Back to the Future of Digital Marketing

Scott Hirsch — June 7, 2020

Have we all had enough? Of course. Do we know when the dust will finally settle on the Covid-19 Crisis? Not yet. In the meantime, if you’re an entrepreneur, particularly in digital marketing, you’ve been bending and twisting like a yogi to adapt to the changes the crisis has created. It’s a wild new topography, isn’t it? Step right, and you land new customers and inspire even greater loyalty; step wrong and you twist an ankle or a knee.

If you’re like me, you’ve been keeping an eye on the horizon throughout the crisis. No, that horizon isn’t fixed, but it’s there. Not only do I believe in it, I’m preparing for it. How? It’s simple. I’m keeping track of what’s working in digital marketing right now, so I’ve got the most potent arsenal of tools imaginable and am ready to deploy them once we shift back into a higher gear. According to Deloitte, the global economy will recover after a V-shaped recession. Here are the trends I think digital marketers will need to saddle now and in the coming quarters to get us back to the future:

Rising cost-per-click (CPC) and paid media advertising (beyond Facebook and Google)

CPC has been a boon to digital marketers, as your client only pays when someone clicks through the ad. CPC is rising, however, as the number of online searches seems to be reaching a critical mass. It’s time to consider sorting your campaigns by intention, which enables you to take stock of different consumer behaviors and objectives. The 800-pound gorillas in the space are of course Facebook and Google, and you can expect CPC on these platforms to increase as searches become more competitive.

Savvy digital marketers have already started bundling other platforms into their packages. If you haven’t already, you’ve got to add Amazon Advertising, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, Microsoft Advertising, Pandora, Quora, Reddit, Spotify, Twitter and YouTube in your quiver. And keep expanding! Keep looking for new, and more specific sites, given your clients’ products and services, where you can maximize your budget. The trick is to spread out and meet your audience where it “lives.”

Predictive lead scoring

Put AI to work for your clients! There are myriad CRM platforms available, including Dynamics 365, Hubspot and Salesforce, all far more effective than using a manual process derived from traffic source and lifecycles. The crisis has amplified an already hyper-competitive marketplace and it’s going to remain so once we get through it. Predictive lead scoring gives you a model to score leads in your pipeline based on their indications. You can, of course, use these scores to pursue your most viable leads, which maximizes your efforts – and your clients’ budgets.

Personalized video

With everyone sheltering at home and logging so much time online, this is the moment to add personalized videos to your portfolio of digital marketing tools. AI video generation outfit Vedia has a full page of infographics explaining the tremendous impact this sales tool can have. And you can fold these videos into your email marketing campaigns. According to Vedia, the appearance of the word “video” in an email subject line boots open rates by almost 20%, while personalized videos achieve an almost five-fold unique click-through increase. Let them see your face and hear your voice. It works. But remember, the higher the quality of your video (and all your content), the better chance you’ll have of quality engagement. Vidyard is just one of a number of platforms, including vimeo, you can use to create videos for your content marketing. Many of the larger platforms are using personalized videos in their digital marketing campaigns, including Google and LinkedIn. And, once you get your videos done and up, make sure to create a YouTube channel.

Assignment selling

Reuse and recycle – and by this I mean content. Don’t let anything go to waste! Whatever educational and informational content your clients have, use it to inform your audience. In my experience, people love information. They love facts – they want to know how a product is made, how a service is provided, what your clients’ products and services can do for them…it’s also a great rule of thumb to respect your customers’ intelligence. This is what content marketing is all about: leverage the content your clients have already created and repurpose it as part of your marketing strategy. What could be more cost-effective than sharing content that’s already been created? It gives your clients, and you, a head start.

What trends do you think are on the rise right now? What do you think is going to be most important this summer and fall as, hopefully, the Covid-19 Crisis begins to wind down? I’m looking forward to all of us getting back to the future.

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