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How AI Is Ending Google’s Search Monopoly

September 30, 2025 No Comments

A couple of years ago I attended an excellent conference in Seattle by a well known firm that provides online search and marketing tools. They had a line up of top notch speakers who are experts in digital marketing from the largest corporations, brands and agencies in the country. The theme was Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to drive the most clicks to a website, ecommerce store or content page.

The conference was basically all about Google. Why? Because, even in 2025, Google controls 90 percent of search in the world. To get found you need to please the Google Gods. So what advice did the greatest and smartest people in the online marketing world have for conquering Google search? They all pretty much said the same thing: “beats me.”

No one knows. That’s because Google’s search algorithm is a secret more closely guarded than the recipe for Coke or U.S. nuclear launch codes. Everyone there was trying to figure out what Google was going to do next, where Google may change its algorithm and how these changes would affect traffic to their site.

AI is now changing that. AI is already starting to save small business owners like me from Google’s monopoly on search. And it’s doing so in three ways.

More Options

For starters it’s giving our potential customers more choices to find us. Yes, studies show that Google still dominates search. But already you can see ChatGPT and others like it begin to make headway.

So far, even if ChatGPT’s 1 billion messages per day were search-related, its total share of the search market would be less than 1 percent. Google saw approximately 373 times as many searches as ChatGPT in 2024 and Google searches actually grew in 2024 compared to 2023.

But things are changing. Gartner predicts that by 2026, traditional search volume will drop by about 25 percent, with AI chatbots and virtual agents capturing a growing share of user attention and behavior Others project that AI-powered searches will grow annually by up to 35 percent starting in 2025, reaching an estimated 14 percent of search market share by 2028, with Google declining modestly to about an 86 percent share. I’m betting that decline will be more pronounced. But regardless it’s heading in the right direction.

I’ve tried Google AdWords and for a small business like mine it’s useless. My company sells customer relationship management software and the big players in this industry already have search results locked up. They spend more money than me. They buy up all the good keywords. People searching for products I sell won’t find me unless they click through to page 8 of their search results and no one does that. Of course, that doesn’t stop Google – the fox guarding the henhouse – from drawing down on my ad budget with their dubious claims of “impressions” and clicks. How can I even verify this? I can’t. They have the monopoly.

AI is solving this problem. As other chatbots take away search market share from Google I’ll be offered more ways for customers to find me. I predict that many small businesses – equally frustrated with the Google monopoly – will gravitate to these chatbots. ChatGPT and Perplexity have already announced their own browsers to compete with Chrome and collect data. Good for them. More competition means more choices and less costs for small businesses like mine.

Less Clicks, Better Clicks

Most have noticed that Google has introduced an “AI View” into their results where search answers are summarized. Some believe that this will result in fewer clicks on links to websites and they’re right. Smart marketing people, like Jason Rose – senior vice president of digital sales and marketing at HR firm Paychex believes that this will have greater benefits for small businesses like mine.

“People are reading the AI summary and kind of getting what they need and moving off,” he said. “But it’s not all doom and gloom because these visitors actually convert at a much higher rate.”

To date SEO has been all about getting visitors to your website. Websites are ranked based on their traffic. But how genuine is this traffic? In 2023, bots made up 49.60 percent of internet activity, almost catching up to human traffic, which was at 50.40 percent. Meanwhile we’re paying Google to send this nonsense to us. AI is fixing this too. It is changing the way people use the web for research, be it academia or shopping.

Rose is right. By reading an AI overview a visitor who clicks through to a website has given some thought to their action and is therefore a more qualified prospect, a better visitor. Google and others will likely charge more for this. I’ll pay. It’s worth it.

Content Creation Opportunities

To be included in an AI overview your content has to be relevant and useful. Unfortunately, a great deal of today’s content isn’t. At the Seattle conference I attended some of the sessions talked about SEO tricks and games you can play with content (keyword stuffing, hidden links, showing different content to search engines than what is shown to users) to get noticed by Google. AI will help to stop this. As it gets smarter it will be better able to root out this nonsense so that it’s displaying the best answers possible.

Which means that the best content will be included in AI overviews and the websites with the best answers will have a better chance of being found. No games. No tricks. Just good, valuable content. And not content generated by AI because AI will be able to figure that out too.

This will be an opportunity for quality content providers – writers, bloggers, creators, etc. – to step up their game and prove their value. The best ones will rise to the top, unburdened by the crawlers and spiders, that held them down. People worry that AI will replace content providers. It’s actually the opposite. It’s creating more opportunities for them.

“AI is reading the same content that the human would have and building summaries based off of that,” Rose said. “So again, you need great content. Content is still king.”

All of this is happening now. But we’re still early days. Google is still Google. ChatGPT and other chatbots are infants in the search world and still hallucinate too much. But you can easily see the future. And the future is a world where, thanks to AI, Google no longer monopolizes search. For a small business owner like me, that world can’t come soon enough.

Feature image credit: Getty Images

By Gene Marks

Find Gene Marks on LinkedIn and X. Visit Gene’s website. Browse additional work.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

X, Meta and the Great Social Media Meltdown

April 9, 2025 No Comments

By Chad S. White

Social media is unravelling. Brands betting on platforms they own will be the ones left standing.

The Gist

Social shift ahead. The decline of big social media platforms is accelerating, and this is reshaping how brands should approach customer engagement.
Trust on trial. Consumers trust user-generated content far more than influencer promotions, which signals a shift in what drives brand credibility.
Own your channels. Brands must invest in direct channels like websites, apps and email to regain control over customer relationships.

A few years from now, we may look back on 2025 as the beginning of the end of two long-standing mega pillars of the internet.

The first is Google’s domination of the search engine marketplace, which is being disrupted by generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity, with Google’s market share falling below 90% for the first time since 2015. Antitrust issues aside, there are plenty of reasons to believe it will never be that high ever again.

The second is the end of the era of big social media platforms.

Let’s look at the crumbling that’s already started, where things are likely headed and why the momentum isn’t likely to let up.

The Canary in the Coal Mine

Before its acquisition by Elon Musk, Twitter was widely viewed as the world’s digital town square. Since its transformation into X, it’s become a shadow of its former self, more of a ghost town than the world’s town square.

Since Musk purchased the platform in 2022 for $44 billion, X’s valuation has plunged. According to Fidelity’s valuation of its investment in X, the platform’s worth has fallen by 79% to just $9.4 billion. Brand Finance is even less generous, valuing it at just $498 million earlier this year.

