How Digital Has Changed Branding 

This edited extract is from Digital Branding by Daniel Rowles ©2025 and is reproduced and adapted with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.

If you could only get a feel for someone’s personality by them telling you things about themselves, we may end up with a very shallow understanding of them.

We may also have difficulty believing in the personality that has been constructed – and we may start to question the motivations behind what they are telling us about themselves.

That is exactly the situation of commercial branding that uses broadcast channels such as TV.

A personality is sculpted, and then we are told what the personality is. We don’t get to discuss, engage with, and really understand the true personality.

Digital media now means, however, that the conversation is no longer one way. I can challenge, ask questions, and develop a truer picture of the brand. I can see through a sculpted brand and start to see it for what it truly is.

This can be a scary thing for many traditional brands. It can also be a huge opportunity.

AI And Branding

Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a profound impact on the world around us in very recent months and years.

Things that were science fiction, or at least extremely difficult to do unless you had sufficient expertise and resources, are now made possible with tools available to everyone.

These AI-based tools and their application can have a huge impact on our digital branding.

This can be as simple as giving us the opportunity to create a better user experience by using machine learning to help us optimize a website experience (for example, by giving somebody content that is customized for them specifically) or by generating an image that follows our brand guidelines using generative AI.

However, beyond these AI tools that help us become more efficient and more effective, we also find ourselves faced with new risks and ethical challenges.

Let’s take a real-world example. Using a low-cost tool like Eleven Labs, I can create a completely convincing deepfake of my own voice. I can then type in any text I want and get the deepfake voice to read that text.

The voice sounds exactly like me, and I can even generate the same speech multiple times, and each time it will sound slightly different and have ever so slightly different intonation, just as I would if I read the same thing multiple times.

To test the quality of this voice, I replaced a segment of me speaking on the Digital Marketing Podcast, which has over 150,000 listeners. Nobody noticed.

So if I can deepfake myself, do I need to even bother recording podcasts anymore? Do I need to inform my listeners?

Legally, I don’t have to, but I would suggest ethically I should. If I trust you, and I suddenly find that after listening to your voice for some time, that it wasn’t really you, it will damage my trust.

AI gives our brands a huge amount of tools to improve what we do, but we also need to be careful how and when we use these tools, so we don’t damage the trust in our brands.

Any use of AI needs to be done mindfully, considering the impact it may have.

Global Soapbox

If a brand is essentially the personality of something, digital media gives us the ability and opportunity to understand the true personality of something.

We can then use that understanding to help guide us in our decision-making processes.

This is a great opportunity from a customer point of view.

For example, it means that instead of being put on hold for an hour when phoning a call centre and having little choice but to tolerate it, I can now go straight to one of many social media channels and make my frustrations very clear and very visible.

I now have a global soapbox with access to all of the other potential customers out there, and I can impact a global organization’s brand in a way that was not possible before (or, at least, was incredibly difficult).

That highly visible complaint then becomes part of other people’s brand perception (fairly or not), and suddenly, the years of building a brand can be tumbled very quickly.

This is a very much changed environment for businesses to operate in – if they ignore this change, then it can lead to problems.

This ability to engage with and research into a brand can also be looked at from an even simpler point of view.

Perhaps I am researching buying a car or a B2B service. I can now do a lot of research and inform my decision before I speak to the car dealership or service vendor.

When I do make this final step, I am far more informed and have developed a fairly in-depth perception of the brand before I engage directly with them.

In fact, from the information I gleaned online, I may have opted out from even considering certain brands.

That information may have been on a third-party website in the form of a review or comment from someone I have never met, but I may trust it over the voice of the brand itself.

Social Media Fail

This fast-changing environment and the slow pace of businesses to adapt to it is leading the social media disaster stories that we see on a daily basis online.

Most social media disasters demonstrate a lack of knowledge of how to practically use a particular social media channel or show a belief that the brand can manipulate the channel in some way and get away from this need for authenticity and transparency.

The other common theme is that of failing to understand the changed role of the brand in this two-way conversation.

Traditional Brand Metrics

Traditionally, a brand has been measured by asking questions and trying to judge what someone thinks of a brand, and trying to work out what this means in regard to potential sales.

There is a wide range of different ways of looking at this, but generally, we would take some sort of sample survey of our audience and see what their attitudes were before and after exposure to some form of marketing.

This survey would ask a range of questions, and there are lots of different approaches, but fundamentally, we would look to answer the following questions:

  • Are you aware of the brand?
  • Do you like the brand?
  • Do you intend to buy the brand?
  • If you have purchased, do you intend to do it again?

Essentially, we are assuming that if we can get more people to answer positively to each of these questions, we are likely to get more sales.

This can still be an extremely valid process, but only when effectively integrated into an overall approach.

