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What is video content marketing?

What is video content marketing?

What is video content marketing?

But what actually is video content marketing?

Well, let’s start with explaining content marketing, which is the creation of relevant, unique and (hopefully) engaging material that is disseminated across various media, from blogs to social channels, emails to – yes – video.

Its purpose is to attract and affect your target audience in certain ways, depending on where they are in the customer journey. Essentially, content marketing exists to get people in – and push them down – the marketing funnel.

Let’s play make-believe for a second: You’re a property developer (hey, like these guys we work with) and you want to attract interest from potential house buyers. So, as part of your ongoing marketing strategy, you identify your target audience and build buyer personas so you can create interesting, useful content focused around their needs and wants. And then you send that content out into the big wide world.

And, as we’ve seen above, one of the most powerful ways to get your message across is through video content marketing.

Types of video content marketing

So, if video is the way forward, you’re going to want to grab your clapperboard, get behind the camera and shout ‘action!’ as soon as possible. First, you need to determine the types of video content you want to create.

Brand videos

These usually form part of a larger advertising or awareness-building campaign, and aim to acquaint your audience with your brand values, vision statements and company mission. It’s the soul of your brand in a 2-minute segment. It’s a chance to convey your brand’s overarching story in a way that’s unsuitable to any other form of video content.

Product videos

These showcase how your products or services work, explaining their facets and benefits to the audience. It’s a good idea to put your products to the test – either via a demonstration or third-party testimonial – so the audience can see the benefits with their own eyes or hear about them from an independent source.

Interview videos

Want to build trust with your audience? Then get your thought leaders, industry experts and those with a different take on things in front of the camera. Seeing the people behind the brand adds to your credibility and lets your passion shine through. Make sure they include actual insight and opinion rather than just trotting out the same old same old.

Vlogs

Vlogs give your audience a more personal insight into the people behind the brand, humanising your business and making you more relatable. They’re more raw and cheaper to produce than the high-gloss, highly produced content used by so many, and so provide you with an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Company culture videos

These are a little like vlogs in that they get behind the scenes, show what your business is about and help humanise you to your audience. But they should be more employee-focused and reveal the nature, the driving visions and even the idiosyncrasies of your company. It’s an opportunity to tell your behind-the-scenes brand story and give people an insight into why you do what you do.

Testimonial videos

Testimonials offer two main benefits: first, they build trust and put your customers’ minds at ease because they show an independent party waxing lyrical about you. And second, they can be intersected with visuals showing your product features and benefits, much like a product video. Two birds, one stone? Don’t mind if I do…

Due to its popularity and propensity to stick in the viewer’s mind, video content marketing should be an integral tool of your content marketing strategy. And there are so many different varieties of video content marketing that, no matter your experience or budget, there will be a type of video that can work for you. So that the only real barrier to entry is the time it takes to write your script and shoot the content.

create memorable video content

create memorable video content

create memorable video content

we are constantly reminded of the importance of creativity and often consider it to be a key success factor, but few seem to be putting their money where their mouth is and are settling for a vanilla campaign.

PLAYING IT SAFE WON’T PAY OFF

Many of us would consider a failed campaign to be one of bad taste, causing an uproar. However, what about dull, safe, cliché content that no one notices? Does that do anything for a brand’s reputation? many content creators seem to rely on the tried and tested method, working on the same campaign year after year because that is what they know, but not always what’s best.

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE

Stepping out of your comfort zone is easier said than done but as tough it may be, it can be worth it. The best marketing team all want to achieve what many companies struggle to – inserting a non-tech product into the digital age – This will drive engagement with a relevant audience and also get all the right people talking.

The humour created has a lot of interaction with its customers and should serve as a reminder for all of us that with some creativity, any brand can really grab attention.

ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY

Some people argue that creativity is something you are simply born with, much like a strong singing voice, or the ability to roll your tongue; you’ve either got it or you haven’t. Wrong – just like any other talent, creativity takes practice and effort, and perhaps most importantly, the correct environment in which to thrive.

There are many steps you can take to ensure your whole team is fulfilling their potential. We’ve all got creativity in us. It’s just a case of bringing it to the fore. So where to start?