This change of fortune was driven by an 80% reduction in staff, which notably included all of its content moderation staff and partners. That change directly led to a marked decline in content quality and negative shift in tone. This caused millions of active users to leave the platform, and it raised brand safety concerns among advertisers, many of which reduced or ended their advertising. As a result, X is “barely breaking even” and has sued its former advertisers, claiming conspiracy.

That chain of events is important because of what happened next.

Meta Doubles Down on the Wrong Lessons

On Jan. 7, a couple of weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be “restoring free expression on our platforms” by getting rid of fact-checkers, removing restrictions on controversial topics like immigration and gender, dialling back other content filters, increasing recommendations of political content and “going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world going after American companies and pushing to censor more.”

Zuckerberg explicitly says they’re going to be doing things “similar to X” and rolling those changes out across Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Based on what’s happened at X, there’s every reason to believe that these changes will cause many unintended consequences.

Many Meta users may spend less time on its platforms or depart for other platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, which have benefited tremendously from X’s similar policy shifts.
Advertisers may pull back or depart out of concern for brand safety.
Foreign governments may levy additional fines or further restrict Meta’s activities in their nations, worsening its already poor relations.

One of Meta’s early attempts at rolling back content moderation resulted in Instagram users seeing violent and graphic content recommended in their Reels feeds, which led to a flood of user complaints.

Social Media as a Black Box

The double-whammy of lower user engagement and advertiser pullbacks is likely to be devastating, just as it’s been at X. Making matters worse is the fact that social networks have gradually restricted organic brand reach to near zero over the years.

What little organic traffic that exists is often obscured by these platforms, according to SparkToro. And cookie consent is further complicating attribution, suppressing conversion tracking by up to 20%, according to Orbit Media. All of that has further discouraged brands from investing much in an organic presence on social media platforms.

As a result, when brands pull back from social media advertising, they’re often left with a minimal direct presence. That said, some may have an indirect presence via influencers, but even that is on shaky ground.

Influencer Fatigue

Plenty of consumers feel a kinship with their favourite influencers. That’s particularly true of younger consumers in Gen Z.

However, in general, trust is slipping. A common consumer belief today is that most influencers only endorse and promote products because they’re paid to, not because they use or even like the product.

According to a survey by EnTribe, 81% of consumers said a brand’s use of influencers has either no impact or a negative impact on their perception of that brand. Fifty-one percent said they scroll right past influencer posts, in much the same way that consumers ignore ads. When asked if their purchases were ever impacted by an influencer, 62% said they’ve never purchased an influencer-promoted product, while 42% of those who had purchased an influencer-promoted product said they regretted doing so.

The most shocking evidence that the influencer market has peaked is that 86% said they’re more likely to trust a brand that publishes user-generated content, compared to just 12% who said they’re inclined to purchase a product promoted by an influencer.

Bots Are Taking Over — and Everyone Knows It

Authenticity and trust are being further undermined by AI bots, which in some cases are being directly created and enabled by social media platforms. For instance, Meta created Facebook and Instagram AI bots for living celebrities, dead famous people and others. Meta also allows Instagram users to create AI versions of themselves to interact with their followers (seemingly to save them from having to waste their time doing so).

These programs aren’t fringe. They’re core to social media’s future. Meta has even told The Financial Times that it envisages social media filled with AI-generated users.

To their credit, these AI bots are clearly labelled. But it conjures up a dystopian future where we all create AI versions of ourselves that chat with one another and periodically update us about the fake conversations our fake selves are having with all the other fake people. That’s a far cry from the original promise of social media. In fact, we probably won’t call it “social” media at that point.

Of course, all of that is on top of the enduring problem of run-of-the-mill fake accounts. Facebook alone removes around 1 billion fake accounts each quarter.

Take Back What You Can Control

If you throw in the uncertainty swirling around TikTok, social media has never looked more shaky. Still huge, but shaky.

The natural response from brands should be to counterbalance that uncertainty by investing more in channels they have much more control over, including websites, apps, customer loyalty programs, email, SMS (RCS), mobile and browser push, and podcasts.

In addition to building up first-party audiences, which give you much more direct and unmediated relationships with your customers and prospects, investing in these channels also gives you many opportunities to collect first-party data. This data is vital for driving message targeting, ad targeting and analytics that get us closer to our customers.

The internet is undergoing massive changes. And if Twitter’s transformation into X demonstrates anything, it’s that big changes can happen faster than you think. Every brand should be watching carefully and coming up with contingency plans before they realize they’re a few years too late.

Core Questions About the Decline of Big Social Media

Editor’s note: Key questions surrounding the decline of major social media platforms and how brands should adapt their customer engagement strategies.

How is the collapse of big social media changing customer engagement?

As trust in major social media platforms declines, brands are shifting their focus toward direct engagement strategies such as email marketing, owned communities and first-party data collection. Consumers are looking for more meaningful interactions, prompting businesses to invest in personalized customer experiences outside of traditional social media channels.

What role does user-generated content (UGC) play in brand credibility?

With consumers increasingly sceptical of paid influencer promotions, authentic user-generated content has become a powerful trust-building tool. Brands that encourage customers to share real experiences—through testimonials, reviews, and organic social posts—see stronger engagement and credibility compared to those relying on traditional advertising.

Why should brands invest in owned channels over social media?

Brands that rely heavily on platforms like X and Meta face risks due to algorithm changes, declining organic reach and shifting audience behaviours. Investing in owned channels such as company websites, email newsletters and brand communities provides greater control over customer relationships and reduces dependence on unpredictable third-party platforms.

How can brands mitigate the risks of AI-generated content and fake engagement?

AI-generated interactions and fake engagement on social media are eroding trust. To counter this, brands are prioritizing authenticity by fostering real customer conversations, leveraging human-led content creation, and verifying the credibility of online interactions. Transparency about AI usage in customer engagement is also key to maintaining consumer trust.

What are the long-term implications of social media’s decline for digital marketing?

The decline of traditional social media is pushing marketers toward more diversified digital strategies. SEO-driven content, community-based marketing and personalized experiences are becoming more effective than broad social media outreach. Businesses that focus on building loyal audiences through multiple touchpoints will be better positioned for long-term success.

By Chad S. White

Chad S. White is the author of four editions of Email Marketing Rules and Head of Research for Oracle Digital Experience Agency, a global full-service digital marketing agency inside of Oracle.

Sourced from CMSWIRE

facebook user, generated content, social media, marketing, digital marketing,artificial intelligence

In News

4 Hallmarks of Today’s Best Email Marketing Strategies

February 26, 2025 No Comments

By Chad S. White

Less personalization in your email marketing strategy? You heard that right.