Sum Of All Experiences

Essentially, digital branding is the personality of our organization, service, or product created by the sum of all experiences that an individual has with that brand.

This still includes things such as visual identity, but now also includes much more important and influential touchpoints such as social media interactions and online reviews.

Your logo may make you recognizable, but it is your overall brand that decides what I remember you for.


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How Performance Marketing + Brand Fuels Traffic Growth And Conversions [Webinar] via @sejournal, @hethr_campbell

Building a brand that fuels trust, loyalty, and long-term value is no easy feat. But with the right strategy, your brand can become the cornerstone of a high-performing marketing campaign that drives real results.

On January 16, 2025, at 2 pm, join us for an exclusive live webinar, How Performance Marketing + Brand Fuels Traffic Growth And Conversions.

Mordy Oberstein of Unity and SEJ’s Editor-in-Chief Katie Morton will dive deep into the vital connection between branding and performance marketing, sharing actionable insights that you can use to boost traffic and conversions right away.

Why This Webinar Is A Must-Attend Event

Creating a brand that inspires loyalty and maximizes conversions isn’t just about being seen—it’s about building a lasting impression.

With expert insights and real-world case studies, this webinar will empower you to elevate your brand’s impact and refine your performance marketing strategy.

Here’s what you’ll take away:

  • Proven tactics to extend Customer Lifetime Value and drive customer loyalty.
  • Insights into performance marketing trends—what users are searching for and how to capture their attention.
  • Case studies from industry leaders highlighting branding successes (and mistakes).
  • Why branding is the great equalizer in today’s crowded digital landscape—and how it can become your most effective driver of clicks and conversions.
  • Expert Insights From Mordy Oberstein and Katie Morton

Mordy and Katie will lead this discussion, sharing their expertise on creating brand synergy, increasing brand search volume, and using branding as a powerful tool for performance marketing success.

You’ll leave with actionable tips and strategies to ensure your brand stands out in 2025 and beyond.

Who Should Attend?

This webinar is perfect for:

  • Marketing leaders looking to maximize the impact of their branding efforts.
  • Performance marketers aiming to align branding with measurable results.
  • Business owners who want to cultivate loyalty and increase Customer Lifetime Value.

Live Q&A: Get Expert Advice

Stick around after the session for a live Q&A with Mordy and Katie, where you’ll have the opportunity to ask your burning branding and performance marketing questions.

Can’t make it live? Don’t worry! Reserve your spot, and we’ll send you a recording to watch on your own time.

Don’t miss this opportunity to revolutionize your branding strategy and drive better results in your performance marketing campaigns.

Reserve your seat today!

New Study Highlights Martech Challenges To Reach Target Audiences via @sejournal, @gregjarboe

A new study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of TransUnion has revealed significant challenges faced by many marketing teams.

These challenges primarily stem from the complexity of their marketing technology (martech) stacks.

The study found that a substantial 70% of marketing leaders struggle to effectively identify and reach their target audiences across various channels.

This difficulty arises from the fragmented nature of their martech systems, often involving a multitude of tools.

Two-thirds of the marketers surveyed reported using 16 or more martech solutions, significantly increasing the complexity of their operations.

This complexity presents several critical obstacles for marketing teams. These challenges include difficulties in personalizing customer journeys, scaling marketing efforts effectively, integrating AI capabilities, and ultimately, wasting valuable marketing budgets.

In a press release, Matt Spiegel, executive vice president and head of TruAudience marketing solutions at TransUnion, said,

“Marketing leaders know what they need to do—they’re just stuck juggling 16 or more martech solutions, creating overwhelming complexity.”

He added,

“It’s not about changing your stack but leveraging identity and data tools to connect these disconnected tools. Without that connection, inefficiencies become significant concerns. We hear from teams every day struggling to bring it all together. But when they do, the difference is massive.”

However, the research also highlights a promising solution: The utilization of identity resolution tools. By integrating their fragmented data sets through these tools, organizations can significantly improve their marketing outcomes.

The study revealed that organizations leveraging identity resolution are more likely to meet or exceed their customer experience and understanding goals, improve customer insights, and make more data-driven decisions.

What Else Can Marketing Leaders Do?

Beyond identity resolution, marketing leaders can employ several strategies to effectively identify and reach their target audiences across various channels.

Data-driven segmentation plays a crucial role. Instead of relying solely on demographics, marketers should utilize a wider range of data points, such as purchase history, website behavior, social media engagement, and interests, to create highly targeted audience segments.

Customer data platforms (CDPs) can be instrumental in this process, as they unify customer data from diverse sources, providing a single, comprehensive view of each individual, which enables more precise segmentation and personalized messaging.

Omnichannel marketing is essential for a seamless customer experience. Marketers should ensure consistent messaging and experiences across all touchpoints, including email, social media, website, mobile apps, and physical stores.

