Moved from a keyword to an audience approach
  • Revenue up 370% YOY with a 46% decrease in CPC

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

employees-03
Style never met and those among great. At no or september sportsmen he perfectly happiness attending. Depending listening delivered off
Leila Gregory
User Interface Designer
employees-02
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui. Donec finibus consectetur enim a bibendum.
Tom Williams
CEO
employees-04
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James Robbins
Photographer

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

Go to Market Plan for Product Feedcaster

Product launch marketing plan for Product Feedcaster
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Go to Market Plan for SaaS

Goal

Successful launch a new Feed Manager as a SaaS, including overall ownership of design, development, legal, support and marketing.

Result

Launch of Google’s 1st trusted comparison shopping service provider.

Customer
Product Caster
Services
Go to Market Plan
Website
www.productcaster.com
Feed manager optimisation using Product Caster

Strategies and Tactics

Research

  • Competitor analysis into current feed manager offerings
  • Review market data and perform market research to review whether there is a need for our product:
    • Review current problems and customer needs
    • Identify how we can solve these problems and needs
  • Full brainstorm to conclude ultimate list of features and functions
  • Identification of key features we can develop that are unique, and within our capabilities

Development

  • Review ultimate list of features and functions including in depth analysis into technical requirements and overall efficiency
  • Finalise flowchart that takes into account support and SLA
  • Conclude launch phrases, including a MVP (Minimum Variable Product)
  • Create a launch plan and project manage 

Support and Service

  • Competitor review at support and service level
  • Implementation of SLA (Service Level Agreement) based on our support capabilities and customer expectations. Example, what timeframe can we commit to for resolving urgent issues.. what is to be considered as an urgent issue.. what operating hours can we commit to… what out of office hours support can we commit to…
  • Management of support collateral, both for client and support team
  • Allocation of support roles and responsibilities
  • Onboard plan including key roles and responsibilities

Marketing

  • Review target audience and how to best target this audience
  • Identify pricing based on competitor analysis, cost to us and overall value of our product to the customer
  • Identify clear and accurate USPs that solve existing problems and customer needs
  • Brochure design and distribution plan
  • Presentation design for showcasing to potential new customers
  • Website design and marketing plan
  • Review customer retention strategies to build recurring sales
  • Maximise customer value by cross-sell / upsell strategies
Visual demonstration of output from Product Caster feed manager

Reassurance from Google

“We’re pleased to welcome Productcaster as a Comparison Shopping Service partner. Their technological capability and retail experience makes them a welcome arrival to our CSS programme.”
Ian Carrington
MD Performance Media Solutions EMEA Google

Testimonials

What Customers Say About Product Caster

"The solution provided by FeedManager was a good match for our business due to the ability to scale our activity in a cost-efficient manner and provide a service that’s trusted by other leading retailers."
Jeff Mainwood
Head of Performance Marketing, Sigma Sports
"After trialling other CSS partners we chose Productcaster given their great performance, simple migration, no need to set up new accounts and transparency of pricing. We are happy to be working with them"
Lee Faetz
Ecommerce Director, Evans Cycles

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

PPC Planning, Build and Management

PPC SEO for Hippodrome Casino
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Case Studies

PPC Build and Management

Goal

Lead a new business partnership, owning the online marketing element for Hippodrome Casino

Results

Exceeded revenue targets by over 200% with a £5MM EBIT!

Client
Hippodrome Casino
Services
PPC
Website
www.hippodromeonline.com
PPC build and management for casino

Strategies and Tactics

  • Development, growth and management of all online marketing channels to maximise volume while keeping CPA on target
  • Setup of all bidding and tracking elements via Adobe Bid Manager
  • Development of high converting landing pages, aliasing with design and development teams
  • Marketing budget planning and delivery
  • Hands-on management of paid search across Google and Bing
PPC AB testing for better results

Exceeding revenue targets by over 200% with a £5MM EBIT!

