Becoming a better marketer isn't rocket science if you have access to the right resources
The world of marketing is fast-paced and ever-changing. You can’t scroll through LinkedIn without finding out something new about the industry. It seems that every day a new theory, acronym or feature has emerged that you need to get up to speed on (mainly before your boss or colleagues ask you what it is).
But how do you stay on top of all of these updates and new features, and how do you apply them? Smart Insights is definitely a great place to start.
Why should I pay for digital marketing training?
Perhaps you want to grow your digital marketing skills within your current position or work toward getting a promotion. Maybe your goals are focused on growing your business and achieving ROI on your digital marketing. Or, you manage a marketing team and you know that effective digital…
The latest results from the CMO Survey, a special COVID-19 edition, give a fascinating insight into our fellow marketers' business strategy and planning to drive growth this year.
Digital Marketing Strategy during COVID-19
84% of marketers confirm they have ‘improvised to generate new marketing strategies during the pandemic’ according to the CMO Special Covid-19 report in June 2020. So what did they do? And what can we learn about managing business growth right now?
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”
- Albert Einstein
So, by Einstein’s prognosis, 2020 has been a very intelligent year for marketers. While for some of us, the changes have been less grand, others have witnessed a complete transformation in less than half a year. Naturally, there are fluctuations by industry, so for more detailed data about your industry, check out this special …
Who in the agency should work on discovery and how can you convince clients it should be paid for?
In the Smart Insights Agency Guide to Discovery, I suggest a checklist of the areas you might explore as part of a discovery process for clients. But is a guide needed, we all know what ‘discovery’ entails, don’t we?
If you search Google on the agency discovery process, you’ll get between 35M to 75M results, depending on the phrase you use. In any case, that's seemingly a huge number of agencies or training providers talking about discovery. So you may think it’s a well-understood topic.
But from my direct experience and conversations over the past few years with industry contacts, there’s still some uncertainty within agencies around three areas:
What should be examined, which stones turned in the process?
Who is best to carry out this activity?
Can an agency charge for what can be…
What kind of marketing strategy should you adopt to reach potential clients? Venngage surveyed 100 consultants and freelancers to find out which ones worked, and which didn’t
Creating a foolproof marketing strategy that will land your clients isn’t always an easy task. There are numerous freelancers, consultants, and solopreneurs demanding the attention of a small pool of businesses and customers. To find the best marketing strategy, Venngage spoke to 100 marketers to learn from their experiences. The results are surprising and should aid you in deciding which marketing strategy works best for you.
Traditional media is out
It seems like only a short while ago, marketers were putting out advertisements to coax clients to hire them. But those days may well be in the past. Among the marketers we surveyed, print advertising ranked lowest as a method of attracting clients. The only print medium that was still being employed was business cards.
Another traditional…
The scientific method of measuring marketing effectiveness
As seasoned marketers, I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the quote (often attributed to John Wanamaker):
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half”
The ability to effectively measure marketing effectiveness is the Holy Grail for CMOs and marketing leaders. With so many established, new and emerging channels at our disposal, it’s more important than ever to identify and prioritize those that drive the most value for our businesses.
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Many marketers believe that evaluating the impact of marketing is straightforward - simply compare the outcomes from one campaign to another and look at which channels generated value.
However, simple or even more complex…
B2C strategies can also be used for B2B audiences, after all, all marketing is human to human
B2B marketing strategies can be hard to get a handle on since reaching potential customers is very different from B2C ones, right?
Or are there strategies that translate from consumer-focused organizations to B2B ones?
In a word, yes...and it is those strategies that need to infiltrate our marketing efforts in the business-to-business world to compete in the current and future age. All marketing is, after all, human to human.
In their article (and accompanying infographic), Imaginasium, a B2B marketing agency, demystifies B2B marketing with stats, tips, and strategies you can put to use today.
First, let’s review a couple of those surprising stats about B2B marketing strategies; for more of these, see the full infographic below.
51% of companies don’t have a clear marketing strategy
68% struggle with getting enough quality B2B leads
79%…
Discover the digital skills your agency needs and how to develop your team
Our guide to developing digital skills in your agency came about through conversations I have had with agency clients over the past few years. And from my time running large teams in agencies, recruiting or developing new digital talent.
I’m biased but the teams I recruited and developed (both as employed ‘Head Of’ and for agency clients in my consultancy role) have been excellent people, across all disciplines. But oh-my-goodness .. they took some recruiting on occasion!
I can’t think of a time where they were enough digitally skilled people in the market. And that dearth of skilled practitioners is only increasing, as we look to bring in those conversant in machine learning, AI, analytics and ever-evolving media channels and tech tools into agencies. And recruiting digitally-savvy client-facing or planning / strategic team members can…
Five steps to creating a 1-2-1 marketing plan that will generate results
Customers sit at the heart of every business. Whether you’re a sole trader or a large corporation, how you interact with your customers helps define who you are as a brand. It’s therefore important to determine how you interact with customers and outline the type of messages to communicate at different stages of the customer journey.
Some businesses are more focused on marketing to existing customers than others. Companies within the FMCG sector, for example, will be more interested in reaching all buyers within a particular category via mass marketing. As a result, Coca-Cola, P&G, and Unilever will have a smaller database of ‘loyal’ customers to reach out to businesses within the banking or telecommunications sectors where customer relationship management (CRM) plays a much more prominent role within the marketing mix.
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Businesses that see the value in customer relationship management must…
How to develop a clear marketing brief that unlocks insight and gets to the heart of the marketing challenge
Our primary role as marketers is to constantly solve new and different types of challenges and demonstrate this insight through an effective marketing brief. From a client-side perspective, this may be responding to a change in the market, for example, a new competitor disrupting the status quo or a sudden change in consumer demand as a result of a new trend. From an agency perspective, this will often involve responding to a client request to help formulate a strategy for a new campaign or initiative, usually in support of the challenge they’re attempting to solve!
I’ve written about the importance of an effective marketing brief before and its positive impact on both clients and agencies. However, whilst a written brief is essential, one of the keys to the success…
There comes a time in every business when scalability takes front and center. As difficult as the beginning stages were, achieving a scalable business can be just as challenging
You’ve succeeded in proving that your business is viable, but now you have to make sure you achieve steady growth.
Scale too quickly and you can suffer from not being prepared. Scale slowly or unevenly and you may get stuck with employees you hired that you don’t need anymore. Overall, you need to ensure that the rate of your growth doesn’t hurt you in the long run.
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How can you do that?
By coming prepared.
There are certain elements you can integrate into your business now that will ensure a seamless scaling process in the future and will also help if you…