Utilizing cross-channel retargeting, where customers who have interacted with the brand on one channel are reached through targeted ads on other platforms, can significantly enhance reach and engagement.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) offers strong tactics for marketing leaders to identify and reach their target audiences such as conducting audience research and learning more about the audience that searches for a keyword, uses words in their bio, or visits a website.

Additionally, focusing on high-quality, original content – this content should address the specific needs and interests of the target audience while incorporating relevant keywords naturally. Lastly, prioritizing user experience (UX), not just for Google, but also to satisfy the user.

Content marketing is another powerful tool for marketing leaders to embrace. This requires conducting in-depth audience research and developing buyer personas and gathering direct feedback from their target audience.

Marketers can implement a content pillar strategy that creates in-depth content pieces and cluster supporting content around them. Then  distributes and promotes content effectively, whilst leveraging social media, email marketing, and community building.

Social media marketing offers valuable insights and engagement opportunities. Marketing leaders should conduct in-depth audience research with advanced targeting options – go beyond demographics and leverage social listening tools to understand audience needs and preferences.

They should create engaging content combined with paid advertising and develop shareable content, run targeted ads, and collaborate with influencers.

Marketing leaders need to build and engage with online communities and actively participate in conversations, host contests, and run live Q&A sessions. Lastly, leveraging influencer marketing by partnering with influential figures within the target audience can amplify reach and build trust.

Digital Public Relations (PR) ensures promotion online to reach target audiences such as building relationships with relevant media and journalists. This involves identifying and cultivating relationships with key media outlets and journalists who cover topics relevant to their target audience. And, creating compelling and newsworthy stories with stories relevant to the target audience’s interests that offer unique insights or perspectives.

Monitoring online conversations and media mentions allows for understanding brand perception, addressing concerns, and identifying engagement opportunities.

Paid advertising strategies can effectively expand reach, whilst programmatic advertising allows for highly targeted campaigns across various channels.

Finally, leveraging Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems is crucial. By effectively utilizing the customer data stored within their CRM systems, marketers can gain valuable insights into customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history.

This data can then be used to personalize email campaigns, website experiences, and other marketing messages, fostering stronger customer relationships and driving conversions.

See Your Customers Clearly

The study emphasizes the critical role of identity resolution in streamlining martech operations and achieving better marketing results.

By connecting the dots between their various systems, marketers can gain a clearer understanding of their customers, deliver more personalized experiences, and ultimately, achieve greater success in their marketing endeavors.

Spiegel concluded,

“At the end of the day, it’s about being able to see your customers clearly. When you connect the dots between systems, you’re creating better experiences for people. And that’s what drives results.”

By implementing the strategies above in conjunction with identity resolution, marketing leaders can gain a deeper understanding of their target audiences, deliver more relevant and personalized messages, and ultimately achieve greater success in their marketing campaigns.

About The Survey

Forrester Consulting conducted a survey on behalf of TransUnion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to assess the current state of martech and identity resolution programs within US enterprises. This survey gathered insights from 325 marketing technology decision-makers.

The survey focused on understanding the marketing goals and challenges faced by these decision-makers and was conducted over a two-month period, commencing in November 2024 and concluding in December 2024.

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Email Marketing: An In-Depth Guide via @sejournal, @BennyJamminS

Email is as a highly effective direct marketing channel and could be considered the modern version of direct response marketing.

Email marketing campaigns are core strategies in modern digital marketing, with entire businesses successfully built on the communication channel.

The real benefit of email marketing is the direct relationship you can build with your audience that you can control without the threat of a third party closing an account. A qualified email marketing list is priceless!

At a time when search platforms are getting more aggressive with advertising, generative AI is taking away organic traffic and some social media platforms are unstable, email is a way that brands can engage with their users and nurture trusted relationships.

Keep reading to understand how you can use email marketing to connect with your audience.

What Makes Email Such An Effective Marketing Channel?

Email marketing can be highly effective due to a variety of factors:

  • Opt-in: Because automated emails must be opt-in and have opt-out options, email audiences are often highly engaged.
  • Engagement data and segmentation: With the right email marketing platform, you can leverage data to improve how you create and target emails. You can also ask users for their preferences and organize campaigns around responses.
  • Push marketing: Rather than waiting for users to input keywords, you can deliver experiences to them based on their activity history or a set of stated preferences.
  • Personal and professional distinction: People will often sign up for emails using the most appropriate email address for the use case. This is great for B2B businesses because it enables you to reach people while they’re in a professional environment and mindset.
  • Advanced automation: Email marketing platforms can help you create automated campaigns and customized experiences based on what you know about your customers. You can deliver different communications and email types to different user groups and move users into different automated tracks based on their behavior.
  • Testing: It’s incredibly easy to test messaging, subject lines, segmentation, etc., with email marketing platforms.

