Chart of the Week: 37% of marketers say increasing brand awareness is the main goal for 2019 but it is not a measure of success.

Increased brand awareness brings with it a range of benefits, including increased traffic, brand advocates and possibly more sales. It’s not surprising then that that over a third (37%) of marketers cite increasing brand awareness and brand health as their top priority for digital marketing in 2019. According to Altimeter by Prophet’s global survey of 500 senior digital marketers, brand awareness is still a big priority across the world. However, the research revealed that there are a lot of different priorities when it comes to digital marketing, with the focus being split across several areas.

2019 digital marketing goals

Over a quarter (26%) of marketers say that their primary goal for their digital…

Chart of the week: Only 2% of marketers have integrated all processes throughout their marketing funnel.

Creating a funnel that ticks all the boxes is a vital part of marketing. Your funnel should attract, nurture, qualify and convert, leading customers through to the checkout as seamlessly as possible in order to get the best conversion rates. Unfortunately, few funnels are completely perfect. Most of us will find that our marketing funnel isn’t performing as well as we might like, with at least one section causing issues at any one time. While you can work to deal with these problem areas, it’s unlikely that all the issues will be solved. More often than not, this friction between sections of the funnel is caused by how integrated all your process are. Poor integration will naturally slow other process and see your overall results impacted. Currently, according…

ASA bans first ads under new gender stereotyping rules, Facebook seeks to eradicate hate speech and misinformation, zero-click searches surpass 50% of total Google searches and online 'brand safety' remains a cause for concern

This week's roundup is a mixed bag full of important developments from across the marketing spectrum. First up, we'll take a look at the ads which have taken the prized accolade of being the first to fall foul of the UK Advertising Standards Authority's new, and much stricter, rules around gender stereotyping. Facebook's efforts to clamp down on dangerous, inappropriate and offensive content is also showing little sign of slowing, but recent announcements have done little to reduce the pressure on the firm. We're also looking at an interesting study for search marketers, as Q2 saw more than 50% of Google searches start and end without a click-through, making it the first-ever quarter in which the majority of Google searches…

Why would you want to reach a smaller audience? Why not go from the big guns from the start?

Are you looking for a more efficient way of promoting your business online and reaching your target audience in a meaningful way? In my Quick Win for Smart Insights, I teach you everything you need to know about working with micro-influencers, including creating an influencer marketing strategy and tips for finding the right influencers for your campaigns. If you’re interested in learning more about how to create a micro-influencer marketing strategy, check out the Quick Win here.  You’ll get to learn: Why micro-influencers can be more effective than hugely popular influencers How to set up goals for your influencer marketing campaign and establish the right KPIs to help you measure your results How to build a plan for your campaign from start to finish What to look for in…

Getting your marketing team to be more organized can mean that they become 397% more effective, but exactly how do you streamline your processes?

Research shows that organized marketing teams are 397% more likely to say they’re successful. That’s an impressive figure, right? You can draw some obvious conclusions from this single statistic, too. For starters, it pays to take the time to get your processes in order. Provide your team with the right structure, and performance improvements seem sure to follow. Except it isn’t quite that simple. [si_guide_block id="95176" title="Download our Business Resource – How to keep your team up to date with digital marketing" description="The guide is also useful for agencies since teams need to be ahead of what's happening, so their clients can always get the latest thinking and trends."/] Marketing departments are notoriously chaotic. They’re fast-paced places filled with busy creatives, strategists and analysts doing their best to…

Chart of the Week: 55% of marketing influencers believe that improving decision making is the primary objective for a marketing data dashboard

A marketing data dashboard is a helpful tool that can allow marketers to visualize KPIs relating to the impact of their marketing efforts. It can help KPIs be easily and immediately understood, making a marketing data dashboard useful for reporting and tracking. However, there are a number of different tactics and strategies that can be used when it comes to visualizing data using dashboards, as well as different trends. To see what some of the most popular and useful methods are, Ascend2 surveyed 307 marketing influencers for its Visualizing Marketing Data with Dashboards report.

What is the primary objective for marketing data dashboards?

Over half (55%) of survey respondents said that the primary objective they want their marketing…

Google file for a patent to retrieve images of users on their smartphones, launch Gallery ads in Beta, podcasts now playable in SERPs and the ASA issue another warning to Love Island influencer

What do you need to know to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of online marketing? In this roundup of the latest news across SEO and social media, we'll be taking a look at the headlines this week that has everyone talking.

Google file for a patent to use a smartphone camera to look at the expression of the user

Yes, you read that correctly - it's a step towards using biometric parameters as a ranking signal... In the most shocking news that I've read recently, SEO specialist Bill Slawski revealed that after keeping an eye on patent applications from Google, one has now been filed that wants cameras on smartphones to be able to monitor and retrieve images based on…

Businesses have begun using advanced business texting tools to send messages through channels like SMS and Facebook Messenger, ultimately bridging the gap between getting leads and engaging with them.

It has become increasingly easy to acquire leads through online marketing channels, particularly social media channels like Facebook and SEM channels like AdWords. Facebook is an especially good example of a business-friendly e-marketing channel. Some 78% of American consumers have discovered retail products to buy on Facebook and the average Facebook user clicks on eight ads per month. [si_guide_block id="33674" title="Download our Individual Member Resource – B2C marketing automation best practices guide" description="This guide to marketing automation best practices for consumer markets will help you review your requirements for marketing automation, select the best vendor and create or review your lead generation and nurturing programme."/] Google Ads is another example of a trusty e-marketing tool for both businesses and consumers. …

As consumers are offered more, they also demand more from brands. Using AI strategically is the key to rise to that challenge.

Even successful brands know how hard it can be to reach their target audience at exactly the right moment with exactly the right message. Consumers just have too many ways to interact with your brand, ranging from their phones to their tablets to their laptops. They’re bombarded with messages on email, social media, and search engines. It’s not surprising, then, that a study from Kantar found that more than half of consumers are totally apathetic toward advertising content and 70% see the same ads over and over again. A paltry 11% actually enjoy advertising. Your brand has to rise above all the noise in the marketplace to catch consumers' attention. [si_guide_block id="87369" title="Download our Business Resource – AI and Machine Learning for marketing" description="The guide aims to help…

Three tools and tactics to inspire 10x thinking

“Companies fail because they do the wrong things or they aren't ambitious, not because of litigation or competition” - Larry Page, Google, 2013 The ability to innovate is one of the most important tools that any business has at its disposal. Whilst some businesses will be more innovative than others, those that have the capacity to innovate and evolve give themselves the best opportunity to survive in a constantly changing world. Google, currently the third-largest company in the world by market cap, is also one of the most innovative. Since its launch in September 1998, Google has developed a culture of innovation that is based on the concept of 10x thinking, i.e. ideas that lead to 10-fold improvements rather than the more typical 10% improvements. The way Larry Page (Alphabet/ Google’s CEO) sees it, a 10% improvement means you're doing the same thing as everybody else.…