The Gist

Optimizing campaign frequency. Adjust email frequency based on engagement. Send fewer emails to less-engaged subscribers while increasing opportunities for highly-engaged ones.
Increasing revenue with automation. Automate key lifecycle moments. High-performing campaigns like cart abandonment and welcome emails drive the majority of email marketing revenue.
Personalization pitfalls. Less can be more. Overpersonalization diminishes brand voice, so dial back on variations to maintain a unified experience.

Succeeding at email marketing requires constant iteration and evolution with an eye on gradual improvements. This iteration happens in an environment of continual change, with some of those changes requiring adaptation and some merely presenting distractions.

Experienced email marketers know that a good email marketing program has an active mailable list size that’s growing and contributes positively to their business’s success metrics, with good open and click rates just being table stakes. A good program also has a spam complaint rate of under 0.1% (which is what Google and Yahoo expect) and an inbox placement rate of 95% or better.

Those characteristics are hallmarks of a good email marketing strategy. But what about the hallmarks of the best ones? Here are four key characteristics.

Streamlining Email Frequency to Maximize Revenue

Since I entered the email marketing industry nearly 20 years ago, email frequencies have steadily increased, and they’ve paused only briefly in the wake of the introduction of Mail Privacy Protection. The relentless drumbeat of a “more email equals more money” strategy has led us to this point, where many brands are seeing declining engagement rates and increasingly frustrated subscribers, which threatens program health.

Because of that, elite programs are reassessing which subscribers receive which campaigns. They’re sending fewer campaigns to their less engaged subscribers and more campaigns to their more engaged subscribers.

This not only improves their deliverability and program health by increasing engagement rates and reducing opt-outs, but it also increases revenue because it gives their more engaged subscribers additional opportunities to engage.

Related Article: 7 Factors That Determine Email Deliverability

Use Automation to Drive Email Marketing Revenue

Welcomes, cart abandonment and other automated campaigns are the most productive emails teams can send. Their return on investment far exceeds run-of-the-mill broadcast promotional campaigns.

It’s that outsized productivity that allows roughly 15% of brands to generate the majority of their email marketing revenue from their automated campaigns, which typically represent less than 5% of their overall email volume. Through the steady launch, maintenance and optimization of automations over years, they’ve been able to automatically address key moments and points of friction in their customers’ lifecycles.

If you want to achieve this and you’re unsure if you’re addressing all the moments that matter for your customers, take a look at this checklist of automated campaign ideas.

Reducing Personalization for Stronger Brand Voice

That’s not a typo. I do mean reducing, not increasing. That’s because the best programs have already overdone personalization, and, yes, that is a danger. They’ve realized that in their email marketing strategy, they’d squeezed out brand messaging, diminished their brand voice and undermined their ability to create common brand experiences. So, they’ve started to dial back on personalization a bit.

Last year, the brands that bragged about sending out more than 100,000 variations of email campaigns will most likely be the ones to realize they overdid it to the detriment of their brand and throttle back this year.

Maintaining or Increasing Email Marketing Budget

A bizarre thing is happening. During 2024, many brands deprioritized high-ROI marketing channels and shifted budget to lower-ROI advertising channels, according to Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend Survey.

“In these tough times, CMOs are prioritizing investments that have demonstrable impact,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP analyst and chief of research for Gartner for Marketers. “However, there’s a mismatch between the channels CMOs are investing in and their perceived impact.”

Given instability among social networks and increasing privacy protections, there have never been more reasons to invest in building larger first-party audiences and gaining more first-party data. The best email marketing strategy recognizes this imperative and continues to invest in strong subscriber relationships and retention programs.

Looked at this collectively, the first two hallmarks focus on delivering more campaigns to your most engaged subscribers and best customers, while minimizing fatigue for less engaged ones. The last two hallmarks, on the other hand, are centered around preserving your brand.

Where is your organization on its journey toward achieving each of these goals?

Core Questions Around Email Marketing Strategy

Editor’s note: Here are two important questions to ask about email marketing strategy.

What are the best ways to increase email marketing revenue without sending more emails?

The key is to target more engaged subscribers with tailored campaigns. Brands should segment their lists to send fewer emails to less engaged subscribers while sending more frequent and relevant emails to their best customers. By doing so, they can improve engagement rates, reduce opt-outs and increase revenue. A strong email marketing strategy focused on segmentation and smart targeting is crucial for maximizing ROI.

How can automation impact email marketing revenue?

Brands that focus on automated campaigns like cart abandonment, welcome emails and re-engagement emails often see higher returns on investment. These types of emails can drive a lot of revenue, even though they may account for less than 5% of total email volume. Implementing an effective email marketing strategy with automated workflows allows brands to address key moments in the customer lifecycle, and it reduces manual effort while increasing revenue generation.

Feature Image Credit: Kristina Tripkovic

By Chad S. White

Chad S. White is the author of four editions of Email Marketing Rules and Head of Research for Oracle Digital Experience Agency, a global full-service digital marketing agency inside of Oracle. Connect with Chad S. White:

Sourced from CMS Wire

In News

How To Develop A Successful Digital Marketing Campaign From Scratch

February 20, 2025 No Comments

By Deepak Bansal

As someone who has spent decades in the digital marketing industry, I’ve witnessed the evolution of marketing tactics and the shift from traditional advertising to an interconnected digital ecosystem. Today, building a successful marketing campaign from the ground up requires creativity, strategy, data-driven decision-making and a deep understanding of your audience.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting a winning campaign from scratch.

Start by defining clear goals.

To create a successful campaign, you need to start with a solid understanding of what you want to achieve. Are you looking to generate leads, drive sales or boost website traffic?

Use the SMART framework—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound—to articulate these goals. For instance, instead of saying, “We want more website traffic,” say, “We aim to increase organic website traffic by 15% over the next three months.”

In one of my recent campaigns, we set a goal to boost lead generation for a B2B client by 20% within six months. This included increasing webinar signups and free trial conversions through targeted LinkedIn ads and email marketing.

Understand your target audience.

You can use resources like social media insights, customer surveys and Google Analytics to gather data on demographics, preferences and behaviour. Develop detailed buyer personas that include information about your ideal customers’ pain points, goals and purchasing triggers.

The more precise your understanding, the better you can tailor your campaign to resonate with your audience. For instance, when working on a campaign for a healthcare client, we developed personas by analysing patient feedback, conducting surveys and using keyword research tools. We discovered that one segment of the audience was highly concerned about affordability, while another prioritized access to cutting-edge treatments. This insight allowed us to craft tailored messaging for each group.