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

Photo of previous manager: Wesley
Damon has attention to detail and uncovered new ideas for optimising campaigns which proved to be highly profitable. Damon sets high standards for himself, is goal oriented, works well with people and is highly ambitious.
Head of Digital Marketing
Callum PPC Manager
Damon goes above and beyond, he's dedicated to the task in hand and always ensures even the most difficult of objectives are exceeded.
PPC Manager
Photo of Alessio
Extremely enthusiastic about his work, which reflects in the results he achieves. Highly motivated and qualified professional with experience in all aspects of digital marketing, especially within ppc, seo and social networking.
Performance Marketing Analyst

By working with us, we can reach your goals in a short distance.

Paid Search for Tyre Savings

Paid search for tyre savings
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Case Studies

PPC Build and Management

Coming soon…

Customer
Tyre Savings
Services
PPC
Website
www.tyresavings.com

Coming soon…

PPC build plan for a tiered campaign structure
PPC AB testing for better results

Coming soon…

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

employees-03
Style never met and those among great. At no or september sportsmen he perfectly happiness attending. Depending listening delivered off
Leila Gregory
User Interface Designer
employees-02
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui. Donec finibus consectetur enim a bibendum.
Tom Williams
CEO
employees-04
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui.
James Robbins
Photographer

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

PPC for Betway

Betway Casino PPC
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PPC for Betway

Coming soon…

Customer
Betway Group
Services
PPC
Website
casino.betway.com

Coming soon…

Link Building Examples for Spin Palace

Coming soon…

PPC build plan for a tiered campaign structure
PPC AB testing for better results

Coming soon…

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

employees-03
Style never met and those among great. At no or september sportsmen he perfectly happiness attending. Depending listening delivered off
Leila Gregory
User Interface Designer
employees-02
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui. Donec finibus consectetur enim a bibendum.
Tom Williams
CEO
employees-04
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui.
James Robbins
Photographer

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

PPC and Shopping Ads for M and D

PPC and Shopping Ads for M and D Online
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PPC and Shopping Account Build

Coming soon…

Customer
M and D Online
Services
PPC, Shopping, SEO
Website
www.manddonline.co.uk

Coming soon…

Link Building Examples for Spin Palace

Coming soon…

PPC build plan for a tiered campaign structure
PPC AB testing for better results

Coming soon…

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

employees-03
Style never met and those among great. At no or september sportsmen he perfectly happiness attending. Depending listening delivered off
Leila Gregory
User Interface Designer
employees-02
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui. Donec finibus consectetur enim a bibendum.
Tom Williams
CEO
employees-04
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui.
James Robbins
Photographer

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

Mobile App Marketing for Kidsafe

Mobile app marketing for Kid Safe
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Mobile App Marketing

Coming soon…

Client
Astraler (Vietnam)
Services
Display, Social, UI, UX Design
Website
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parental-control-app-blocker/id1453661519

Coming soon…

Link Building Examples for Spin Palace

Coming soon…

PPC build plan for a tiered campaign structure
PPC AB testing for better results

Coming soon…

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

employees-03
Style never met and those among great. At no or september sportsmen he perfectly happiness attending. Depending listening delivered off
Leila Gregory
User Interface Designer
employees-02
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui. Donec finibus consectetur enim a bibendum.
Tom Williams
CEO
employees-04
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui.
James Robbins
Photographer

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

Link Building to Improve Rankings

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Link Building that Actually Improves Rankings

It’s part art, part science. Link building is tough because doing link building the right way means doing good personalised outreach. It means creating and/or sharing valuable content people are actually happy and proud to link to.

Goal

Rank top of page for 2 very competitive keyword “online casino” and “mobile casino”.

Results

Top of page for both “online casino” and “mobile casino” – AMAZING RESULTS!

SEO Link Building for Spin Palace Casino

Strategies and Tactics

Quick Wins

  • Claim unlinked mentions by locating brand mentions via ahrefs and collaborated with web masters to add brand links to the spin palace site.
  • Reclaim broken links via Link Explorer in MOZ. Connect with webmasters to get the links updated. Add a 301 redirects to links that can’t be updated.
  • Reclaim recently lost links and engage with webmasters, creating a relationship to try identify why: 
    • did a competitor approach them with  better content
    • is the webmaster doing a site update…
  • Submit to high quality directories that are relevant to the casino business and have a good page authority (also great for local SEO!)

