Top 5 Digital Marketing Tips for 2018
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As the digital manager at Oliver Russell, part of my job is to stay on top of trends in order to help our clients (and our agency) be most effective. I hope the following tips will help you take your digital campaigns to the next level in the coming year.
Design for Mobile First
The first iPhone was released in 2007 and in 11 short years we’ve developed... ahem... unique relationships with our smartphones, for better or worse. According to Pew research, 43% of American adults live in a cellphone-only house and 90% of those surveyed said they frequently have their cellphones with them. This means we're constantly connected to the internet, which augments our daily lives.
Augmented reality isn’t a thing of the future—we’ve been slowly integrating it into our daily life for the last few years. Organizations and brands are responding by seizing this opportunity to connect to consumers in new ways, informing their decisions at POS as they quickly scan product information in-store or even research medical conditions outside a doctor's office. No matter your industry, you must design your messaging and visuals for a mobile-first world.
Create 10x the Content
More companies are jumping on the content marketing band wagon. To cut through the chatter, your content must be engaging, reputable, and relevant to gain traction. Rand Fishkin of Moz calls this "10x content." It takes strategy, time, and research. Don’t neglect your funnel—invest in a strategy and the time necessary to execute it.
Embrace Topic Clusters and Content Pillars
High-quality content doesn’t necessarily mean longer content. Instead, focus on creating content that is substantive, informative and that can easily be broken up into multiple sections on a specific topic. This holds your reader's attention longer and boosts your SEO because each section is searchable as a unique piece of content and can be leveraged into gated content or an email marketing series in the future.
Digital + PR
Changing habits is difficult, so don’t expect your target audience to find you through search alone. Make sure your digital team and your PR team are working together to ensure your company's content is published on reputable third-party sites to meet the customer where they already are while also boosting your brand's domain authority.
Video is Still a Thing
Video is a powerful medium to tell stories online. But beyond narrative videos, think about producing more informative videos that give consumers insights into your products and how they work. Video reviews will become increasingly important to B2C consumers in the coming years. My guess is we will see Amazon and other retail stores encourage consumer video reviews, so be sure your company is getting the jump on this by creating video content that gives consumers greater insights into your products and what they can expect when they receive it.
Zero UI - Looking Beyond 2018
Start preparing for a Zero UI world. I spent the past two years heading up an organization focused on building talent in the augmented and virtual reality space. These technologies may take another ten years before they are easily integrated into our lives, but I think digital marketers will benefit from considering AR and VR when presenting searched (Voice) and presented (visual overlays) to consumers in the not-so-distant future.