Perform a competitive analysis.

Identify your top competitors, and analyse their digital marketing strategies. What platforms are they using? What types of content do they produce? How do they engage their audience?

You may want to use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs, which can help you better understand your competitors’ keywords, backlinks and overall strategy. This information can then help you identify gaps in their approach and opportunities to differentiate your campaign.

Choose the right channels.

Not every platform will suit your campaign. A B2B campaign might prioritize LinkedIn and email marketing, while a B2C brand might focus on Instagram, TikTok and influencer partnerships. Evaluate where your target audience spends the most time online and focus your efforts there.

Create high-quality content.

Content is king, but consistency and quality are equally important. Make sure you develop a content plan that aligns with your campaign’s objectives, and create materials that add value to your audience. This could include blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts or social media posts. Don’t forget to optimize your content for SEO to improve visibility in search engines.

When creating content, I always ask: “What problem does this solve for the audience?” For example, a recent blog series for an education client addressed common student concerns about college applications. This helped to drive organic traffic and position the brand as a trusted authority.

Leverage automation and tools.

Tools like HubSpot, Mailchimp and Hootsuite can help you schedule social media posts, manage email campaigns and track performance metrics. Automation doesn’t mean losing the human touch; instead, it ensures consistent delivery while freeing up time for strategy refinement.

Implement A/B testing.

No matter how well you plan, not every element of your campaign will work perfectly. With A/B testing, you can compare different versions of an email, ad or landing page and identify which performs better. Small tweaks—like changing a call-to-action button’s colour or headline—can significantly impact your results.

I’ve learned that A/B testing is most effective when you want to refine specific elements of your campaign to improve performance. I decide to use A/B testing when a key component, such as a call-to-action, subject line or ad creative, has a significant impact on user engagement or conversions, but I’m uncertain about its effectiveness. For instance, if an email campaign has a lower-than-expected open rate, I would test variations in subject lines to determine which resonates better with the audience.

Some of the best factors to test include:

• Headlines or titles: For emails, landing pages and blog posts, headlines significantly affect click-through rates.

• Call-to-action (CTA): Testing variations in wording, placement or design can yield insights into what drives user action.

• Visual elements: Variations in images, colours or layouts can influence user engagement and emotional response.

• Email content: Testing different lengths, tones or offers in emails can help you identify what leads to higher open or conversion rates.

• Ad copy: Small changes in phrasing or value propositions can make a big difference in click-through rates and engagement.

By starting with a clear hypothesis for each test, you can focus on data-driven decisions to optimize campaign performance.

Monitor and analyse performance.

Use tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Audience Insights and custom dashboards to track your campaign’s performance in real time. Keep track of metrics such as conversion rates, click-through rates and return on investment (ROI). Be prepared to adjust your strategy based on the data.

Engage and interact with your audience.

Digital marketing is a two-way street. Encourage engagement by responding to comments, hosting live sessions or running interactive polls. The more you engage with your audience, the more likely they are to trust your brand and become loyal customers.

For example, in a campaign for a lifestyle brand, we hosted weekly Instagram Q&A sessions to answer customer queries. This strategy helped us boost engagement, and it provided valuable insights into customer preferences.

Refine and optimize.

A successful campaign doesn’t end with execution. Conduct a post-mortem analysis to identify what worked, what didn’t and why. Use these insights to improve your future campaigns and maintain a cycle of continuous learning and optimization.

Building a digital marketing campaign from scratch may seem daunting, but with a structured approach, it’s entirely achievable. Start with clear goals, understand your audience, leverage technology and remain adaptable to data insights. Staying curious and committed to learning is your best strategy for long-term success.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Deepak Bansal

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Deepak Bansal, Director of Digital Marketing, Atihsi LLC and CEO & Founder, Clearpath Technology Pvt Ltd. Read Deepak Bansal’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Here Are The Top 5 Skills To Learn In 2025

January 7, 2025 No Comments

By Jack Kelly

As we stand on the cusp of a new year, the job market continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, driven by technological advancements and shifting economic realities. In this dynamic environment, professionals across all industries are recognizing the critical importance of upskilling and reskilling to remain competitive and relevant.

The coming year presents a golden opportunity to invest in yourself by acquiring the in-demand skills that employers are actively seeking, ensuring you’re well-positioned for career growth and new opportunities in an increasingly digital and automated world.

The rapid acceleration of digital transformation, catalysed by recent global events, has reshaped the way businesses operate and the skills they require from their workforce. From artificial intelligence and data analytics to cloud computing and cybersecurity, the demand for tech-savvy professionals continues to soar across sectors.

In-Demand Hard Skills For The New Year

As traditional job roles evolve and new positions emerge, the ability to learn and adapt quickly has become a critical asset in itself. By proactively developing these in-demand hard skills, you not only enhance your marketability but also position yourself to thrive in the face of future disruptions and opportunities in the job market.

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning are becoming indispensable skills in the job market, with their importance growing exponentially across industries. The demand for AI-related skills is 3.5 times higher than the average job skill, reflecting the rapid integration of these technologies in various sectors, a PwC report revealed.

This surge in demand is driven by the transformative potential of AI and ML in the workplace. This fast-emerging technology is expected to automate up to 300 million jobs in the United States and Europe, according to investment bank Goldman Sachs, while simultaneously creating 97 million new roles that require advanced technical skills, as predicted by the World Economic Forum. This shift is not just about job displacement; it’s about job evolution. Companies adopting AI are planning to expand their workforce, with 91% of firms integrating AI aiming to increase their employee numbers by 2025.

2. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing skills will remain in high demand, as the industry continues its explosive growth and transformation of business operations across sectors. Gartner forecasts global end-user cloud spending to reach $723 billion in 2025, a 21.5% increase from the previous year.

The rise of generative AI and the need for integrated platforms are accelerating cloud adoption, with 90% of organizations projected to have hybrid cloud deployments by 2027. As organizations continue to migrate their applications and workloads to the cloud, with 48% planning to move at least half of their applications within a year, proficiency in cloud computing will be crucial for professionals looking to stay relevant in the rapidly evolving job market of 2025.

3. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity skills are highly coveted, as the digital landscape faces unprecedented threats and skyrocketing costs associated with cybercrimes. By 2025, global cybercrime costs are projected to reach a staggering $10.5 trillion annually, according to a report by Cybercrime Magazine.