• Encourage everyone to look at the bigger picture. I have seen many marketers concentrate on specific product features when in reality that isn’t what consumers care about. Do not try to sell the product specs in your campaigns, but instead really think about why anyone would want your product.

• Focus on the brand narrative. Behind every product is a story – the reason you brought it to life in the first place. Do not be afraid of looking back and concentrating on the story as it can often re-ignite what initially made it a success whilst keeping ideas in line with what the company can achieve.

• Understand the brand you are working with. For every product there is a consumer – find that consumer and understand what makes them tick. Then work out how to get them to notice you.

• Use data to fuel your campaigns to really hit that sweet spot that many brands strive to achieve. Getting hold of and analysing your audience data is key to understanding what makes your target market tick, and furthermore, what will ultimately increase your brand notoriety and long-term relevancy.

• Take your lead from new companies. Start-ups and contender brands often lead the way in creative marketing. Why? Because they have so much less to lose, and often they are much agiler. Established brands are often weighed down by brand guidelines and accepted work practices. While you can’t rebrand a household name just for the sake of it, take inspiration from smaller brands on individual campaigns and projects.

• Creativity is the art of the possible. We can all be creative if we are not constrained by budgets, brand guidelines, or the basic laws of physics. But sadly, most of us have to operate within those parameters. True creativity is making something amazing with the time, money and resources available to you.

In a world where the average person reads an article for 15 seconds, marketers need to up their game. With so many channels of communication nowadays, it is the creative brand that will disrupt the norm and get noticed. Consider what you could do differently today to reach your consumers in a creative way – the future of your brand may depend on it.

Video content: why it’s important and how it can boost your brand

Video content: why it’s important and how it can boost your brand

Video content: why it’s important and how it can boost your brand

Video content is rapidly becoming one of the most effective forms of marketing today, with 86% of businesses using videos to sell their products or services.

When using Facebook ads, an ​​eCommerce marketing agency will almost always use videos to promote the product. Some even offer video services to help produce quality content that your potential customers will love.

Keeping up with trends

The CEO of Instagram recently announced that the app would be geared towards video content going forwards, which is no surprise considering the introduction of reels last year to compete with video content giant TikTok.

In 2020, TikTok was the most downloaded app on the Apple app store, second to Youtube, which says volumes about users’ preference for video content, and even more about the device they’re using.

Mobile users are 1.4 times more likely to watch an ad on their device than desktop users and more likely to pay attention to the content of that ad.

Short and snappy

The average millennial has an attention span of 12 seconds, and Gen Z even less at just 8 seconds. This means your video content has to be engaging and attention-grabbing from the start.

The suggested length of any video on social media is 15 seconds, while ads allow videos up to 30 seconds. Your ads have to get to the point quickly while offering the user a reason to continue watching. Whether that’s solving a pain point or providing entertainment.

An eCommerce agency will always suggest ways that their clients produce quality videos optimised to be 30 seconds long, squeezing in all the relevant information effectively without being overwhelming.

Videos ads that have proven to be the most successful show a human face talking to the camera in the first shot of the video, and have to have a personal feel that is unique to that brand, so consider prioritising these elements in your videos.

Videos market themselves

The beauty of video content is that if viewers find it worth watching, they will naturally share it with their friends. When asked if they would share a branded video with friends, 76% of users said they would if the video was entertaining.

Prioritise making creative, engaging video content to share online and watch engagement grow. Consider making behind-the-scenes videos or explanatory videos that show off your products. Anything that gives the user more information about your unique brand while being funny, informative or inspirational is likely to capture the user’s attention.

Suppose you’re unsure of how to create these videos. In that case, eCommerce marketing agencies can offer advice on how to optimise each video for different platforms to achieve the best results.

Good for the consumer…

… good for the company.

By placing a video on a landing page with more information about the advertised service or product, conversion rates can increase by 80%. Including a video in an email can increase the click-through rate by up to 300%.

So not only does video content provide a better experience for the customer, but it also has a positive effect on conversions.

As Google focuses on finding the most relevant content according to the user’s search term, ads that have a quality video on the landing page often appear higher in the search rankings, as Google tries to serve them the most informative page.

In summary: if you haven’t started making video content for your brand, then you’re falling behind.