Content

  • Guest post and build editorial connections:
    • Authentic game reviews
    • Tutorials around how to play poker etc
    • Showcase how to increase odds of winning with in depth analysis and data
  • Use the Skyscraper Technique to quickly find link worthy content that has performed incredibly well and reproduce it with even better content, then also reach out to the people who covered the original content and ask them to link to our improved resource.
  • Create infographics that shout “share me!”. Infographics that worked well for this project were Poker related: “Train Your Brain to Play Poker Like the Pros” and “Pre-Flop Ranges”
  • Review sites that mention competitors but not us, by simply doing a Google search +betfair -spin. Great for finding new opportunities from web masters that are already interested in the casino industry, whilst also gaining an insight into what competitors are doing!
  • Identify questions that are being asked and add answers to the blog

High Authority

  • Help a Reporter Out (HARO) – share data insights into the gambling industry such as characteristics of a professional gambler
  • Be the first to report on big winners and share these stories with high authority news sites. One famous story “Afghanistan veteran, wins big on a 25p casino bet” – also great for PR!
  • Sponsor local events including football teams, poker events and meetup events
  • Participate in local events such as charity runs. A great way to gain some high authority links whilst having fun! I got sponsored to do the Silverstone Marathon!
  • Work with Universities by taking part in research projects related gambling. We got involved in
    • “Age differences in gambling behavior”
    • “Examining Gender Differences for Gambling Engagement and Gambling Problems” 
  • Offer Scholarship funding and reach out to colleges and universities that list current scholarships. 
Link Building Examples for Spin Palace

Review Technical SEO 

Whilst link building is great for demonstrating trust and popularity to Google. It is also just as important (if not more important) to ensure pages are relevant, quick to load and user friendly.

  • Setup of Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to gain valuable insights to the sites performance and features including URL inspection, search results and coverage. Find and fix crawl errors and review coverage
  •  Setup for Google Analytics to view data and insights about performance including bounce rates and average time on site.
  • Generate and submit a sitemap to help Google (and Bing) to crawl all pages
  • Create a Robots.txt file to tell search engine crawlers the pages and files to access.
  • Migrate to HTTPS encryption to gain extra trust from Google (and users)
  • Check for duplicate versions of the site in Google, and add a redirect to teh desired version “www.spinpalace.com”
  •  Fix broken internal links to improve user experience
  • Improve site speed, and fix any problems such as high image sizes etc

On-Page SEO

  • Use concise Title tags and descriptions. Replacing duplicate and missing tags, and making sure new tags are keyword specific but also include a CTA to entice users to click (Increase CTR).
  • Optimise header tags, particularly H1, to quickly tell both Google and the user what this page is about. 
  • Use descriptive and SEO friendly URLs, keeping them short, including the main keyword for that page  “/mobile-casino/” | “/casino-games/blackjack/”
  •  Improve page content to ensure it is SEO friendly, BUT not keyword stuffed. Whilst it is incredibly difficult to rank a page for “Tomb Raider Slots” with absolutely no mention of Tomb Raider Slots on the page,  having the keyphrase on every header tag and unnecessarily repeated in the content is bad for the user (will increase bounce rate) whilst also likely to trigger a penalty for over optimisation.
  • Improve internal linking to help pass link juice and improve user experience
  • Ensure images use ALT tags to help with relevancy, telling google this is an image of a tomb raider slot game will help Google to acknowledge this page is related to Tomb Raider Slots
  • Find and fix keyword cannibalization issues, combining pages targeting the same search term (with same intent) to maximise performance and avoid competing against ourselves in the SERP
  • Review existing content, ensuring it is seo friendly:
    • Includes the targeted keyword
    • uses LSI keywords such as “gambling”, “gaming”, “jackpot”, “chips”, “blackjack”, “slots”, “roulette”, “dealer” and “deposit bonus”

Improve UI and UX

Personally, I believe link building will only take you so far. That been, to the first page of Google. However, if the user experience is poor, the website will very quickly find itself back onto page 4, usually within a week or so.