This surge in cybercrime is accompanied by a severe shortage of qualified professionals in the field. The cybersecurity job market is expected to grow by 33% between 2023 and 2033, with an estimated 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity positions worldwide by the end of 2025. This talent gap is further exacerbated by the rapid evolution of cyber threats, with encrypted threats increasing by 92% in 2024 and malware rising by 30% in the first half of the same year.

4. Data Analysis

Businesses are increasingly relying on transforming unstructured data into actionable insights to drive growth, improve user satisfaction and maintain a competitive edge in the market. The demand for data analytics expertise is surging across industries, with trends like AI-enhanced analytics, natural language processing and advanced data visualization reshaping how organizations leverage their data assets.

As organizations grapple with the challenges of data quality and governance, professionals skilled in ensuring data integrity and implementing effective data strategies will be in high demand, making data analysis an essential skill.

5. Digital Marketing

In today’s digital landscape, businesses are leveraging online social platforms to connect with and engage their target audiences and customers.

With global digital ad spending projected to surpass $740 billion in 2024, and over 5 billion social media users worldwide, proficiency in digital marketing strategies will be crucial for professionals looking to thrive in the competitive job market.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Jack Kelly

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

Jack Kelly has been a senior contributor for Forbes since 2018, covering topics in career development, job market trends and workplace dynamics. His articles often focus on practical advice for job seekers and employees, as well as covering the latest news impacting workers so they can make informed decisions about their careers. Read More

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Affiliate Management Solutions: Know All the Trends

December 19, 2024 No Comments

Sourced from Fingerlakes1

All businesses want to reach more people, make more sales, and make their brand more visible in the ever-changing world of digital marketing.

Affiliate marketing stands out as a powerful and low-cost strategy among the many that are used. To get the most out of affiliate programs, you need more than just the right partners. You also need effective management tools to make sure everything runs smoothly, keep track of performance, and get the best results.

So, here in this blog post, our affiliate experts will let you know about certain affiliate management solutions and their main features and how they can help different companies to grow.

Key Takeaways on Affiliate Management Solutions

Strategic Importance of Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is a powerful, cost-effective strategy for businesses aiming to expand their reach and increase sales in the digital landscape.
Essential Role of Affiliate Management Solutions: To maximise the benefits of affiliate programs, effective management solutions are crucial. They ensure smooth operations, performance tracking, and optimal results.
Components of Affiliate Management Systems: These systems encompass platforms, tools, and apps facilitating various aspects such as finding partners, monitoring sales and rewards, providing marketing resources, and offering analytical insights.
Efficiency and Automation: Affiliate management solutions streamline processes, automate tasks, and simplify administrative duties. This allows businesses to focus on growth and strategy rather than mundane tasks.
Real-time Tracking and Analytics: Robust tracking features and detailed analytics empower businesses to make informed decisions based on real-time data, enhancing marketing strategies and ROI.
Support and Resources for Affiliates: Successful affiliate programs include marketing materials like banners and links, coupled with a reliable support system. This ensures affiliates can effectively promote products and build stronger networks.
Flexible Commission Structures: Ideal affiliate management tools permit businesses to adjust commission rates based on performance, products, or individual affiliates. A reliable payment processing system ensures timely and accurate payments.

Affiliate Management Solutions: An Overview

Affiliate programs that work depend on affiliate management systems. They include a variety of platforms, tools, and apps that are made to help businesses manage, track, and improve their affiliate marketing efforts.

These solutions make many segments of affiliate programs easier, like

Finding new partners
Keeping track of sales and rewards
Giving marketing resources
Giving analytical information.

Since they are centralised, companies can keep an eye on their whole affiliate marketing environment.

However, to get more help with affiliate solutions, hiring affiliate veterans can be one of the best business solutions too!

What Actually Makes Affiliate Management Solutions so Effective in the First Place?

Well, there are many reasons for affiliate management solutions to be super effective. Here are some of those mentioned.

Efficient solutions make it easier to hire agents and get them up and running. They offer a place for possible partners to sign up, get the tools they need, and learn about the regulations of the program.
Key features include keeping track of success metrics and making analytical reports. These tools let you track clicks, conversions, and commissions in real time. Businesses can use this information to make smart choices that will help them improve their plans.
Many management systems give affiliates marketing materials like banners, links, and creatives to make sure that the brand and message are always the same.
They automate the process of paying affiliates and estimating commissions based on rules that have already been set. This makes sure that the pay-out process is clear and on time.
These options also include good ways for affiliates to talk to each other and get help, so they can get help and feedback quickly.

Possible Solid Benefits of Affiliate Management Solutions: Experts’ Solutions

Here in this section, you’ll know some of the possible solutions with affiliate management solutions recommended by experts. So, make sure you skim through till the end of the section.

Centralised platforms with clear routes for communication and support make it easier for businesses and their affiliates to work together and succeed.
These solutions reduce the amount of work that needs to be done by hand by automating several processes. So, it lets businesses focus on strategy and growth instead of boring administrative tasks.
Tracking in real time and thorough reports give businesses a lot of useful information. This helps to make decisions based on data that improve marketing strategies and return on investment (ROI).
These solutions make it easy to handle a growing number of affiliates, which helps businesses grow their partner network.
Solutions do cost money to buy and set up at first, but their ability to automate and streamline processes mostly saves money in the long run.

Note: There are a few things you should think about when choosing an affiliate management system. It’s essential to look at the “4 hows”

How much the software costs
How easy it is to use
How conveniently it works with other systems
How secure it is

It is very important to fully understand the business’s needs and goals in order to make an informed choice.

Top 4 Considerations You Need to Keep in Mind While Picking Your Ideal Affiliate Management Solution Tools

When it comes to picking the ideal affiliate management solution tools there a few things you need to keep under consideration. Here are those 4 considerations that you need to know while making your pick for these tools

Tracking and Analytics Ability

Affiliate marketing tools should have strong tracking features and detailed analytics. Look for systems that show you clicks, conversions, and sales in real time. With these tools, businesses can properly track how well their affiliate marketing is working.

Easy User Experience

Choose affiliate control tools with easy-to-use interfaces. Businesses and affiliates can easily use the tool because it is designed to be easy to use. Look for features that make it easy for affiliates to get started and give you quick access to the tools you need. This ease of use makes things run more smoothly and gets more friends to participate.

Management Support and Resources

A good partner management tool should come with a set of marketing materials to help affiliates with their advertising. These can include things like banners, links, creatives, and other business materials.

It is also essential to have a reliable help system so that questions can be answered and problems can be fixed quickly. Businesses and affiliates can build stronger networks when resources and help are always there to help.

