Top 25 blog posts of 2017

1. The General Data Protection Regulation has been big news in 2017, affecting every company with EU-based customers. The topic hits the number one spot in the shape of this article about best practice UX for obtaining marketing consent.

2. The regulation also hits number two in our list of most popular blog posts from 2017 – GDPR: How to create best practice privacy notices (with examples).

3. Healthcare is in at number three, with this roundup of Internet-of-Things innovations in the sector.

healthcare iot

4. Ashley Friedlein’s introduction to Econsultancy’s Modern Marketing Model is up next. M3 attempts to align traditional and digital marketing disciplines, and shake marketing out of somewhat of an existential crisis.

M3 chart

5. Yawn (only joking), it’s more GDPR for marketers. This time, five examples of ‘Legitimate Interests’. Legitimate interest is another basis for data processing, with a data contoller needing to balance their own legitimate interests with any potential impact of data processing on the individual.

It seems marketers across the land are feverishly searching for advice about the GDPR.

6. Messaging is up next– Nikki Gilliland brings us ‘How brands are using WhatsApp for marketing‘.

7. How accurate were Ashley Friedlein’s hugely popular marketing and digital trends for 2017? Have a read and find out. N.B. Ashley will be back in the New Year no doubt, with some trends for 2018.

8. Another one of Econsultancy’s annual events is the Top 100 Digital Agencies report. As part of the report, our research analyst Donna-Marie Bohan took a look at the state of the industry.

9. Explainer pieces traditionally do well on the blog. Here’s one that did well this year – What’s the difference between CRM, marketing automation and DMPs?

(Warning, contains intimidating diagram.)

CRM

10. Rounding out the top 10 is a good old listicle from staff writer Nikki Gilliland – Six successful examples of online brand communities.

11. Everybody likes to read about the murky side of UX it seems, with this roundup of dark patterns proving popular.

12. At number 12 is a listicle showcasing some of the best brand PR stunts from the past few years.

13. Greg Randall is up next. His meaty post – The 10 principles for creating amazing online retail experiences – did very well indeed.

14. The mother of all Econsultancy’s 2017 listicles next, it’s 93 ecommerce UX features that create user flow. I’d like to think if this post was published a little earlier in the year it might be higher up this list.

ao.com

15. In the year in which Apple celebrated the iPhone’s 10th birthday, we took a look back at the 15 biggest moments in marketing since its launch.

16. Jargon confusing your new marketing execs? Point them towards this popular post – The newbie’s glossary of misunderstood digital marketing jargon.

17. A bit of a controversial article next, in that I got a bit of stick in the comments and on social for attempting to define strategy in the digital age. Have a read and see if you disagree, too.

18. A nice case study next from Nikki Gilliland – How Adidas Originals uses social media to drive sales.

19. Data-backed answers are catnip for our audience, hence the success of Clickteq’s Wesley Parker and his article – Are long tail keywords still important for PPC in 2017?

keyword analysis

20. Content marketing, beauty brands, what more could you want from this listicle? Thanks again to Nikki Gilliland.

21. Mapping the customer journey doesn’t have to be difficult you know. So now you can get on with it.

22. I’m surprised this article isn’t higher. It’s joyous – 19 words and phrases to weed out of your marketing copy.

23. For this next post we took a look at some disruptive brands doing bold things with UX and design.

24. As we approach the end of our list, never fear, emojis have made the cut. Here’s a roundup of emoji-powered marketing campaigns (one of the more dubious trends in 2017).

25. Rounding out our 25 we’ve got an update on China’s firewall provided by Jeff Rajeck in April of 2017.

That’s your lot. Thanks for reading.