Thanksgiving and the holiday season are upon us. Now is the perfect time to reflect on the things we’re grateful for in our lives.
As digital marketers, we have a lot to be grateful for. Sure, the industry is constantly changing and it can be hard to keep up. And sometimes, it feels like we’re expected to magically crack the code of people’s minds to figure out exactly what they want and how to provide it to them precisely the way they want it.
But it’s exciting to live in a world surrounded by innovation and possibility. And the satisfaction you feel when you do crack the code and figure out what exactly your audience wants, write copy that perfectly encapsulates the points you know will resonate with your audience, or finally glean some amazing insights from a dashboard you spent months building? It’s unparalleled.
All of that being said, let’s take a few moments to think about all the things that we may take advantage of but that we should take the time to appreciate.
1. The Rise of Social Media
Social media platforms have introduced an entirely new way to market that barely even existed just a decade ago.
From sponsored ads on Facebook that use the Facebook Pixel to display ads based on users’ browser history to Instagram influencers posting lifestyle photos & videos featuring your brand to the everyday customer raving about your brand on Twitter, social media presents myriad tremendous opportunities for your target audience to be inspired to purchase your product.
2019 brought lots of new advances and capabilities in social media. We saw Facebook introduce new responsive ads, new Instagram tools for product launch promotions, and tons of new features around privacy concerns on social media.
If you’re interested in learning more about all of the advances in social media in 2019, check out all of our editions of the Social Media Water Cooler here!
2. AI & Automation
Artificial intelligence has changed the way digital marketers do almost everything. Automation has made it easier for us to focus our efforts less on manual tasks like importing data and placing bids so that we can spend more time flexing the creative side of our brains.
It also helps reassure us that our time and energy are being spent on the right efforts, marketing to the audiences we really want to reach. One such is example is Google Smart Shopping, which leverages powerful machine learning to ensure campaigns automatically reach your target audience at the most compelling time and place.
There are also tons of ways machine learning can upgrade your website, from personalization and optimized search results to fraud reduction and customer service.
With automation proven to improve conversions, sales & marketing productivity, customer retention, campaign measurability, and so much more, marketing automation sure gives us a lot of reasons to be grateful! It’s no wonder that more than half of companies use it.
3. Brand Awareness
As digital marketers, most of us understand the importance of brand awareness. After all, you can have the greatest product in the world that’s exactly what someone is looking for, but if people don’t know it exists, that doesn’t matter.
Historically, though, it’s been hard to get the data to prove the impact of brand awareness. It’s at the very top of the funnel and it’s difficult to understand the customer’s mind at this point. Getting executive buy-in for brand awareness budgets hasn’t been easy.
Luckily, with advancements in analytics, more and more digital marketers and C-suites are able to understand how and why brand awareness is so important. Here are some intriguing stats on brand awareness:
- Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue up to 23% (source)
- 77% of B2B marketers say branding is crucial for growth (source)
- 48% of consumers say their first purchase/interaction is the best time to earn their loyalty (source)
- 90% of digital marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business & 75% say they’ve increased traffic (source)
- 60% of Millennial consumers expect a consistent brand across channels (source)
- 82% of investors want the companies they invest in to have a strong brand (source)
We started helping one of our clients, Hydro Flask, implement a successful brand awareness strategy in January 2017. Revenue has continued to exponentially grow ever since. In July of 2019, Hydro Flask’s YTD average revenue increased 247% YOY, with transactions up by 247%, and ROAS up 220%. Hydro Flask also saw search volume increase by 210%. If you want to dive deeper into how we helped make this happen, you can find the full Hydro Flask success story here!
4. Your Competitors
Wait, what? You’re supposed to be thankful for the people who are always trying to beat you?
Absolutely.
If you didn’t have any competition, what would motivate you to make your brand the best it can be? What would you inspire to work hard and how would you get a full picture of success? Just like you can’t have a rainbow without any rain, you can’t experience true success without the highs and lows of trying to improve against your competition.
Even though in your dream would, everyone in your target audience would flock to your brand, competition is the essence of success, and how you respond to your competition will help shape your brand in the long run. Be thankful for your competition – they motivate you to work harder and are a key part of your brand’s accomplishments.
5. Your Clients & Customers
Lastly, take a moment to be grateful for the people who make it all possible: your clientele!
These people are your fans. They like your brand, appreciate your efforts to make them happy, and choose to spend their hard-earned cash with you. They deserve your appreciation. As you strategize for 2020 and beyond, think of all the ways you can satisfy your customers and allow them to become genuine advocates of your brand. Be on the lookout for our upcoming 2020 Tech & Trends Report as well as our 2020 Ecommerce Paid Search Report for insights and exclusive data that will help you make your customers happy.
If you’re looking to learn more, here are some recent reports we’ve published to help you make the most out of Q4 and beyond:
- Google Smart Shopping: AI +Machine Learning for Profitable Brand Growth
- An Executive’s Guide to Brand Attribution Marketing: Upper-Funnel Branding for Ecommerce Marketers
- How to Thrive in Cyber Five: Google Industry Insights for Q4 Brand Domination
- YouTube Advertising: Success on the World’s Second Largest Search Engine
