Using PEST, SWOT and scenario planning in a crisis
The Covid-19 crisis is an unprecedented event, the exact impact of which is impossible to foresee. However, those organisations that have dealt with the crisis best are those that had robust strategies in place for dealing with the unpredictable. There are a multitude of different tools available to help organisations consider and prepare for potential […]
A day in the life of… an agency planner
This week we get an insight into the mind of an agency planner – namely, Nicky Lloyd of Six.
Before we get stuck in, remember if you’ve got itchy feet yourself, you could do worse than checking out all the digital marketing and ecommerce jobs listed over on the Econsultancy jobs board.
Digital transformation and planning next year’s training budget
It’s important to involve HR in your digital transformation plans so they’re on board with requirements that are likely to come their way in terms of resource and up-skilling.
One thing we see often is the misunderstanding of what skills you need and that alignment with what’s insourced and outsourced as part of any transformation, since that will have an impact on the type of knowledge and capability you’ll need, either specialist (deep) or generalist (broad).
10 steps to email success at Christmas: part two
With Christmas fast approaching, it’s important that brands are ready with a strategic email marketing campaign plan.
So following on from my previous Christmas email post, here are steps 6-10 towards festive email marketing success…
10 steps to email success at Christmas: part one
It’s warm outside and Christmas is far from most people’s minds at the moment. But for commerce marketers, it’s a different story.
Retailers are already thinking about how they can captivate consumers and drive revenue this year.
With IMRG reporting that UK shoppers spent £21.6bn in the eight weeks running up to Christmas in 2014, it’s no surprise to see why it’s a priority now.
Three secrets of successful global social media brand campaigns
Scaling a successful social media brand campaign to reach (and be relevant to) millions of people across the world is no mean feat.
A truly international campaign will be relevant across different countries, cultures, languages and timezones.
The campaign might have a great creative idea at its heart, but the structure, process, management and team behind the implementation of that idea are what will define its success.
Here are my top three things to consider when scaling a social media campaign:
How to help your digital marketing strategy to succeed
Earlier this year I wrote about how to start formulating a digital marketing strategy.
Getting the strategy right is of course paramount. But even when the strategy is right, if it’s not understood, supported, and turned into action then it’s barely more than an academic exercise.
Ella Fitzgerald was on the money when she sang “tain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it… that’s what gets results”.
Here are some actions to take when creating your digital marketing strategy that will also help to build the foundation for its success.
How to approach SEO research and planning
SEO is one of those marketing disciplines that requires foresight, plenty of planning, a methodical approach and maybe just a bit of marketing intuition.
I’ve plundered the excellent Econsultancy SEO Best Practice Guide for some tips on how to approach SEO planning and research.
Check out the big guide for more than 400 pages of detailed and actionable insight.
Here we go..
Planning and strategy for SEO: what should you be thinking about?
If you fail to plan, plan to fail. It would be hard not to apply this to SEO.
That’s why in compiling our SEO Best Practice Guide (which has just been majorly revised), we made sure we went to the experts in this area, so that people can get their organic search efforts off to the right start.
I caught up with some of the contributors to this section to ask them some questions about planning and strategy. They provided me with a huge amount of valuable information.
Making your content go primetime
We all get excited when we have something new to show off, making sure everyone notices and mentions the haircut you’ve just paid a small fortune for, or strategically leaving your shiny new phone on the corner of your desk so everyone who passes can coo accordingly.
When you’ve finally jumped through the necessary hoops to get the go-ahead for a piece of content, is it always the best idea to open the floodgates to let everyone see what you’ve made right away?
Authenticity and usefulness: The keys to connecting with consumers
Brands will have to work extra hard this year in order to win over consumers, and the key to doing this will be demonstrating everyday usefulness, authenticity and corporate ethics.
From the continued impact of the GFC to the effect of technology on the path-to-purchase to the challenge of big data, marketers and brands have a lot on their plate in 2013.