Martech and the marketer/developer relationship: Why collaboration can be possible

Lennon and McCartney, Gates and Allen, Watson and Crick. History is replete with fantastic partnerships. Unfortunately, if you were to believe some of the discourse around the marketing industry, this list will never include the dynamic duo of ‘marketing and developers’. Apparently, the two professions are just too different in outlook, culture and objectives to work well together.

I recently read how headless CMS adoption has apparently been inhibited due to a ‘battle for...

8 April 2021 | Advertising Technology

Why direct-to-consumer depends on digital transformation: Key brand examples

Stay-at-home rules, imposed during the global Covid-19 pandemic, have put digitalisation into turbo drive. According to McKinsey and Company, the growth in the USA’s e-commerce in the first six months of 2020 equalled that of the previous decade.

The accelerated adoption of eCommerce has introduced existential threats for many traditional retailers, while creating fresh opportunities for brands that are comfortable with using digital channels to develop a personalised...

8 April 2021 | Branding

Three major mistakes marketers can make with cloud-based systems

An increasing number of companies have taken their operations remote in recent times. In fact, remote work is now being considered a prominent part of the new normal. Businesses are considering keeping employees remote indefinitely, resulting in the increasing popularity of cloud-based tools.

For many marketers, extended periods of remote work may mean that they need to consider total digital transformation and adoption of cloud-based tools. This is especially important as team...

7 April 2021 | Best Practice

The CMO guide to finding allies in the C-suite

There’s a lot of optimism in the air about the pandemic coming to an end, thanks to increasingly widespread vaccine deployment. People hope to resume normal lives at home and at work. But marketing executives already suspect there’s no going back to the way things were in 2019. Many CMOs saw huge budget cuts in 2020 and are wondering what comes next.

One thing seems certain: digital ad spending, which outpaced expenditures on non-digital forms of advertising for the first time...

7 April 2021 | Best Practice

Meeting of the minds: Achieving collaboration between CMOs and CFOs

Communications – both internal and external - have become more critical than ever. Perception and reputation amongst stakeholders and colleagues have flown up the agenda, as leaders continue to grapple with tighter budgets and the disruption of business plans under the strain of the pandemic. Going forward, nurturing internal stakeholder relationships will be essential for CMO success, especially with those who hold the key to enabling marketing activities – namely, the...

6 April 2021 | Best Practice

Why the marketing data ecosystem needs to up its game on certification and transparency

Most industries have voluntary certifying bodies that attest to the quality of their members.

For example, in the investing world, a chartered financial analyst (CFA) is someone who has been certified by the CFA Institute after having completed three rigorous examinations testing their investing and financial acumen.

Though taking the CFA Exam is voluntary, it has become the benchmark against which most investment professionals are measured, and its selectivity — fewer...

1 April 2021 | Best Practice

Five account-based marketing trends to follow in 2021

It is a trend that’s perfectly in step with the times. Account-based marketing (ABM) is becoming one of the dominant forms of marketing today, and with good reason; in an age where marketing is ever-present, mass marketing efforts are a lot less effective than individual marketing targeted at specific potential customers. From individually tailored marketing efforts, messages can be more targeted and avoid some of the stigma from marketing saturation today.

While ABM is a trend...

1 April 2021 | Best Practice

Two key marketing automation tools you may be missing for your eCommerce clients

More and more, eCommerce companies and online shops are tapping digital marketing agencies to help them advertise their products online - on not just one, but multiple marketplaces. Whether you are adding eCommerce clients to the agency portfolio for the first time or working with these clients - there is a need to break through the noise by advertising on marketplaces.

Successful ad campaigns for eCommerce call for high-quality PPC ads, banner ads, text ads (expanded and simple),...

26 March 2021 | Automation

Social media spend study shows digital marketing’s Covid ‘resiliency’ one year on

A year since the first lockdown was implemented in the United Kingdom, it seems an appropriate time to assess the Covid-influenced shifting social media landscape. According to Socialbakers, global social media ad spend and reach continued to grow in 2020 in spite of the pandemic.

The findings, which appear in the company's latest report, 'State of Social Media Marketing A Year After Covid', saw a gradual uptick from March onwards. Not surprisingly, there was a drop at the...

25 March 2021 | Social Media Marketing

Developing flexibility and agility in digital marketing: Five trends to explore

Recent headlines have shown how necessary dexterity and flexibility can be to dealing with business uncertainty. That lesson is incredibly relevant for professionals handling digital marketing efforts. After all, a campaign devised only a few months ago can come off as insensitive or in poor taste depending on the current environment. At the same time, having processes in place to change campaigns as necessary (whether you need to adjust tone, budget, or flighting) is of the utmost...

24 March 2021 | Best Practice