Start by creating compelling product videos for advertising purposes, and then branch out into making creative, entertaining content for social media. In some cases, innovative, organic videos can be the most effective in building trust with your audience and could even see the most significant increase in conversions.

Either way, get started making content or hire an eCommerce agency to make them for you and reap the rewards.

Experimental production

Experimental production

Experimental production

In our world of experiential production, we have sins of our own that, if committed, can be detrimental to content quality. If you’re an agency considering experiential activity, here are some pitfalls to avoid for a less scary production experience.

1) Bad budgets

Number one on the list for a reason. Probably the most important factor when considering the production of an event is how much it’s going to cost. In the majority of cases clients have an allocated budget for their vision, but in most scenarios initial budgets need revising upwards rather than downwards.

The rule of thumb here is that it’ll usually cost more than you think. This is frequently because of those boring ‘fixed costs’ for the stuff nobody sees. Project management time, logistics, crew, technicians, H&S protocols. So be prepared for your initial cost estimates to exceed earmarked budgets.

2) Scary creative

Developing an outstanding event concept is all part of the creative process, and is entirely valid and valuable. If ideas were not big or adventurous enough, the world of experiential production would be less exciting for it.

However, the primordial blue sky ideas must then evolve to match the reality of budgets. As the phrase goes, “If you only have beer money, don’t buy champagne”. Creative and budget must align.

3) Tunnel vision

Clients will often have a vision of what the end experience looks like. Whether big and bold or meager and modest, in almost all circumstances the thought process is fixed on what the “front of house” areas will do and look like, based on limited knowledge of the “back of house” event production solutions that exist.

Can you really build that in a single day? Can you really make a projector do that? Does this installation need to be running for a week or would two days deliver the same result? Having an end goal vision is essential, but usually needs to be tempered by knowledge of the practical components required to bring the vision to life.

4) Time is ticking

Hashing out creative ideas is a fundamental process to be enjoyed and is how the best campaigns come together. However, avoid the tendency to let time slip away during the creative evolution. Each project-amend, each analysis of the knock-on effects and every associated budgetary re-work all require time from somewhere, and naturally that must be re-allocated from slick event production and execution time.

5) Communication and collaboration

Carrying off an experiential campaign requires teamwork between agencies, and full collaboration by all parties. When one element goes rogue it puts everyone else out of step. When a high profile sports influencer is booked to attend a public activation, consult the event production company first, who will advise on security implications. If an agency is keen on an exquisitely PR-able location, open it to the wider group. The event agency will flag any location-specific production implications that may impact experience or budget.

What are the top challenges of digital marketing transformation?

What are the top challenges of digital marketing transformation?

What are the top challenges of digital marketing transformation?

Retailers and brands have been talking about digital transformation for some time as they look to build their businesses as digital-first entities in order to deliver for the new customer demand.

As the world shifted online during the pandemic, those that weren’t already digitally-enabled had to quickly transform themselves to be so. But for some that meant hurried, sticking plasters. It wasn’t transformation – it was a quick, easy fix. And so for those, the true investment in the right systems, people and tools to enable digital transformation may only just be beginning.

Digital transformation is a huge challenge for brands and retailers since it involves change in so many elements of their operations and complete shifts in thinking. It requires the investment of both time and money – as well as getting staff engaged in the transformation too. If they are resistant – such as store staff not promoting online ordering instore – it simply won’t work.

Digital transformation requires technology change, which can be scary – especially for retailers still struggling with legacy systems that aren’t as streamlined.

Why are brands struggling with digital marketing transformation?

Why are brands struggling with digital marketing transformation?

Why are brands struggling with digital marketing transformation?

Getting the digital marketing transformation right can be one of the biggest challenges since brands and retailers are also at the mercy of the mindset of their consumers.

The struggle is real. Customers are busier than ever, bombarded by marketing messages and growing weary of them. Many are similar. Some are useful, others not.

The sheer scale of the challenge is illustrated by the fact that, led by the expansion in digital advertising, traditional, digital ad and total ad spending have all posted their highest rates of spending ever.

