5 TIPS TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING

On 7^th June, we attended the Leicester Digital Live #LDL22.  It was great to see such a packed event after a few years of being online and be able to network face to face.

At Mediabox Productions, we see the benefits of attending these events, not only for the great informative talks, but to keep building a community – staying in touch, catching up with clients from the past and updating them with our news and views!

The agenda was filled with many hot topics, such as Google Analytics 4, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Marketing and Branding which provided some great discussion over lunch.  Here’s a few takeaways from the event:

Most businesses will be familiar with GA3, known as Universal Analytics, which accurately measures data about your audience and which channels drive most traffic to your website.  Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, whereas GA4 operates across all platforms, allowing businesses to see user journeys across their websites and Apps.

GA4 is also designed with privacy in mind.  With data and legislation changes, GA4 for example will no longer display IP addresses.

What does this mean for me?

It is important to prepare now for the new upgrade.  If you move over to GA4 now, you can start to build and compare the necessary historical data before Universal Analytics stop processing new hits in July 2023.  There is a GA4 Demo account which you can also access now and a lot of help sections on the Google Analytics page for more information.

Attackers are constantly advancing their techniques on how they attempt to compromise your security.  Many businesses have become victims to these crimes in the past and have lost £££, some even going out of business.  Stories such as an attacker getting into a computer, taking client contact details and then e-mailing the clients as though it is from the business with an offensive e-mail have ruined the trust the business has spent years to build.

What does this mean for me?

Cybercrime proof your business – ensure passwords are strong and changed regularly.  Use two-step verification where possible and ensure that your anti-malware and virus protection are up to date.  Always keep your computer updated with patches.  It is also important to ensure that policies and procedures are in place and that staff know how to act against any risk of security compromise.

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) – tools are advancing at a tremendous rate.  Software has even been created to turn text into an image!  We took a tour of the some of the new platforms being created, including one by Google, which hasn’t been released due to the potiential harm for misuse.

What does this mean for me?

As this is a fast changing market, it’s good to keep an eye on the Marketing AI Institute which includes loads of resources which you can use with your digital marketing strategy.

If you’re planning a post for example, there is a tool called Predis.ai which creates fresh social media content, tailored for your business.

There is also a tool called Crystal.ai the virtual colleague that advises you through your business data.

There are numerous other tools to use in business – such as you can tailor content to the relevant user or even change copy on the landing page because it knows your interests and needs.

There are many tools available on the market to help you evaluate your website and better optimise it for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).  Ahrefs is one that was demonstrated to us at the event.

Ahrefs – which can provide the tools to make your website rank higher and get more traffic on your website.  Within the dashboard, there are many functions which can help audit and optimize your website; analyse your competitors; find keywords you customers are searching for; track your ranking progress and learn from your industry’s top performing content.

What does this mean for me?

If you want to appear at the top of the search engine results page for an organic search result, you need to fully understand how your website is optimised to do this.

In order to do this, you need to do your keyword research, create content that will be found useful, provide and build links and continually audit what is and what isn’t working.

The benefits to you will be that SEO leads to more traffic,that is free, therefore not having to pay for adverts to be at the top of the search result.

There were many other tips to take away from the event.  Here are a few final points to pass on.

Firstly, always think about your customer journey and how they would think in order to make a purchase.  Keep adding valuable content that provides a positive emotional attachment.  If you make things easy to buy, you will succeed.

Listen to your customers and keep the purchase path simple and easy for them.  Take on board all reviews and remember to respond to them whether it be good or bad.

If you see a customer has posted a video of them trying out a product or service, then this is called User Generated Content (UGC).  This outperforms standard marketing by showing real customer experiences.

And finally – keep telling stories – if you keep your messages simple, the audience will better understand your products and services.  According to a recent survey published on HubSpot by Wyzowl, the amount of online video that people are watching has doubled since 2018.  Consumers continue to use video as part of their journey with brands and many Marketers are positive about the return on investment offered by video.