In this episode, we cover:

Today, we talk to Mattan Danino, the founder and CEO of WEBITMD. He is a recognized thought reader and has published many materials on HubSpot, Inc. magazine and other reputed publications. 

His company specializes in working with mid-sized professional services firms, technology companies, hospitality, healthcare, and direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands.

In this episode, Mattan will talk about full-funnel marketing hacks for e-commerce & B2B business growth.

Stay tuned for the next podcast episode, where our guest, Jesus Tellez, shares some technical SEO tips for start-ups.

Show notes

• [01:04-02:09] Why focus on full-funnel marketing?
• [02:12-03:45] When it comes to agencies like us, we are also targeting keywords on the top-funnel, mid-funnel, and bottom-funnel. Is it something different from what you are doing? 
• [03:47-05:28] Do you think driving in conversions and ROI is probably where the e-commerce stores should focus?
• [05:31-08:17] Is there any tool to analyze the conversion rate of a site?
• [09:07-12:04] What are some of the strategies that e-commerce sites can implement to rank better?
• [13:22-16:10] How do you think B2B businesses can adopt a full-funnel marketing strategy?
• [16:12-18:47] Do you believe that the main difference between the sales and the marketing begins when a lot of junk leads enter the system?
• [18:50-23:18] Where can people find more information on your “Growth Stack” program?

Show Notes Explanation

Hello guys, welcome to another episode of SEO On-Air. This is Senthil, and we have with us today, Mattan Danino. He is the founder and CEO of WEBITMD. He is a recognized thought reader and has published a lot of materials on HubSpot, Inc. magazine and other reputed publications. 

Welcome to our show Mattan. Today we are going to discuss full-funnel marketing hacks for e-commerce and B2B business growth. 

Time Stamp: 01:04-02:09

Senthil: Why do you focus on full-funnel marketing?

Mattan: Yeah, it is. It is important as an agency to focus on things that drive bottom-line conclusions and revenue. We know things at the top of the funnel, such as SEO, print media, social, etc., but these are just tactics to get visitors to a website. What happens thereafter is equally important, if not more important.

That idea of nurturing folks throughout the funnel and eventually leading to conversion shouldn’t just be a metric to increase ranking or driving down the cost acquisitions on print media, but a conversation about customers and clients and revenue. 

Time Stamp: 02:12-03:45

Senthil: When it comes to agencies like us, we are also targeting keywords on the top-funnel, mid-funnel, and bottom-funnel. Is it something different from what you are doing? 

Mattan: All things SEO are tactics that drive more visitors and increases organic reach. When you get visitors on your site initially, elements like content writing can help nurture leads and act multi purposely throughout the funnel. 

But businesses traditionally look at SEO as a tactical top-of-the-funnel approach for driving traffic, and I don’t think agencies or in-house marketers can be judged based on that nature.

Time Stamp: 03:47-05:28

Senthil: SEO drives traffic, post which the fun begins. Getting traffic is just one part of the puzzle, but driving in conversions and ROI is probably where the e-commerce stores should be focused on, right?

Mattan: Yeah. So when we look at anything in digital marketing, we put them in two buckets- whether you are a directed consumer brand or selling traditional business to business. 

On the consumer side, your conversion is the sale, whereas, on the B2B side, it might be just the beginning of the sale. 

That qualified lead from the B2B side still needs to be nurtured and educated further until there’s actually a sales opportunity. On the e-commerce side, driving traffic is absolutely critical. So, I think, it is important to know how to track conversions and understand the tactics of nurturing leads throughout the sales funnel.

Time Stamp: 05:31-08:17

Senthil: Right. For e-commerce site owners another concern is whether their conversion rate is better than the industry average. Is there any tool to analyze the same?

Mattan: There are a few of them. The low conversion rate of 2% that e-commerce websites keep talking about has to do something with the website experience, or the price of the products or product photography. Such low conversion can also happen when people are learning about a new e-commerce brand or are only searching for product information. 

