2017-02-09



Digital marketing is where it’s at. Everyone from politicians to major international companies are focusing their efforts on digital marketing as opposed to traditional advertising models.

It only makes sense: Everyone is online. Even your grandpa who doesn’t know how to use the DVR has a Facebook account.

An informal Twitter survey from Search Engine Journal found that 71 percent of marketers say they are going to spend more on digital marketing activities in 2017.

Here’s a look at what many marketers will be focused on with that increased spending in 2017:

Content Marketing

Content continues to be king, and marketers will put more resources into creating content that gets results in 2017.

Hiring writers to create high-quality content will be priority number one. Content must be authoritative and in-depth, including longer posts that explore a topic from many angels and that include plenty of data and citations to back up the information. Content must also be well-written, which means hiring professionals who are capable of creating that type of quality and performing the research.

Marketers will also need to hire artists and designers to create high-quality photos and graphics to accompany the content since visuals help to get content noticed and to engage readers.

It is important that marketers think beyond basic blog posts and also invest resources into creating white papers, case studies, e-books, and long-form guides and other resources.

Social Media Marketing

Social media continues to be a major player for marketing since it has evolved to provide even more effective tools for brands to reach their audiences.

Facebook has live video and more intuitive targeting options. LinkedIn has video and a blogging platform. Snapchat has also risen to the top with its unique offerings, like filters and lenses.

Brands will need to invest more in creating social media marketing strategies, including hiring consultants, signing up for management tools, and creating videos and graphics that get more engagement.

360-degree photos are popular on social media, as are videos, and both of these require extensive resources to create well. Chatbots also offer exciting possibilities, but again, they need resources to create.

Start putting together a plan for creating whichever of these tools you are not already using.

SEO

SEO will always be a primary focus for marketers, no matter how much Google tries to change the game with algorithm updates.

The “problem” with SEO is that it’s a long-term game. You don’t see results right away, and that can be discouraging.

Marketers who want to speed up the process can do so by investing more resources in it. Having more people working on your SEO can ensure that more of your checklist is covered – you don’t have to prioritize your strategy. You can target more of your keywords, put more into creating content, have more research and analytics on hand to shape decisions, and deal with technical issues as soon as they arise.

Dedicate a team to SEO this year, or expand the one you have. The more qualified people you have working on it, the faster you will see results.

Advertising and Paid Search

More advertising options are available than ever before, and brands will be spending more on them, as well as on paid search.

One reasons brands will be spending more is they will be looking to buy more ads and more paid search opportunities. Another reason they will be spending more is the cost of these ads will be going up.

There is a lot more competition in the marketplace. Anyone with an Internet connection and a credit card can start a business online, and new websites are started every day.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you’re going to have to dig deeper into your pockets and pay for the opportunity to do so. You’ll need to look into opportunities for display ads, native advertising, paid search ads, and even Facebook ads, which now have more targeting options.

Using native solutions like CodeFuel’s In-feed will help you get more from your advertising even with customers who are using ad blockers. In-feed delivers targeted native ads based on user-intent signals. It looks at cues like what sites people are visiting, how they are behaving those sites, what search terms they are using, and so on to determine what they really want or need.

With In-feed, you get a bigger ROI by targeting the right user at the right time and in the right place.

Don’t just spend blindly in 2017. Make sure the marketing activities you are investing in are the ones that will help you meet your goals.

Use the right tools, the right resources, and the right professionals to get more out of all your marketing activities this year. You’ll get the exposure, the traffic, and the sales you need.

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