Changeable Commission Structures and Payment Processing

Businesses should be able to change commission rates based on performance levels, products, or individual affiliates. This is what the best affiliate management system should allow. A good payment handling system also makes sure that affiliates get paid on time and correctly.

Bottom Line

Affiliate management tools are essential for companies that want to get the most out of affiliate marketing. These tools have the ability to automate, streamline, and improve processes for making more money and working more efficiently.

That’s not all; businesses can reach more people, make partnerships stronger, and get the most out of their affiliate marketing campaigns.

Businesses can even successfully navigate the competitive world of digital marketing by investing in these solutions and picking the one that best fits their needs. This will aid them grow and build a strong network of affiliates, which will surely lead to more brand recognition and higher revenue streams.

Sourced from Fingerlakes1

Digital Team

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In News

5 Ways to Protect Your Search Budget From the New Google

December 16, 2024 No Comments

By Tyler Jordan

Maximize your marketing budget with effective Google Ads optimization strategies that prioritize performance and protect your brand’s interests.

The Gist

Beware of default settings. Make sure your budget is allocated to high-performing channels like search, not Google Display Network or Search Partners.
Question recommendations.Take Google’s rep suggestions cautiously, as they may prioritize Google’s profits over your brand’s needs.
Optimize what you control. Use advanced strategies like optimizing for revenue and integrating CRM data to guide campaigns toward desired outcomes.

I’ve worked with Google Ads for almost 15 years. When I started working in search engine marketing, Google was a great partner that cared about helping brands succeed.

Those were the good old days.

Today, there are countless stories of reps pushing irrelevant features, formerly helpful reps being laid off in the shift to AI-based “service” and Google Ads campaigns that essentially encourage advertisers to set a budget and leave the rest to Google. Google reps are now prioritizing revenue for Google above all else, brands be damned. (If you don’t believe me, check out Sundar Pichai’s commentary on Google’s Q1 earnings call.)

Now, effective Google Ads optimization is especially crucial to make sure your budget is allocated to high-performing channels.

How to Make Your Marketing Budget Work for You, Not Google

Unless you’re marketing for a huge brand and have a dedicated rep whose main goal is to retain your business, your brand is vulnerable to all this. Here’s a list of recommendations for making sure your advertising budget is working for you — and not just Google’s bottom line.

Check Your Default Settings

Multiple brands have come to us with default settings that allocate the majority of the brand’s budget to Google Display Network and Search Partners, with nothing going to search — which is an exponentially higher-performing channel. Last month, we did an audit for a brand that had just spent many thousands of dollars on the GDN and Search Partners, with zero conversions to show for it.

Take Every Recommendation You Hear From a Rep With a Grain of Salt

Remember that their goal now is to make money for Google’s shareholders, not your brand. Even if it’s a cool-sounding beta that might offer early adoption advantages, think critically about whether it’s the right strategic move for your brand before signing up. Prioritize strategies that support your Google Ads optimization goals.

Make Sure You’re Controlling What You Can Control in Your Campaigns

Let’s say you’re an ecommerce brand that has to use PerformanceMax campaigns, and you’re telling the campaigns to optimize for conversion goals. If you leave the rest to Google, they’ll optimize for the easiest conversions, which will probably be your lowest-cost products.

By Tyler Jordan

Tyler Jordan is CEO of Jordan Digital Marketing. Tyler founded Jordan Digital Marketing (JDM) in July 2017 after extensive stints working on both sides of the agency-client relationship.

Sourced from CMSWIRE

In News

How to make User Generated Content (UGC) adverts using AI

November 21, 2024 No Comments

By Julian Horsey

Ever wondered how some brands manage to create those captivating video ads that seem to go viral overnight? What if I told you that you don’t need a big budget or a professional team to achieve the same results? With the power of AI, creating realistic and engaging User-Generated Content (UGC) ads is more accessible than ever. This guide will show you how to harness AI tools for scriptwriting and video generation, making the process straightforward and effective.

Digital Marketing with AI

TD;LR Key Takeaways :

Creating UGC video ads with AI tools has transformed digital marketing.
Start with a high-converting script using ChatGPT and the AIDA framework.
ChatGPT simplifies script creation by generating tailored scripts quickly.
Arcads allows for the creation of AI-narrated videos with customizable AI actors.
CapCut is essential for editing, adding captions, and combining footage.
Recording original footage adds authenticity and enhances engagement.
Using AI for UGC ads is cost-effective, offers faster turnaround, and ensures consistent messaging.
Leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT, Arcad Ads, and CapCut saves time and money while providing creative control.

The advent of AI tools has transformed the landscape of digital marketing, offering unprecedented opportunities for creating captivating User-Generated Content (UGC) video ads. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire process, from crafting compelling scripts to generating and editing videos, ensuring your ads are both engaging and effective in driving conversions.

Creating High-Converting Scripts with ChatGPT

The foundation of any successful ad lies in its script. Even if you lack extensive copywriting experience, using the power of ChatGPT can help you generate scripts that resonate with your target audience. To begin, identify effective hooks from top-performing ads in your niche using tools like Mana. These hooks serve as the starting point for your ChatGPT prompts, which you can customize by incorporating your product names and problem descriptions. By using the AIDA framework (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), you can ensure your scripts capture attention, build interest, create desire, and ultimately prompt action.

ChatGPT simplifies the script creation process by allowing you to input your hooks and product details, generating tailored scripts that align with your brand voice and marketing objectives. This efficient method enables you to produce high-converting scripts quickly, saving valuable time and resources.

Identify effective hooks from successful ads in your niche using tools like Mana
Input hooks and product details into ChatGPT prompts
Generate scripts using the AIDA framework for maximum impact

Making UGC Ads Using AI

Watch this video on YouTube.

Here are a selection of other articles from our extensive library of content you may find of interest on the subject of AI tools for business and pleasure :

Bringing Your Scripts to Life with AI Actors

Once you have your scripts ready, Arcads provides a seamless solution for creating AI-narrated videos. After signing up, input your product details and select AI actors that best represent your target demographics. Preview and fine-tune the narrations to ensure they align with your brand voice and messaging. With just a few clicks, you can generate and download AI-narrated videos, offering a cost-effective alternative to hiring real actors.

Input product details and select AI actors based on target demographics
Preview and adjust narrations to align with brand voice
Generate and download AI-narrated videos for a cost-effective solution

To create visually captivating and engaging UGC ads, CapCut emerges as a powerful video editing tool. Use CapCut to add captions, combine AI actor footage with product visuals, and craft a compelling hook that grabs viewers’ attention. Ensure your captions are readable and strategically placed to enhance accessibility and reinforce key messages. Incorporating multiple AI actors throughout the ad helps build credibility and maintain viewer interest.

