NCET Biz Tips: Future-Proofing Your Marketing and Communications Operation

by Abbi Whitaker and Jarrod Lopiccolo

Abbi Whitaker and Jarrod Loppicolo

Digital marketing has come to the forefront as one of the chief disciplines in communications practice.

That makes sense when we consider that digital citizenship is up. A whopping 96 percent of American adults now claim to carry a mobile device, and the lines between “digital” and “in-person” life are blurred to the point of being nearly indistinguishable.

So much of marketing communication’s success depends on meeting people where they’re at. And we have good cause to believe they’re at their computers and on their phones.

How do you do that well?

The answers to that question can get complicated—but we’ll help you get started. Here are some tips to help you stay on top of today’s demands.

Take Advantage of Personalized Digital Marketing—and Make it Make Sense

Since February, email open and click-through rates have soared. Similarly, social media and advertisement engagement has doubled. There’s little reason to believe that will change as the shock of COVID-19 has inspired serious prudence in people’s daily lives.

Take advantage of attention that’s already primed for capture. Build high-converting, personalized emails that are timely, relevant and actionable for your consumers—getting them in touch with what they need when they need it… and make sure social channels are a part of your distribution strategy.

Sound like a lot to deal with? Don’t worry. There are plenty of marketing technology platforms to help you manage this process. It’s incumbent upon you to take advantage of them, and sites like G2 can help you learn about them.

Leverage Advances in Search Technology

Are you creating content for your audiences that align with their needs? Understanding trends, search intent, and a healthy knowledge of search engine optimization can help you figure that out.

We’ve come a long way since the days of keyword stuffing our content to manufacture relevance to search engines. In fact, Google’s crawling technology has made leaps and bounds —thanks to BERT—and is now better at understanding what people’s queries than ever before.

You can use research tools like Google Trends and Answer The Public to conduct social listening to understand how, when, and why people are searching in your niche. You can then develop useful content across your marketing ecosystem. As they find your high-value content, Google and other search engines will reward you with the weight of greater credibility and elevate your search ranking.

Build Out Rich Experiences for Your Audience

We’re in the midst of a massive digital transformation. We’re compensating for reduced in-person events by reading, videoconferencing and consuming media more so than we have in years.

But if you want to stand out from the crowd, you’ve got to step out of line with everyone else and do something different. You should be thinking more about how you can drive activation (public relations channels, landing pages, and soliciting user-generated content can be critical in making this happen) and interaction that amplifies your message. It’s not enough to push.

Ultimately, to compete in our increasingly digitized market, you’ve got to build relationships to which both parties—you and your audience—contribute to a conversation that unfolds across your content ecosystem.

Learn more about future-proofing your marketing and communications operation at NCET’s virtual 5th annual State of Digital Marketing panel presentation on Nov 18, 2020.  Tickets and more info at www.NCETspecial.org