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At The Marketing Pod, we work with in-house marketers across a wide range of industries, and we’re always intrigued by how their roles are so similar in some ways, and yet so different in others. We believe there’s lots we can learn from our fellow marketers, so in our ‘Ask a Marketer’ series we’re striving to gain some insights that everyone can benefit from.
This time, we’re joined by Jason Riseborough. Jason is an experienced marketer and communications specialist, who has worked for the likes of Capita, Arup and E.ON. His particular specialism is digital marketing so when he agreed to join us for our recent podcast, we made the most of a valuable opportunity to pick his brains about what he believes the future of digital marketing has in store. Here’s a little of what he had to say, along with his answers to some of our favourite ‘Ask a Marketer’ questions:
The events of 2020 have indisputably renewed focus on the power of digital marketing but when it comes to effective digital strategies are brands getting it right?
I think the answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. What I’ve noticed through the pandemic is how social media has really taken over, more than perhaps we were expecting, Now there is a lot more user generated content and even LinkedIn has introduced videos. Some businesses are adapting to this brilliantly and where that kind of content appears in the feed it feels more natural and authentic, so they’re maximising on it..
What B2B is really good at is polished digital content - and it has to be more polished because your audience is more informed and because the relationship will inevitably be geared towards a purchase. But the problem is that this trend of great content isn’t consistent across the B2B world; some are still not doing a great job. All content will have to improve - and B2B brands are still figuring out how to make good use of YouTube. YouTube is more difficult, and there’s been a bit of a disconnect. I’ll be interested to see how the B2B relationship with the YouTube platform develops because it’s the second largest search engine and there’s lots going on with the algorithms and getting eyeballs onto the website - but it’s not necessarily about great content.
Martech is obviously an important part of any digital strategy but how do you feel about automation of the customer journey? Do we risk losing the human element?
I’m a big believer in automation. It keeps you bang up to date with customer interaction and tells you what’s happening on your website, But it doesn’t think like a human, You need a team of people to do the analysis and draw out the insights from the automation. Martech is great at responding to what someone has done but they might not do the same thing again and only a human can really understand the nuances of customer behaviour. Every person will have a different response and will move around a website in a completely different way. Equally, it’s too easy to forget that our homepage is actually Google. If automation works off a trigger page which is the home page, if someone is using a search engine and drops into a deeper page, they might miss a huge chunk of traffic.
What’s your best tip for someone trying to choose which martech to invest in?
When you’re choosing martech, I think you need to start by asking ‘why?’. If you can’t answer that ‘why?’, don’t answer the how or what. From there ask ‘how different is it to what I have now?’. Buying a martech stack is a big commitment. You need it to transform how the business works. If you can answer the why and justify it from the outset, it makes what comes after easier.
What are some of your favourite digital marketing tools?
I am always keen on tools that make mine and my teams lives easier. Hootsuite is great for publishing scheduled content across the different social channels and it provides reporting in one location, which certainly makes things more straightforward for my social media team. With lockdown, MS Teams, Zoom and Google Meet came into their own and without them I am not sure how companies would have been able to work. For my personal use, I find Instagram is my regular go to and even more so now I have a puppy, called Digby, who has his own channel...
What do you think will be the next big change that marketers should be looking out for?
With lockdown forcing companies to reflect on how they go out to market, there will be a push for companies to become ‘digital first’. This means marketers across the board will need to build digital skills as part of their tool kit, as having digital knowledge will become part of the norm rather than a standalone specialism. This is exciting because as more people challenge what we can do with the tech available to us, the boundaries of digital and what it can offer will be pushed even further,
What's your top marketing tip for 2021?
Keep asking why - this is such a fundamental question every marketer should be asking. Without clarity on the end goal and a complete understanding of what is needed, a marketing expert will never be able to deliver results to the full extent of their capabilities.
To hear more from Jason why not give our new podcast a listen? Building brand trust through digital marketing can be found at http://podcast.themarketingpod.co.uk/