Add captions to enhance accessibility and reinforce key messages
Combine AI actor footage with product visuals for a dynamic ad
Create a visually captivating hook to grab viewers’ attention

Best Practices for Maximizing Advert Impact

To further elevate the effectiveness of your UGC ads, consider incorporating original footage for hooks and product demonstrations. This authentic touch adds credibility and resonates with viewers. Strike a balance between showcasing product features and AI narrations to keep viewers engaged throughout the ad. Additionally, ensure your captions are clear, concise, and enhance the overall viewing experience.

Record original footage for hooks and product demonstrations to add authenticity
Use a mix of product features and AI narrations to maintain viewer engagement
Ensure captions are clear and enhance the viewing experience

The Advantages of Using AI for UGC Advertising

Harnessing the power of AI for UGC ads offers numerous benefits compared to traditional methods. Firstly, it is significantly more cost-effective than hiring real UGC creators, allowing businesses to allocate their resources more efficiently. Secondly, AI tools provide a faster turnaround time for video creation, allowing marketers to respond quickly to market trends and consumer demands. Moreover, AI-powered solutions give you greater control over the content and messaging, ensuring consistency and precision in your advertising efforts.

Cost-effective compared to hiring real UGC creators
Faster turnaround time for video creation
Greater control over content and messaging for consistency and precision

Creating UGC video ads using AI involves a structured approach that encompasses scriptwriting, video generation, and final editing. By using powerful tools like ChatGPT, Arcads, and CapCut, marketers can produce high-engagement ads that drive conversions and deliver measurable results. This AI-driven method not only saves time and money but also allows for greater creative control, making it an indispensable strategy in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing. Embrace the potential of AI and transform your advertising efforts today.

Media Credit: taysthetic.

By Julian Horsey

Sourced from Geeky Gadgets

In News

3 Advertising Tips for Successful Small Business Marketing in 2024

September 17, 2024 No Comments

By Steve Olenski

There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences.

The Gist

Resourceful tools. Utilize low-cost self-service tools like AudioGo for impactful, affordable advertising across digital, social, audio and video channels.
Smart partnerships. Collaborate with like-minded businesses to exchange advertising space and pool resources, creating cost-effective marketing opportunities.
Content value. Focus on high-value owned content to educate consumers, boost organic traffic and establish brand authority without recurring costs.

How much money should a small business marketing team spend on its marketing? Convention dictates that B2B companies should put 2%-to-5% of revenue toward a marketing budget. In reality, it’s over 10% — and the ratio for B2C companies is even higher.

At those stringent rates, many small business marketing teams find themselves short on staff and cash as they try to implement marketing strategies. While it’s common for small business marketers to feel they must choose between marketing well or marketing cheaply, they don’t have to.

There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences based on whatever budget they are given at any given moment. Here are three advertising tips to help small business marketers affordably broadcast their goods and services across digital, social, audio and video channels.

A young boy stands in front of a cheerful lemonade stand, holding a sign that reads "SALE LEMONADE 30¢ 50¢" and a megaphone. The stand is decorated with yellow circular cutouts and a sign spelling "LEMONADE." This image captures the essence of small business marketing, showcasing a creative and budget-friendly approach to promoting a product. — There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences based on whatever budget they are given at any given moment.Pixel-Shot on Adobe Stock Images

3 Tips for Successful Small Business Marketing

1. Take Advantage of Low-Cost Self-Service Tools

The SaaS industry constantly creates new, improved and ever-more affordable ways to advertise across all mediums. On social media, for instance, YouTube and TikTok are trendy, free and low-cost options in the social and video worlds.

Once a business has owned content on a business site (more on that in Tip 3), it can create targeted campaigns through Google Ads, Facebook Ads and similar pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising channels. These are some of the most popular avenues, but there are other highly effective, lower-cost strategies out there.

Consider the opportunities with audio streaming services — millions are essentially a captive audience on their daily commute. Advertising on these platforms has become more accessible through niche tools like AudioGo. This platform takes the audio advertising concept to the next level through a suite of audio ad creation tools and templates. It can push ads out to top streaming music, radio and podcast networks. With its beginner-friendly interface, users can easily create and schedule ads, target them to the right audience and launch campaigns with budgets as low as $250.

While AudioGo excels at reaching a wide variety of audiences through audio advertising, brands that host their own podcasts could benefit from podcast distribution networks like Audioboom. This platform helps pair advertisers with like-minded podcasters to reach their niche audience. Hosting a podcast costs less than $10 per month, and you could even earn some extra income by monetizing your content.

When a small marketing team has limited funds due to its size, it can still optimize how those funds are invested by looking for tools that help them reach potential or existing customers at an affordable cost. By leveraging both user-friendly creation tools and targeted advertising options, businesses can make the most of their budget in today’s advertising world.

2. Form Collaborations With Other Businesses

Advertising doesn’t always have to be a small business against the world. It’s possible to create partnerships and collaborations with similarly-positioned companies. The key here is to differentiate between competitors and collaborators.

For example, a company that delivers bounce houses may consider a party rental company a competitor. However, the two brands aren’t at odds if the latter focuses on things like tent, table and chair delivery. They’re simply serving the same customer base.

Even if two enterprises are in the same line of business, it’s important to make this distinction. A telemarketing company might consider another call center a rival. However, one might work with phone training, in general, and the other with a specific target market.

When marketers discover both local and remote companies with which their company can collaborate, they can create fresh advertising opportunities. They can exchange advertising space with their audiences and amplify their marketing efforts by pooling resources. They can also create bundles and packages that offer discounts when purchased together. The best part is that all of this can come at little-to-no cost.

3. Create High-Value Content

Finally, small business marketers should never underestimate the value of owned content. Also called owned media (especially when creating audio and visual advertisements, like those listed in Tip 1), the term refers to content a marketer fully controls.

A blog article or how-to video on a company website is owned media. Social posts and PPC advertising are not owned media. Marketers should optimize the promotional media that their company controls.

Every piece of content that a small business marketing team creates has the potential to impact its customer base. It can educate consumers, answer customer pain points and establish the brand as an industry authority. High-value content can also help a brand rank better in search engine results pages, which can boost organic traffic to its website and sales funnels.

The best part? Owned content may require some effort to create, but it belongs to its creator forever. No fees. No paying per click. When done well, quality content is a long-term advertising play that can continue to serve a business for months and even years into the future with minimal upkeep.