This combination of advanced functionality and a strong connection between your audiences and your brand enables powerful marketing campaigns for many different types of businesses, whether you’re a publisher or an ecommerce store.

How Email Marketing Fits Into Your Campaigns

Email is one channel among many. Even email-only newsletters need other channels to acquire subscribers.

Generally, email is a channel for audiences who are aware of you in some way. They might have purchased a product, downloaded a document, signed up for a free trial, signed up for a newsletter, or set an alert.

Email audiences have usually taken action to end up on your mailing list. This makes it a critical channel for cultivating relationships, moving users through consideration stages in a sales process, or re-engaging users who took previous actions.

In combination with organic discovery strategies like social media, SEO, and paid advertising like search engine marketing, email campaigns can improve how well you can reach and convert audiences.

Building An Email Marketing Campaign

Your email list is a powerful tool. If you use the opportunities it presents you, you can enhance not only your marketing campaigns but how well you understand your audience and the effectiveness of your tactics.

With an email list and the right platform, you have access to:

  • Information that people give you about themselves when signing up for offers or curating their experiences.
  • Information about the emails they open and actions they take in those emails.
  • The ability to connect actions that people take on your website to their email so that you can understand their needs and motivations, follow up on incomplete actions, and provide personalized experiences.
  • The ability to segment your audience into personas and tag them based on specific needs, situations, and demographic information.

Email campaigns are your opportunity to put timely and focused offers in front of the right people at the right time, as well as cultivate their interest and trust.

For a campaign to be successful, you need to know what you want from your audience and what problems they come to you to solve. To build an effective email campaign, you need:

1. A compelling offer to sign up for emails and provide you with information.

To find this compelling offer, you need to know what offer is valuable enough to trade for information and inbox access. This could be:

  • A downloadable report.
  • A newsletter.
  • The opportunity for exclusive or unique offers.
  • Updates on a specific product or release.

2. Tracking and tagging. Tagging is the true power of email marketing.

Ask people to submit basic information like their age, interests, or company size when they sign up.

But you should also look for an email platform that allows automated tagging, for example when someone completes or begins but does not complete an action on your website.

3. Custom campaigns and “tracks” based on information and behavior.

Based on the data you gather, you can create custom campaigns for different types of users. This should include:

  • Different email cadences are based on their level of engagement so that you don’t risk turning people off by communicating too frequently or too little.
  • Customized offers and reminders based on interests and behavior.
  • Unique content for different segments of your audience to focus on their specific needs.
  • Automated responses to action and inaction that change a user’s experience. For example, moving users who don’t open emails to a specific campaign designed to reengage them.

4. Testing and experimentation. Email is one of the best ways to test your messaging.

You can test subject lines, different offers, and ads, your conversion optimization, etc., and the right platform will give you all the engagement data you need to refine your campaigns.

Separate a group into different test campaigns to compare performance so that you’re always improving and gaining insights about your audience.

Email mailing lists are your engaged audience. Take the opportunity to get to know them.

Different Types Of Emails In Email Marketing

Depending on your business model and your audience, you may need different types of emails – and different combinations – in your campaigns.

Some campaigns will be more directly promotional, while others will focus on information.

You need to understand why someone signed up to receive emails in the first place to determine what kinds of emails to send them. You can do that by tracking how they signed up. Was it through an offer page? A digital download? A social media promotion?

You should also collect people’s preferences as they sign up and through welcome emails to better understand their needs.

Once you understand the intent behind an email signup and the user’s preferences, you can choose the best types of emails to send.

An email marketing platform should be able to do this for you automatically, entering users into different segments to receive types of emails based on their preferences.

Promotional Emails

Promotional emails are focused on conversions. They’re for audience segments that you’ve identified as likely to make a purchase but maybe need a little more enticing.

For example, it might be a user who has items in their cart but didn’t make a purchase. Or a user who went through the process of customizing a product but didn’t add it to their cart.

You might have identified them as someone waiting for a sale or shopping around.

It’s helpful to add incentives to promotional emails so that users get additional value for being on the mailing list.

Remind them of a discount code, or reward them for following through on an abandoned purchase by promising a future discount.

It’s important to be careful and intentional with these emails because they often get shunted into promotion-specific inboxes and lost in a sea of other promotions.

Running a nurture campaign to convince audiences to whitelist these emails could be an effective tactic.

Newsletters And Service Emails

Newsletters and emails containing news and information can be a service or business model themselves.

Alternatively, you can use this service to keep connected with audiences and keep them engaged with your brand, even if your business model isn’t newsletter-based.

Putting true informational value in people’s inboxes is difficult, and not all businesses are set up to do it effectively. These types of emails work best for companies that already invest in educational content or news.

If you don’t have an existing mechanism for content production, be aware that these emails are high-effort!

