In the face of overwhelming choice
An easy habit to fall into regarding marketing strategy is 'doing it this way because that's the way we've always done it'
From programmatic to native advertising, SEO to artificial intelligence, the spend options are enormous, and you can no longer rely on legacy activity to deliver, particularly with the unknown impact of GDPR this year.
In a recent survey by Smart Insights, readers were asked to select the single marketing activity that they believe will make the largest commercial impact for the business in 2018 – the largest portion (20%) replied with Content Marketing. This was followed closely by Big Data (14%) and AI and Machine Learning (14%). But what will this look like by the end of this year when these latter technologies are only in their infancy?
Of course, we will most likely continue to rely on Content Marketing, but the variety of formats this can take will continue to expand – the most prominent example of this is live video and the way in which users discover your content is transforming with voice search. No-one has a bottomless budget, so identifying the right form of marketing activity when faced with such a huge variety will become an even bigger challenge.
Today, it seems that marketers are faced with many “inciting incidents” that are indeed disrupting the status quo. But these challenges can also be seen as opportunities. At EI, our analysts take the time to cut through the volume of options to find the most appropriate channels, effective platforms and strong thought leadership ideas on behalf of our clients. But we would love to know how you are finding your way and steering your strategy through the current overwhelming market position. How are you taking on the ever-changing marketing landscape of 2018.