Gaining Marketing Momentum as a Small Business

Small businesses don’t have to skimp on marketing. Small business marketers can cobble together effective marketing campaigns by marshaling their available resources.

They can do this by taking advantage of low-cost self-service tools. They can also collaborate with other local and related businesses and create high-value content. This maximizes their budgets, attracts new customers and ultimately grows their businesses.

Feature Image Credit: Sandra Burm

By Steve Olenski

Steve Olenski possesses a career journey that’s been as dynamic as it has been impactful. From his early days as a creative director in the agency realm to assuming pivotal senior marketing roles on the brand side with esteemed companies like Oracle, he has consistently navigated diverse landscapes.

Sourced from CMSWire

In News

Seasonal Email Strategies: Stand out on Black Friday & Cyber Monday

September 3, 2024 No Comments

By Chad S. White

Holiday email promos need a little dialling up — and dialling down — on standard tactics.

The Gist

Email relationships. Previous engagement boosts holiday email performance, increasing subscriber interaction and revenue during Cyber 5.
Social proof. Highlighting top search terms and popular products in holiday emails can inspire and guide subscriber purchases effectively.
Clear messaging. Simplify holiday email content with clear, direct messaging and seasonal imagery to capture hurried subscribers’ attention.

Everyone wants to have their seasonal email strategies stand out during the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday time period, called Cyber 5. And for good reason. Based on an examination of email campaign performance among retailers and ecommerce brands using Oracle Responsys, campaigns sent during the Cyber 5 weekend routinely generate the highest revenue per email for the whole year — by far.

However, marketing emails aren’t ads. They’re not about shouting the loudest, flashing the brightest colours or being the most sensational or shocking. They’re also not about abusing trust with misleading or vague copy.

There are two components in the battle for holiday email marketing attention.

A black mailbox adorned with a festive holiday wreath stands on a white post in a suburban neighborhood, symbolizing the importance of a well-crafted holiday email marketing strategy to capture customer attention and boost engagement during the festive season. — Ready for your inbox invasion through Cyber 5?Lana on Adobe Stock Photos

Seasonal Email Strategies: Half the Battle for Attention

The truth is that the battle for attention during the Cyber 5 is already half won long before your Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign arrives in inboxes. That’s because seasonal email strategies are relationships, so previous engagement has a major impact on future engagement. If your email program delivers value to lots of subscribers during August and September, then they’re much more likely to engage during the holiday season. And the more frequent and substantial that engagement is, the better off you’re likely to be.

ZeroBounce research recently confirmed this, finding that 47% of people say they open a brand email not because of the subject line, but because that brand always sends them good emails.

In my book, “Email Marketing Rules,” I call this the zero stage of an email interaction. This is why sender names are more powerful than any subject line you can come up with. Your sender name brings to the surface all of your subscriber’s feelings about their recent interactions with your brand. If those feelings are positive, it leads to positive results.

The Other Half of the Battle

The rest of the battle is about your seasonal email strategies themselves. But here, brands sometimes have misconceptions, in part because subscribers behave differently during the holiday season. Consumers have different goals than the rest of the year, and they’re also generally much more pressed for time in the inbox, in part because they’re receiving more campaigns.

Here are some tactics to dial up and to dial back on during the holiday season to maximize performance.

Dial Back Personalization

Personalization is perennially among the top email marketing trends. And new opportunities that are fuelled by customer data platforms and advanced AI are likely to keep it at the top of marketers’ to-do lists for years to come.

However, during the holiday season, subscribers are (mostly) shopping for others, so the zero- and first-party data you’ve been collecting all year isn’t likely to be very useful for tailoring messages.

Dial up Social Proof

Instead of focusing on what each subscriber did months ago, focus on what your customers are doing collectively now. In your email campaigns, highlight:

Top site search terms, so subscribers can understand and be inspired by what others are looking for.
Most browsed product categories, which encourage subscribers to explore categories they haven’t shopped recently or ever.
Most social buzz, such as likes on Instagram or pins on Pinterest.
Most purchased products, which is probably the ultimate barometer of popularity.

Dial back Interactivity

Interactive emails bring common web experiences into the inbox, enabling product carousels, tabbed interfaces, hotspots and more. However, interactivity typically isn’t worthwhile during the holiday season because subscribers are in such a hurry. It’s also tough to do because it increases production times when marketers are creating more campaigns than ever.

Dial up Clarity

Even more than usual, clear and simple wins during the holiday season, because people are in such a hurry. Front load your subject lines with the most important words, and pay extra attention to your message hierarchy, ensuring your most important message points stand out from your less important ones. Especially if you’re promoting a strong offer (and I hope you have plenty of those), you don’t want to undermine it by having cluttered messaging or an overly busy design.

Dial up Scarcity

When something is in low supply or likely to sell out, let subscribers know. If you’re able to include real-time inventory numbers for the products featured in your emails using live content, that can be powerful.

But don’t fake it. Your most loyal customers will see that you’re lying to them if you perpetually claim something will sell out and it doesn’t or, worse, you’re faking real-time inventory numbers by manually including them. And it’s your most loyal customers that you can’t afford to offend.

Dial up Seasonal Imagery & Content

Let your subscribers know you’re in the holiday spirit and hope they are, too. Consider:

Adding holiday imagery to your header, including snowflakes, holly leaves or sparkles.
Add a “Holiday” or “Gifts” link to your navigation bar.
Add a gift services footer that highlights gift guides, gift return policies, gift wrapping options, order-by deadlines and other important holiday details and policies.

Dial up Automation

Triggered campaigns are likely the silent heroes of your holiday season. They’re quietly rescuing abandoned carts, following up on product category interest, notifying customers of back-in-stocks, welcoming seasonal subscribers and more. And their ROIs are through the roof.

Before the holiday season arrives, have a plan to ensure your triggered emails perform their best. If nothing else, make time to review and QA your automations, checking for out-of-date language, broken images and broken links. But also, consider adding seasonal imagery and content blocks to these emails, just like you would to your broadcast promotional emails.

The Big Picture

If you’re anything like our retail and ecommerce clients, you’re already well on your way to planning your seasonal email strategies, including your Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails.

But as you do that, recognize that the email experiences you create and the value you deliver to subscribers over the next couple of months will have a big impact on how your seasonal email strategies perform.

By Chad S. White

Chad S. White is the author of four editions of Email Marketing Rules and Head of Research for Oracle Digital Experience Agency, a global full-service digital marketing agency inside of Oracle.

Sourced from CMSWIRE