The tradeoff is that audiences are more likely to engage with emails regularly if they get genuine value from a newsletter.

You can build strong trust with audiences, and if the newsletter is successful, open a new revenue stream with in-email advertising.

Company Information And Update Emails

You can send emails with information about your company, although the audiences that respond well to them may be limited.

Investors are an example of an audience group that would be highly invested in company update emails.

Be careful with the cadence of these because they can get lost, just like promotional emails.

Welcome Emails

Welcome emails are important for setting expectations, gathering information, and beginning nurturing campaigns.

In a welcome email, you can give users information about the track they’re on, the cadence of emails, what information they can expect, etc.

You can also use welcome emails to guide users through the next steps and instruct them on how to customize their experience.

Nurturing Emails

Nurture emails take a slow and gradual approach to engagement and winning conversions.

They are critical to any email campaign because they create touchpoints with users and can help lead them to an eventual business goal like a conversion or sale.

These emails attempt to move users into consideration stages in a journey or assist them with their consideration and comparison activities.

They might include reminders, information about free services or information, or check-ins to ask users to update their communication preferences.

Re-Engagement Emails

Re-engagement is very similar to nurturing but occurs when a user is colder.

If they haven’t interacted with an email in a while, you can move them to a re-engagement campaign that presents them with specific reminders or offers to try and get them to become an engaged user again.

It’s important to keep email lists clean by removing users who haven’t engaged for a long time.

If you’re gathering data from your email list or selling advertising, this ensures that you don’t have inflated data. However, before you kick users off an email list, you should enter them into a re-engagement campaign to see if you can pull them back in.

Feedback, Survey, And Review Emails

Direct feedback is one of the best ways to get information about your audience.

Surveys can be used to create content with first-party data, and feedback surveys can help you further customize user experiences. Reviews can be used as social proof.

These types of emails can also be combined with sales and nurturing campaigns to increase retention and conversions. Offering people rewards for providing their feedback can lead to additional conversions.

Choosing Your Email Platform

Consider the functionality and your needs, and growth potential when you’re choosing an email platform.

Some of the core functions you should look for are:

  • Tagging and segmentation: You need to be able to work with the data you have about your list and separate users into groups. This helps you create customized campaigns.
  • Automated campaigns and timing: Email platforms should give you the ability to create a set of rules and emails and apply them to a group. This includes all of the emails to be sent, the timing of the emails, and tracking results.
  • Website event tagging: You may need a platform that allows you to connect website behavior with email accounts. This can be critical for understanding user behavior and creating effective nurturing and re-engagement campaigns.
  • Email behavior analysis: The platform should report metrics like open rates and in-email conversions and follow conversions from email onto the website to see what actions users take.
  • Testing capabilities: Your email marketing platform should enable you to test different campaigns, different messaging, subject lines, images, and offers within specific audience segments and report on the compared effectiveness.

Email Marketing Is A Powerful “Middle” Strategy

Between awareness and a sale, there’s often an email. Or two or three. Or more.

Email lists are so valuable because they’re a direct source of information about who your audience is, what they want, and what they respond to. It’s also a relationship that you have a lot of control over.

The right platform with the right capabilities combined with a strong content strategy can increase the rate at which you gain conversions from audiences that are already aware of your brand.

With automation, you can set these processes to occur automatically.

Email Marketing FAQ

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing involves encouraging users to sign up to receive emails, and then sending them specific, targeted emails to keep their attention, nurture their journey, and gain conversions.

Email marketing works by nurturing users to build a relationship and connection with your brand.

Journeys toward sales and conversions can take a long time, and the right email campaign can remind users to come back to you when they’ve made a decision to make a purchase.

Alternatively, email newsletters can themself be a business model, where you provide high-quality experiences in people’s inboxes and sell advertising. Advertisers get access to the audience of your email list.

What Are The Benefits Of Email Marketing?

No matter what your business model is, a well-curated email list is a valuable business asset.

Whether you’re selling advertising on your email list or nurturing users through purchasing journeys, email marketing is one of the best ways to gain insights about your audience, test your strategies, and re-engage with users who become disconnected.

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Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends For 2025 via @sejournal, @gregjarboe

Digital marketing is changing and the industry is trying to adapt whilst accepting the uncertainty.

So, let me offer an alternative approach that you could take this year.

Invite all the key decision-makers in your organization – including C-level executives as well as the heads of digital analytics, digital advertising, SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing – to an off-site meeting to help them understand how the ten digital marketing trends mentioned below will shape your digital marketing strategy for 2025.

This is no ordinary time and you need to decide if your new digital marketing strategy will enable your organization to weather the coming storm.