Coupled with the changes of the last two years, marketers also need to factor in changes in expectations when it comes to customer experience. Consumers are used to the quick ‘get’ of apps. According to a recent Accenture podcast, ‘Evolving the Customer Experience,’ Generation Z isn’t accustomed to waiting; in fact, they won’t even wait on hold for two minutes when calling into a call center.

Brands, meanwhile, are often stuck in a hamster wheel of content – they spam because high reach and high penetration is what they need to do to overcome the challenges of lower loyalty levels. But it often only turns off consumers more.

Consumers are investing less time in engaging with brands, but they are also investing less quality time. Attention spans are waning, leaving brands with the challenge of how to ensure they grab customer attention, deliver standout experiences and leave the shopper with an interaction worth remembering.

And yet against all this backdrop digital sales are growing and so digital marketing becomes the tool necessary to increase those sales further and continue building successful customer relationships. Brands need to stand out.

The bedrock of customer data

But delivering a great customer experience also relies on knowing what the customer wants, which in turn relies on customer data. Brands and retailers need to increase the scale and accuracy of their customer data.

A platform designed to allow suppliers and agencies to better understand changing consumer needs and serve those needs.

So we have retail having to continue their digital marketing transformation by delivering something new, yet also needing to get closer to their customers than ever, to understand exactly what they want, yet a marketing-weary customer who craves experience not spam.

Marketing ramification can help on both these points. As an experience for the customer it delivers surprise, intrigue, pleasure and stands out from other marketing methods. It can amuse, inform or simply entertain. And it rewards customers for the engagement they invest as a result.

The power of knowledge for brands

But it’s the data that it can be used to collate that is the most powerful tool for digital marketing transformation. It can increase marketing permissions by incentivising sign-ups with game rewards – such as discounts or prizes.

But it can delve much deeper too, surveying customers about their likes and dislikes, or views on products in a way that makes it exciting for the customer and useful for the brand or retailer.

In a time of fragmentation across media touch points marketing ramification brings the experience together again. It allows brands and retailers to stand out. And in the world of transformation standing out is what matters most.

While digital marketing transformation is an ongoing process for many brands and retailers, it should be always be a high priority. By adopting a digital-first strategy that is flexible and reactive to audience needs, brands and retailers can meet their audience when and where they want to be met. Let’s strive to offer experiences at just the right moment, which will lead to being memorable, meaningful, and importantly, good for business

Content marketing: What are the top misconceptions?

Content marketing: What are the top misconceptions?

Content marketing: What are the top misconceptions?

So, content marketing, huh? Despite this, a large number of brands are still working under some common misconceptions about this incredibly effective form of marketing, largely due to the assumption that content marketing is ‘easy’ and can be done without the help of a professional content marketing agency.

In this article, I’ll walk you through just some of these content catastrophes and how to fix them.

Selective gearing

There are those who believe that content marketing is only useful for the so-called ‘creative’ industries, and that it has no place in more formal sectors. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as content marketing is, essentially, about the sharing of information and the solving of problems.

This means that every industry and sector can – and should – be tapping into content marketing as a way of reaching and engaging with their target audiences and setting themselves up as a thought leader within that industry.

For example, marketers within the finance sector can use a content marketing strategy to advise and inform their audience of the benefits of certain kinds of savings and investments.

Quantity over quality

Too many marketers firmly believe that the key to a successful content marketing strategy is to pump out as much content as possible, as often as possible. I get the thinking behind this, as the assumption is that the more content you put out there, the more people you are likely to reach.

However, let me stop you there.

First of all, this kind of strategy will almost certainly compromise the quality of the content – which will impact the interest and trust received from your readers and followers.

Secondly, never ever forget that the gods of Google are watching. Google uses a method known as E.A.T to measure each piece of content that you publish online. This stands for:

Expertise: The work demonstrates expertise on the subject, backed up by proper facts and figures.

Authoritativeness: The work is supported by accreditations of authority such as customer reviews, backlinks, awards and affiliations.

Trustworthiness: The work is supported by positive reviews, good website security and other factors which engender trust.

This means that, if you’re just churning out content without quality control, this will actually cause your brand harm both in terms of customer trust and Google ranking. When producing content, quality will always trump quantity.