Spyfu is a fantastic competitor analysis tool. I also like Lucky Orange because it offers dynamic heatmaps, tracks website visitors, and checks usability by showing you live videos of the user experience, where you can see where they clicked on and what they clicked on.

Time Stamp: 08:20-09:02

Senthil: Well, I’ve got to check that out. How’s the pricing of these two tools, are they startup-friendly?

Mattan: Very much so, which is why I mentioned them. Lucky Orange’s base plan is anywhere between 10-15 USD. Spyfu is about 100 USD/month for agencies. I’m sure the price for individual users will be much lesser. Both Spyfu and Lucky Orange have free versions available to use as well. 

Time Stamp: 09:07-12:04

Senthil: We usually look for the keywords driving traffic and analyze the top sites ranking for them. Most e-commerce site owners struggle to rank for these keywords by trying to compete against e-commerce giants like Amazon. 

So, what are some of the strategies that these e-commerce sites can implement to rank better?

Mattan: Amazon is a marketplace that sells lots of products. They aim to make maximum sales without focusing much on the product experience. When you go to a product’s official website, the experience you’ll have is entirely different.

So, you should be able to control all the elements of the products sold on your site, from the description to the product photography and reviews to drive better user experience around them. I always encourage people to drive direct sales on their site.

Time Stamp: 12:08-13:17

Senthil: E-commerce site like Amazon has lots of ads as well that kind of forces you to buy products, but here we are looking more at educating people by refining their experience. Isn’t it so?

Mattan: When you visit a site about women fashion or travel, it is completely focused on that industry, while Amazon is like this huge marketplace that sells anything and everything, but you lose the experience with the individual brands.

Time Stamp: 13:22-16:10

Senthil: So, let’s now focus on the B2B marketing segment. How do you think B2B businesses can adopt a full-funnel marketing strategy?

Mattan: First, I think we should start with the disconnect. There is a disconnect between marketing and sales. Marketing is about generating opportunities from wherever that is and qualify them and sales job is to take those sales opportunities that are qualified and close them into revenue.

What we are finding though when time goes on, both these elements are getting entwined. So the content materials or resources you create must be used for cross-marketing. First, you need to generate interest in your brand and bring them to your site through SEO, paid marketing, or social media.  

Then you need to educate them about your brand and giving them the information they need.

Then you need to take visitors’ information before they check out and nurture them for email marketing to begin the sales process. 

Many B2B companies don’t have a defined sales process. They do what they think will be the best use of their time. I don’t think it is much effective. I believe you can build tremendous efficiency into your team by implementing specific sales technology and turn in more dollars. 

Time Stamp: 16:12-18:47

Senthil: So, it all depends on better lead handover. I think the main difference between the sales and the marketing begins when a lot of junk leads enter the system. Am I right?

Mattan: That’s what happens historically. Marketing and sales point at each other and blame each other for failing to convert sales. But, it is necessary for both the teams to work together. 

We put together a program called “Growth Stack” that educate teams on how to work more efficiently to drive more growth in their business. 

Time Stamp: 18:50-23:18

Senthil: That’s great! So, where can people find more information on this? 

Mattan: We’ve put together a guide that tells precisely how this “Growth Stack” works. It focuses on the differences between hiring in-house people vs. hiring an agency. If you would hire in-house to do all the dimensions with Growth Stack, you’ll need an SEO specialist, ads manager, content specialist, and other people who will add value to your work.

Senthil: Wow, we’ll definitely link out to the resource in our podcast for our listeners to gain some valuable knowledge. Mattan, thank you so much for putting together such a valuable piece.

Mattan: Yeah, for us, this is all educational. I see people coming to my site to download the guide, which means they are basically a lead for my business. But, I don’t reach out to them immediately. I wait till they come back a few more times and propose that they are interested.

This is where half of my sales process is already done. I don’t need to tell people about my business when they come to me, but discuss any potential collaboration that can happen between my organization and their business.

Senthil: Absolutely. That is great, Mattan. Thank you so much for coming to the show.