To give you a starting point for crucial conversations, here is my take on the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2025:

1. Digital Marketing Fundamentals

In Digital Marketing Fundamentals, I mentioned that the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs conducted a survey that found:

“Content marketers are resilient. Most have met the challenges of the pandemic head-on.”

In response to the pandemic, B2B and B2C marketers:

  • Increased time spent talking with customers.
  • Revisited their customer/buyer personas.
  • Reexamined the customer journey.
  • Changed their targeting/messaging strategy.
  • Changed their distribution strategy.
  • Adjusted their editorial calendar.
  • Put more resources toward social media/online communities.
  • Changed their website.
  • Changed their products/services.
  • Adjusted their KPIs.
  • Changed their content marketing metrics (e.g., set up new analytics/dashboards).

I concluded:

“Both B2B and B2C marketers totally overhauled the process for creating a content marketing plan from stem to stern. For some, 2020 was the year of quickly adapting their content marketing strategy. For others, it was the year to finally develop one.”

This is now relevant again, so replace “content” with “digital” and 2020 with 2025.

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

From a senior executive’s point of view, the increasing reliance on AI for data analysis, customer segmentation, and personalized marketing campaigns raises concerns about the balance between automation and human touch.

Some might argue that your organization should “focus” all its attention and resources on the trend of AI. To prove a point, I used a generative AI tool to crank out 10 sub-trends of this megatrend below:

  1. Hyper-Personalization: Utilizing generative AI to craft highly tailored content and user experiences based on their behaviors, preferences, and demographics.
  2. AI-Driven Content Creation: Automating the production of content such as blog posts, social media updates, and product descriptions using generative AI tools, enabling marketers to scale their efforts efficiently.
  3. Voice and Conversational Marketing: Enhancing customer interactions and simplifying the purchasing process by adopting voice search optimization and conversational AI technologies like chatbots.
  4. Predictive Analytics for Customer Insights: Leveraging data-driven insights to help marketers make informed decisions and refine their strategies in real time.
  5. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Integration: Empowering customers to visualize products in their own space before making a purchase decision.
  6. AI-Powered Customer Journey Mapping: Using AI to analyze customer interactions, identify key touchpoints, and optimize the journey to minimize friction and boost satisfaction.
  7. Sustainability and Ethical AI: Prioritizing sustainable marketing approaches and the responsible use of AI, ensuring transparency and accountability in AI applications.
  8. Enhanced Data Privacy Measures: Implementing AI solutions that respect user consent and safeguard data, maintaining regulatory compliance while extracting valuable insights.
  9. Integration of Ecommerce and Social Media: Streamlining shopping experiences directly within social platforms to boost engagement and drive sales.
  10. AI-Enhanced Marketing Automation: Elevating campaign management through advanced automation, including features like A/B testing, real-time optimization, and personalized email strategies.

Yes, these sub-trends are driven by advancements in AI technology. And, yes, anyone can argue that AI should be considered the only digital marketing trend to focus on for 2025.

However, everyone should prepare to find the right balance between automation and the human touch. That’s what senior executives are concerned about.

3. Digital Analytics

I’d start with measurement. (No topic is more likely to get the attention of C-level executives than measuring results.)

Following an industry report, business outcomes, such as site visits, leads, and sales, have become the primary success metrics.

Since August 2007, when YouTube started offering video advertising, brands and their agencies have always prioritized reach and frequency. So, the key criteria for digital video investments has fundamentally changed.

But two-thirds of buyers, particularly smaller advertisers targeting niche audiences, cited issues across nine key areas of measurement:

  1. Co-viewing.
  2. Placement transparency.
  3. Brand safety/suitability.
  4. Viewability.
  5. Ads served on made-for advertising sites (MFAs).
  6. Ads served on TVs turned off.
  7. Getting sell-side data.
  8. Using multiple currencies.
  9. Standard sell-side targets.

So, what should digital analytics focus on for 2025?

In a recent post on LinkedIn, Avinash Kaushik recommended:

“Marketing’s Incrementality: Business results from marketing tactics that would not have occurred otherwise.”

He added:

“It is the absolute pinnacle of proving the value of Marketing. It is the only answer a smart CFO wants (and upon receiving it will give your CMO all the budget required to capture incremental revenue/profit!).”

He concluded:

“Very few in our ecosystem are focused on measuring incrementality. One reason is it requires sophisticated thinking, and that’s often missing. Another reason is that incrementality is actually measured, but it gets killed by the org because the results are so bad.”

4. Digital Advertising

If you’re the head of digital advertising for your organization, then you need to find the right balance between AI and human touch in 2025.

For example, I said decision-makers at your organization already know that the new AI-generated holiday ads from Coca-Cola attracted a lot of criticism.

Some described the three new AI versions as “the biggest branding blunder of the year,” and others said the AI campaign “earns Coca-Cola a lump of coal.

