Digital marketing can be overwhelming when you think of how many components contribute to an effective strategy. As the Internet of things (IoT) continues to evolve and Big Data quickly becoming a gold mine of customer insight, it's no surprise that CMOs are projected to outspend CIOs on technology by 2017 according to Gartner.
Companies are trying to decide not only HOW to spend their marketing dollars but WHERE to spend them. Don’t overlook these 5 areas when you are developing your digital strategy.
1. WEB DEVELOPMENT & UI/UX DESIGN
A good website is the foundation to any effective marketing strategy. Why spend time and money to drive customers to your website and generate leads if they bolt as soon as they see your landing page because of a bad first impression or a confusing user experience? When it comes to great web design, both creativity and functionality go hand in hand. Proficiency in (RWD) Responsive Web Design standards, content management systems, optimizing landing pages, lead generation techniques and UI/UX all play crucial parts in an effective strategy as well as having a creative eye for good design.
UI/UX Design continues to be an important aspect of web design. It requires the foresight of building something beyond one device. That means scalability not only in function and design, but having thought through every possible scenario both currently and in the future. Not only do web developers need to have the technical skills to construct a great website, but they also need the creative skills to think intuitively about how visitors will interact with your website.
2. SEO & ANALYTICS
Analytics plays a major role in understanding your audience. WITHOUT this data, you're basically just peeing in the wind. However, being able to decider the data, determine KPIs, increase customer conversions, and measure ROI, and monitor your competitors, is what separates the men from the boys as they say. Luckily there are a slew of online tools to monitor and manage these metrics.
SEO is constantly being revised and updated. With Google's recent release of their 160 page Search Quality Rankings Guidelines, some of the guesswork has been taken out. However, a new era of complexity is now being ushered in with the rise of mobile searches with personal voice assistants like Siri and Cortana.
3. SOCIAL & MOBILE MARKETING
Almost half of the global population has access to the Internet and a social media account. Mobile has been the catalyst for its growth with over 3.65 billion active users. With a wide array of tools to monitor social media analytics and how precise the targeting demographics have become, ROI for companies can now be measured down to the smallest detail. I mean just think about it for a second.... How many times per day do you get on your mobile device and engage in social media vs. the traditional channels of TV, radio or print?
Marketers who spent on social channels registered a nearly 25% increase in conversions compared with purely organic social efforts according to MarketingProfs.
4. CONTENT MARKETING
The future of SEO is content marketing. Period. Inbound and outbound marketing strategies, lead capturing techniques, creative writing, storytelling, relevant and helpful blog posts, videos, engaging visuals, infographics, case studies and white papers all play a part in generating traffic to your website. Type of content used in the past 12 months to research B2B purchasing decisions:
White Papers (83%);
Case Studies (67%);
Webinars (75%);
eBooks (68%);
Videos (63%);
Blog Posts (56%);
Infographics (52%)
5. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
The most important aspect of a social media strategy is building relationships with a strong customer focus, producing great results and stellar reviews. Because we all know the best and worst forms of advertising has always been and will always be… WORD OF MOUTH!
Is there anything we forgot? What aspects do you think should be included in this list? Let us know!