Keeping them posted

Here’s one that you may already be guilty of. You’ve written some cracking content and you’ve published it – then you assume it’s ‘job done’. Any reputable content marketing agency will tell you that this is, quite literally, only half the job done.

Assuming that people are just going to find, read and react to your content is one of the biggest cardinal sins of content marketing in 2021. The key here is that it’s ‘content marketing’, not just ‘content’.

This means that, if you want your content to be successful, you need to follow up with proper engagement with your followers on social media and other platforms.

You also need to be consistently checking your analytics and performing A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t in terms of your published content, as well as gathering feedback from your readers and followers.

This allows you to make amendments and updates to your work and to produce follow-on pieces for your winning articles.

Keeping it reel

This one is a particular bugbear for me – marketers who insist that video content doesn’t really offer any value to a brand. I’ll let you into a secret: it absolutely does.

In 2021, a huge number of social media and internet users are consuming content while commuting, sitting in a waiting room, and even when queuing for coffee. For this reason, bite-sized content is still incredibly valuable, and video lends itself perfectly to this.

Video allows you to get your message across in a way that is fast, visually engaging and human-centric. Your audience can snap up this kind of content quickly and easily, and figures show that around 55% of internet users access and watch a video every day.

Topping up the bottom line

Yep, we’ve all heard this one – content marketing doesn’t have any impact on revenue or the bottom line.

The truth here is that all of your marketing efforts come together to impact your revenue and, while you may not be able to attribute an actual cash value to each piece of your content, the impact is there.

When you release great value content, the knock-on effect is that it drives people to your website as well as inspires them to share the content with others. As a result, increased website traffic leads to increased sales which leads to increased revenue.

Game but no game plan

There are plenty of marketers out there who tick all the right boxes but still fail for one reason: – they don’t put together a proper content strategy. It’s not enough to just put out great content; you need to plan ahead as well as react to current events.

A good content marketing agency will create a schedule for your content that is designed to keep your readers engaged every step of the way through high value, thought leadership, topical content.

Conclusion

Content marketing should be thought of as a long term strategy, rather than something which is used to gain results fast.

In reality, most brands simply don’t have the time or expertise to really make this work for them, in which case, the hiring of a great content marketing agency is probably one of the most important investments that they can make as we approach the finishing line of 2021 and power into 2022.

How to ensure your influencer marketing campaign goes to plan

How to ensure your influencer marketing campaign goes to plan

How to ensure your influencer marketing campaign goes to plan

When done correctly, influencer marketing is an amazing tool that can help you to maximise your digital marketing spend, raise brand awareness, and increase your sales. However, when campaigns are set up incorrectly or are missing the fundamentals, they don’t always go to plan.

Ensuring that your influencer marketing campaign works for your brand requires groundwork and planning. Here, we’ve put together a number of steps to ensure that you succeed.

Why Do Influencer Marketing Campaigns Fail?

There are a few reasons that influencer marketing campaigns can fail. These include:

Working with the wrong creators

When choosing which content creators to include in their influencer marketing campaigns, brands can sometimes be distracted by vanity metrics such as follower count or the number of likes a creator receives. In reality, what is really important are the deep engagement metrics, such as shares and saves, and the target audience. If you work with creators whose audience doesn’t reflect your target audience, or an audience that you’re at least interested in exploring, then your hard work will be wasted. Finding the right creators for your influencer marketing campaign is essential.

Lack of authentic content

When brands work with creators, sometimes it can be easy to forget that authenticity is still one of the most important aspects of content creation. No matter how much you want to push a product or promote your CTA, you have to ensure that the creator genuinely believes in what they’re saying. Influencer marketing campaigns can fail if the content or messaging seems inauthentic or forced, so making sure your content is authentic is key.

Lack of data

Combing data and human creativity is key to building the best influencer marketing campaign possible, and without the data to back up the strategy, campaigns can fail. Data provides crucial insights into audience behaviour, the effectiveness of certain content, and how a creator performs historically to give you a good idea of how the campaign will perform.

Lack of long term strategy

While one-off partnerships between brands and creators can sometimes work, most successful influencer marketing campaigns include long-term partnerships between brands and creators, run over a longer period of time. Long-term partnerships build campaign authenticity and trust between brands and the creator’s audience.