After measuring the emotional impact of holiday ads, and comparing the current AI-generated holiday ad with the original human-created 2020 version, Ian Forrester said:

“The difference between the AI and the original was most stark in their evocation of warmth, a mainstay of Christmas advertising. The original evoked intense warmth among 33.0% of viewers, whereas the AI versions were significantly below this. So, while the AI is producing images which on the face of it seem cute and heart-warming, the human viewer to some degree discerns their synthetic nature, which detracts from their impact.”

And Barney Worfolk-Smith, added:

“Some in the advertising community who feel a sense of ominous threat will instantly adopt a negative stance. I don’t blame them, but the reality is, the toothpaste is out of the tube, so we should all have a hand on the wheel of a human AI hybrid Christmas Coke truck to have a stake in the future.”

So, if you’re not in the driver’s seat for similar human-AI experiments in 2025, then someone else probably will be.

5. SEO

If you’re the head of SEO for your organization, then you might want to read, A New Era Of SEO: Leveraging YouTube, LinkedIn, And Cross-Channel Strategies For Success.

So, I don’t need to tell you that it’s time to re-envision your career path.

Going forward, you will need to invest more time in learning four additional disciplines: digital analytics, digital advertising, content marketing, and social media marketing.

And you will also need to demonstrate critical thinking about digital marketing strategy if you ever hope to climb the ladder in your organization.

Since that article was published, Rand Fishkin, asked How big is ChatGPT’s market share of search? And, using data from SimilarWeb and Datos, Fishkin estimates that Google’s cross-platform share of search in October 2024 was over 83.5%.

YouTube’s share was almost 7.0%. ChatGPT’s share was over 4.3%. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, and Perplexity’s combined share was almost 3.4%. And Bing’s share was almost 2.0%.

So, yes, I realize SearchGPT is the latest Bright Shiny Object (BSO). But it’s still 1.6 times more important to leverage YouTube – at least for the near future.

6. Content Marketing

If you’re the head of content marketing for your organization, then you should read Why AI in Demand Generation Is No Knight In Shining Armor [New Research].

If you do, you’ll know that most demand-gen marketers feel pressured to “get good” at generative AI so they can “do more with less.”

CMI surveyed marketers to see if they felt pressured to deliver results despite having limited budgets and resources. The response? A significant 56% said they feel this pressure “to a great extent,” while 39% admitted they feel it “to some extent.”

Just 5% reported feeling no pressure at all and a recent Deloitte study found that 79% of C-suite respondents expect gen AI to drive substantial organizational transformation in less than three years.”

However, the study also found that most organizations prioritize tactical advantages, such as boosting efficiency and cutting costs, over broader goals like driving growth and fostering innovation.

In the article above, Robert Rose recognizes an inconvenient truth: generative AI magnifies what already exists.

So, if you use a content calendar to crank out dull social media posts, boring in-person events, and bland emails, then AI will simply amplify those weaknesses.

Conversely, if your content strategy makes videos worth watching, creates content worth sharing, and provides experiences worth the price of admission, then AI will enhance those strengths.

So, AI isn’t a magic wand. It’s more like a booster that accelerates your existing efforts.

As this year’s findings demonstrate, successful demand generation remains a human-centered and complex task. Efficiency alone won’t transform ordinary efforts into extraordinary success.

True success lies in creativity, uniqueness, and the thoughtful execution of ideas.

In the end, the story is yours to tell — make it exceptional.

7. Social Media Marketing

If you’re the head of social media marketing for your organization, then you might want to pay attention to the growth of BlueSky.

Similarweb reported:

“On Nov. 6, the day after the US presidential election, both website traffic and app usage spiked for Bluesky in the US as it became the destination of choice for journalists and opinion leaders (as well as followers of those people) who decided to either stop using X or begin using it less.

Usage of the Bluesky app is up 519% compared to the first 10 months of the year. The UK echoed the trend, with Bluesky usage up 352% compared with the first 10 months of the year.”

Before you rush to add yet another platform to your social media portfolio, dig a little deeper into the latest data from Similarweb.

Below is the chart that Carr sent me of the top social networks worldwide based on desktop and mobile web visits in October 2024.

Image from author, December 2024

If you’re data-driven, then here’s the data:

  • YouTube got 29.1 billion visits that month.
  • Facebook got 12.5 billion.
  • Instagram got 6.0 billion.
  • X (formerly Twitter) got 4.6 billion.
  • Reddit got 3.5 billion.
  • TikTok got 2.2 billion.
  • LinkedIn got 1.8 billion.
  • Pinterest got 1.2 billion.
  • Threads got 154.1 million.
  • Snapchat got 130.3 million.

Although it doesn’t appear in the chart, Bsky.app got 75.9 million visits in October 2024.

