Three key insights from the UK Government’s latest report on employers’ demand for digital skills

Regular readers of Smart Insights know all too well the importance of having an up-to-date digital skillset. In today’s age of the internet and social media, it’s become more important than ever for employees to have a sound working knowledge of digital in an ever-growing digitized economy. The UK government has recognized the need for a digitally literate workforce in our modern economy and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport commissioned a report, conducted by Burning Glass Technologies, to provide an overview of digital skills demand and to help inform the development of evidence-based digital skills policy. [si_guide_block id="117459" title="Download our Free Resource – Marketing careers and skills development workbook" description="Our guide shows you how to map out your personal short-term and long-term goals, become more productive in…

We often associate the word “audit” with tax season – it’s not really a subject we enjoy thinking about. But in reality, there are so many audits that marketers can benefit from

This is especially important for your marketing strategy, to ensure you are actually delivering your marketing objectives and allocating budgets wisely.

Unfortunately, the majority of marketing teams are not closely tracking the results of their efforts. A survey from LinkedIn found that just 39% of B2B marketers were confident that their ROI measurements were accurate!

By conducting marketing strategy audits, your team can effectively assess their efforts, find current weak spots, and discover solutions for better results in the upcoming year.

But which types of audits are necessary to properly evaluate your strategy and improve it for the future?

Let’s discuss.

SEO Audit

One major mistake that many marketing teams make is…

Marketers who are willing to take a hands-on approach can achieve dramatic results with personalized data strategies

Regardless of what your short- or long-term business goals are, an imperative part of achieving success is knowing who your prime audience and decision-makers are, and then identifying the best way to reach them.

Major advancements in technology and data analytics have certainly helped shed some light on who ideal audiences are and how to reach them in a specific, hyper-targeted way.

Natural air freshener brand Citrus Magic, which creates sprays and air freshening products free from harsh chemicals, had a few ambitious marketing goals:

Increase brand recognition and exposure Drive foot traffic Promote an in-store sales lift [caption id="attachment_152108" align="aligncenter" width="526"]…

As a marketer, getting better jobs will be a target at one point in your career. Of course, a great job could mean different things to different people

To some, a better job means better pay. To some, it’s better flexibility at work. To some, it’s the ability to take on challenging work.

Whatever a better job means to you, it’s vital to stand out to get those jobs. In some ways, being able to land great jobs shows your level of expertise.

Having said that, what are the tactics that can make you stand out to potential employers? What will give you an edge when a great client needs a marketer?

In this blog post, discover 7 tactics that can help you stand out as a marketer and get better jobs:

1. Focus on a niche

Every type of business on earth needs a marketer. After all, every…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has actively taken the world by storm. More and more businesses are now planning to leverage AI to develop brand management strategies as a fundamental part of their vision and mission

Meanwhile, AI is slowly but steadily becoming more prevalent in customers' day-to-day lives. It makes everyday tasks and small chores easier and is quickly becoming more readily available in lots of shapes and sizes to suit customers' needs.

Google and Microsoft are among the popular global brands that have already regulated their business operations to focus on Artificial Intelligence research. Other industry leaders like IBM, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Alibaba are not far behind from this objective.

According to a market research firm IDC, global spending on AI systems is said to reach $57.6 billion in 2021.

While AI offers undeniable benefits such as cost savings for the business, the…

With the channels skills-gap currently estimated at 13%, whether you are looking to change company/function or keep progressing in the career you already have, building up your channel-specific skills will help you bring the right skills to the table

While we're adjusting to taking everything online (yes, it really does seem like there is a place for everything in this new physically distant world), as a digital marketer I am finding myself paying particular interest to the roles of different marketing channels in today's internet of things: "Q) How many engineers does it take to change a light bulb? A) Depends on whether or not that lightbulb is connected to WiFi - Arielle Pardes, wired.com" Although lightbulb marketing isn't something we specialize in at Smart Insights (yet?), I do recommend having a mental run-through of your marketing channels, and whether there's anything you've seen in the last few weeks that you…

Legislation from Facebook and advice from Google to inform your marcomms. Plus, from Dyson to Prada, discover the manufacturers stepping up amidst COVID-19 pandemic

Guidance for navigating your campaigns through COVID-19

Google has published guidance for marketers on navigating COVID-19. The one-page document outlines considerations such as: Tone Imagery/assets Adapting Google Ads Other Google tools which may help Google doesn't have all the answers, but, even if you only take away one thing from this article, I strongly recommend allocating yourself 10 minutes to read this guidance and just double-check that your COVID-19 marketing plan is in line with advice from the top.   Still working out your company's response to COVID-19? You're not alone. Last week, Dr. Dave Chaffey published a free Smart Insights guide Creating a marketing action plan for a recession, to help inform strategy…

You and your team are stuck at home - that’s the current reality. By following these guidelines you can boost everyone’s work-from-home (WFH) morale and productivity.

Your customers don’t care where you work

Due to recent Coronavirus revelations, it’s not just you that’s working from home (WFH); your entire team may have gone remote. And stress can surely accompany this transition. But rather than succumbing to fears and pulling inward, it’s time to push outward — with strong leadership and tight collaboration, while also meeting your team’s emotional needs. After all, your customers don’t care where you work, but how productive you are and how you care for them. Do this well and you remain a market leader; flail at WFH and watch your customers bail. Fortunately, with the recent proliferation of project management apps, and some purposeful leadership, your team can still get…

…

Chart of the Week: Pandemic hits high-ticket air travel and cruises, alongside small pleasures such as eating out, as marketers reassess what constitutes value for customers right now and how digital marketing can help

Charts from Market Insider paint a grim picture of life for marketers in the travel industry as airline and cruise numbers plummet

The biggest cruise names in the pandemic are, of course, Princess Cruises' The Diamond Princess Yokohama (with 700 passengers infected and eight deaths) and the Grand Princess (now in day 14 of quarantine in San Francisco). Analysts at Goldman Sachs are comparing the pandemic to similar scale events such as the 2001 recession, the 2008 financial crisis, and, the Costa Concordia disaster of 2012 (another cruise ship disaster, where 33 passengers died off the coast of Italy).

"Averaging the moves made after such events, cruise prices dipped by 6.3% and took roughly…