Provide Good User Experience

  • Ensure the website is easy to navigate and consistent
  • Make content easy to understand and engaging. Using bullet points to help users quickly find what they’re looking for
  • Improve sites loading speed. Users will stop engaging if they’re having to wait for images to load etc.
  • Make sure the website is responsive and mobile friendly
  •  improve website security, https a must!
SEO Backlink Anchor Text Analysis
Backlink analysis using MOZ

Backlink Profile Analysis

Ensuring we had a natural backlink profile was also critical to avoid penalties. In-depth knowledge of back link analysis was also critical for quickly identifying negative SEO, which is the practice of using black hat and unethical techniques to sabotage a competitor’s rankings in search engines.

  • Backlink acquisition rate over time
  • Look for a disproportionate amount of links from “spammy” CTLDs 
  • Review anchor text profile, ensuring a good mix of branded, eaxt match, partial match and hybrid anchor texts
  • Look for backlinks from the same C‑Class IPs (we had a lot of these due to link buying!)
  • Check how many root domains are pointing to us, ensuring a good percentage are from high authority websites

Please note, tactics mentioned above are from 2014. Therefore, some of them will no longer work.

Testimonials

Client's concept about this work

SEO recommendation from Chris Ter Veen
Damon brings enormous understanding of the latest trends in SEO, particularly around the ever-changing landscape of off-site strategy and content creation and distribution and is able to communicate complex ideas with ease. A terrific asset and a good guy, I have no hesitation in recommending Damon.
SEO Specialist
Recommendation Leonardo Armani
Damon was very keen in learning about my work on Excel tools for SEO and proved to be a fast learner and avid to develop his skills in all aspects of Search Engine Marketing, where he proved his worth by quickly delivering impressive results. I would recommend Damon's work for any company looking for a talented online marketer.
Digital Marketing Manager
SEO recommendation from Kieran Hobson
Whilst working with Damon, he had provided great leadership and showed initiative to drive continuous improvement across the team and organisation. He was a dedicated, ambitious, result driven leader and thoughtful individual. I would gladly recommend him as a highly skilled marketing manager.
SEO Executive

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.

PPC SEO Display and Social

PPC SEO display and social for Bees Marquees
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Case Studies

PPC SEO Display and Social

Goal

Increase leads for marquee hire for weddings and corporate events.

Results

Increased leads by +85% YOY with an overall drop in CPA whilst increasing spend by +50% YOY

Client
Bees Marquees
Services
PPC, SEO, Display, Social
Website
www.beesmarquees.co.uk
Marketing for Bees Wedding Marquees

Strategies and Tactics

 

PPC

PPC account build, targeting users searching / have interest / share similar characteristics to wedding marquee hire and marquees for corporate events:

  • Keyword targeted to users actively searching for marquee hire
  • Keyword targeted to users with a potential interest in wedding marquee hire, targeting users searching for wedding venues within the targeted location
  • Use of audience lists to better allocate spend to users more likely to comvert

SEO

  • Quickly claimed unlinked mentions and reclaimed lost and broken links – very quick win!
  • Connected with local businesses within the wedding industry, adding mentions and links to our website
  • Content strategy based on:
    • location specific  search queries, such as “wedding marquee hampshire” and “marquee hire hampshire” 
    • user needs and current interest, including “Great British Bake Off Wedding Desert Ideas”
  •  Submit to high quality directories
  • Use of HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and general outreach to wedding related sites to help build connections and guest post
  • Use of the Skyscraper Technique to replicate and improve link worthy content

Social

Display

Coming soon

Testimonials

Our client's concept about this work

employees-03
Style never met and those among great. At no or september sportsmen he perfectly happiness attending. Depending listening delivered off
Leila Gregory
User Interface Designer
employees-02
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui. Donec finibus consectetur enim a bibendum.
Tom Williams
CEO
employees-04
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer ut vestibulum dui.
James Robbins
Photographer

By working with me, I can reach your goals in a short distance.