They have no defined objectives

Defining the objectives of a campaign is very important in the planning stages. Without a clear direction, creators and brands alike can end up creating content that doesn’t have a goal. Having clear objectives and a CTA in mind can help to create content that really converts, and also helps with measuring the campaign’s success further down the line.

Creators are too controlled

The final (and perhaps saddest!) reason why influencer marketing campaigns fail is that brands try to control the creator too much, to the point where the content that is produced doesn’t speak to the creator’s audience, the brand’s target audience. Ultimately, the creator knows their audience the best. Brands should write a clear brief, outlining their aims for the campaign and work in collaboration with the creator to guarantee a killer influencer campaign.

How Can You Ensure Your Influencer Marketing Campaign Doesn’t Fail?

The best way to ensure that your influencer marketing campaign doesn’t fail is by creating a genuine relationship with the creators you work with and using data to generate a strategic campaign with authentic content.

Measuring the impact of your influencer marketing is also essential as you navigate through the campaign, and having the technology on hand to do that can be essential. If something doesn’t look right, or one creator doesn’t seem to be resonating with your audience, you should remain agile and be open to changing your approach

Affiliate marketing: What is it and what are the benefits?

Affiliate marketing: What is it and what are the benefits?

Affiliate marketing: What is it and what are the benefits?

Affiliate marketing is a low-risk form of advertisement that companies and businesses use to promote their products or services. It is a completely performance-based process that all comes down to the affiliate’s promotion efforts.

Affiliate product or service promotions may include mentions on social media, reviews, blogs, vlogs, and podcasts, but the affiliate only makes a commission when a purchase is made through their personal link or recommendation.

With such a drastic increase in just one year, it’s no surprise that more companies are taking an interest in affiliate marketing and its benefits. To see how affiliate marketing could benefit your business, read on.

High ROI

When running a campaign, selecting the right target audience is vital. This is because there are so many things that your business needs to consider about the person who will be interested in your products or services. Do you know the average age of your audience? Do you know their interests and income?

One of the main reasons affiliate marketing is so simple is because the affiliate you’re likely to choose already has the most perfectly tailored audience, ready to influence. By funneling your marketing through an affiliate who has direct connections with your ideal audience, you’re able to reach a highly cultivated group of people who are likely to provide conversions.

Flexible strategy

You can give affiliate marketing a go even if you don’t want to splash the cash. You can start with very little and scale your budget as the strategy proves its worth.

Affiliate marketing offers great flexibility in terms of price and affiliate selection. There are countless affiliates in all industry sectors which means that you won’t be disappointed. Plus, depending on your affiliation, creativity has no bounds, especially if you find someone with a passion and a great following for what you do.

Start up costs are low

With affiliate programs, you don’t have to have an advertising team or need to buy ad space. That’s because your professional affiliates will generate the marketing ideas, build content and do the advertising for you.

The only initial effort will be choosing the affiliates you want your brand to collaborate with. Once you have decided upon the right person or persons, your affiliates will deal with the ad visuals and decide on the most effective ways of getting your products or services under the nose of the business’ target audience.

Low-risk form of marketing

As affiliate marketing is a low-cost advertising method, it means it really is a low-risk way to promote your brand. Due to the way affiliate marketing works, it’s perfect for low or tight business budgets because the only payment that will be made is when your affiliate generates a conversion.

The average commission for an affiliate is between 5-30%. The amount of commission you’re happy to part with will be a deciding factor of the affiliate you choose at the selecting stage.

Gets your brand in front of your target audience

To ensure your affiliate is perfect for your business, do your research if you want it to be a success. Hand-selecting affiliates means you can use your best judgement on who has the most targeted audience that’s most likely to resonate with your brand.

By choosing the right affiliate, their promotions of your products and services will feel less like a hard-sell to their audience, which means they’re more likely to show interest.

Contact MediaCoup

At MediaCoup, we’re just as committed to reaching your company goals as you are. Every campaign we develop together is focused on transformational growth, and we’re continuously searching for innovative ways to out-perform your current campaigns. Want to get started? Contact our expert team today!

Why choose a career in digital marketing

Why choose a career in digital marketing

Why choose a career in digital marketing

Selecting one career out of the thousands available is a tough decision to make. That said, it’s important to consider what you’ll enjoy and can see yourself doing for years to come.

If you’re searching for a good salary, the ability to climb the corporate ladder and the opportunity to learn each day, a career in digital marketing might just be the one for you.

But what does a career in digital marketing look like?

Learning is continuous in digital marketing

The digital world is evolving every day due to changing algorithms, which can be both a marketer’s worst nightmare and an exciting challenge.

When algorithms change, strategic decisions change too, which means we’re always learning and thinking outside the box to keep up with Google. The reason Google changes its algorithms is to ensure that online users find the most useful and relevant information possible.

So if you’re wondering what an algorithm is, according to Oxford Language, it’s ‘a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.

When announcements like this are made, it’s important for digital marketers to take the changes on board and look to create a strategy that’s in-keeping with the new rules. It may seem tiresome but the rewards will be worth it, and there are some hints and tips about how you can go about meeting the new requirements, here are a few to give you a flavour:

Show how the product will be used

  • Provide information about how it differs from competitor products
  • Consider writing about comparable products to help advise the user what might be best for them.

Digital marketing in-house or agency

Most digital marketers are likely to try out in-house and agency life but we’ve put together insight into what you can expect from both to help you make your initial decision.

What to expect as an in-house digital marketer:
  • Gain in-depth knowledge of one company
  • Become specialised in one industry sector
  • Slower-paced and no requirements for external sign-offs
  • When working in-house, you’ll be devoted to the company itself and will only work in one sector but across a wide range of projects. In-house literally means that the marketing will be done by the brand’s direct employees and won’t be outsourced to a third party.
  • When working in-house, it’s more likely that you will have to dabble in lots of different areas of digital marketing. From brand guidelines to shop marketing and media publishing – you’ll be a whizz at various areas of their digital marketing projects.
What to expect in a digital marketing agency:
  • Work with people from a wide range of industries
  • Become specialised in one digital marketing discipline
  • Fast-paced and requirement for external client sign-offs
  • Agency life is quite different, you’ll be working on multiple client projects from a wide range of industries. This tends to mean that no two days are the same and that you’ll have to be ready to dip in and out of different accounts during the day.
  • You’ll work closely with a number of different clients that will want to share their input, so it’s likely that you’ll have to collaborate with them to ensure they’re happy with your campaign.

It’s likely that you will have a particular role – instead of doing a bit of everything – you’ll either focus on SEO, PPC, copywriting, social media, web design, PR, graphic design, or photography.

Digital marketing culture

The culture of a company can make or break your feelings towards a certain career, so it’s important to get a feel for what you can expect when it comes to digital marketing.

In most digital marketing companies, you can expect to enjoy:

  • Casual dress
  • Flexible hours
  • Ability to work remotely
  • Support of like-minded people
  • Dynamic and creative atmosphere
  • If you’re looking to wear suits and travel to meet clients every day, you might find that the digital marketing space isn’t quite right for you.
Digital marketing jobs are everywhere and evolving

The internet advertising spend worldwide has been steadily increasing for the past decade and a half, which means the demand for digital marketers has also risen. For online advertising to be worth it, customers paying for this service need people who can provide them with digital marketing strategies to help them gain a return on investment.

That said, it’s not nearly as black and white as that. There are direct and indirect factors that assist ROI, ones that make up an overall successful marketing strategy – this nearly always involves omni-channel marketing. This is where all digital marketing services come together to boost one another which leads to a watertight digital presence.

If your goal is to boost your website’s rankings, you’ll want SEO and PR but to keep those users on your website, you’ll want: blogs, infographics, resource centres, an easy-to-use shop, straightforward checkouts, contact forms… the list goes on!

Why digital marketing is important

Since there are 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, it’s a good place for businesses to start when it comes to promoting their brands. Having immediate access to this huge audience gives businesses equal opportunities as there’s a marketing package to suit a variety of budgets, but that’s not all, here are some more digital marketing benefits:

  • Influencers buyers
  • Boosts brand reputation
  • Responsive websites = mobile traffic
  • Drives more conversions
  • Cost-effective
  • Target the right audience
  • Achieve measurable results