So, if you’ve got 1,000 people on your social media marketing team, then shift one of them to BlueSky. But based on Similarweb’s latest data, 99.9% of us should shift more people to YouTube.

8. Digital PR

It may seem odd to include Digital PR in your list of the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2025.

But Spencer Stuart noticed that 34% of Fortune 500 CMOs lead functions in addition to marketing, such as communications.

So, if your organization is one of those companies, then you’ll want to invite your head of corporate communications to your off-site meeting.

You may also want to respectfully recommend that they read 7 Steps To Building A Kickass Digital PR Campaign before attending.

And your organization would really benefit by building a kickass digital PR campaign.

9. Influencer Marketing

Invite whoever heads up influencer marketing to your off-site – even if they report to the head of digital advertising, content marketing, social media marketing, or corporate communications.

The head of influencer marketing should argue that “schmooze optimization” is the cost-effective way to achieve your marketing goals.

And, suggest to your head of SEO that they read “SEO Industry Trends Report 2024: The Search Revolution Has Already Begun.

Kasumovic says:

“Kevin Indig reveals that only 6% of AI Overviews (AIOs) include the search query – indicating that the future of SEO lies in understanding user intent rather than keyword targeting.”

Kasumovic argues:

“The brands that rise to the top will be those that leverage the intersection of human expertise and AI automation – a balance that requires both creativity and data-driven discipline.”

He recommends:

“Collaborate with industry experts, influencers, and knowledgeable creators to build content that demonstrates deep expertise and credibility.”

10. Omnichannel Marketing

Your customers expect a seamless experience across all platforms. But if your marketing strategy is still siloed, then you might as well be using carrier pigeons to get your message across.

That’s why your organization needs to hammer out an agreement on a customer-centric strategy that integrates all your channels to create a consistent brand experience for customers.

But who is the voice of the customer in your organization? If there isn’t an obvious choice, there are three potential candidates:

  1. A digital analytics expert who recognizes a seamless customer experience across multiple channels will be essential.
  2. A digital advertising expert who knows that integrating PPC campaigns across multiple channels (search, social, display) will be vital for a cohesive customer journey.
  3. An SEO expert who understands search engines are increasingly considering user experience (UX) metrics as ranking factors.

In Summary: Get Key Decision-Makers Involved

This is my take on the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2025 which will hopefully give you a starting point to tailor a version for your organization.

What is important to remember is to get all the key decision-makers in your organization involved.

I suggest you take time to outline your priorities and where you need to go in 2025.

Get ready for the storm to face it head on.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Hurca/Shutterstock

10 Hosting Trends Agencies Should Watch In 2025

This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Which hosting service is best for agencies?

How do I uncover what will be best for my clients in 2025?

What features should my hosting service have in 2025?

Hosting has evolved well beyond keeping websites online.

Hosting providers must align their services to meet clients’ technological needs and keep up with constantly changing technological advances.

Today, quality hosting companies must focus on speed, security, and scalability. Staying ahead of hosting trends is critical to maintaining competitive offerings, optimizing workflows, and meeting client demands.

So, what should you watch for in 2025?

The next 12 months promise significant shifts in hosting technologies, with advancements in AI, automation, security, and sustainability leading the way.

Understanding and leveraging these trends enables agencies and professionals to provide better client experiences, streamline operations, and reduce the negative effects of future industry changes.

Trend 1: Enhanced AI & Automation Implemented In Hosting

AI and automation are already transforming hosting, making it smarter and more efficient for service providers, agencies, brands, and end-point customers alike.

Hosting providers now leverage AI to optimize server performance, predict maintenance needs, and even supplement customer support with AI-driven features like chatbots.

As a result, automating routine tasks such as backups, updates, and resource scaling reduces downtime and the need for manual intervention. These innovations are game-changing for those managing multiple client sites and will become increasingly important in 2025.

It only makes sense.

Automated systems free up valuable time, allowing you more time to focus on strategic growth instead of tedious maintenance tasks. AI-powered insights can also identify performance bottlenecks, enabling you to address issues before they impact your website or those of your clients.

Agencies that adopt these technologies this year will not only deliver exceptional service but also be able to position themselves as forward-thinking.

Bluehost embraces automation with features like automated backups, one-click updates, and a centralized dashboard for easy site management. These tools streamline workflows, enabling agencies and professionals to manage multiple sites with minimal effort while ensuring optimal performance.

Trend 2: Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Solutions Are Now Essential

In 2025, as businesses demand more flexibility and reliability from their online infrastructure, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions will become essential in the hosting world.

These approaches offer the best of both worlds:

  • The ability to leverage multiple cloud providers for redundancy and performance.
  • The option to combine public and private cloud environments for greater control and customization.

For agencies managing diverse client needs, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies provide the scalability and adaptability required to meet modern demands. Multi-cloud solutions allow agencies to distribute their clients’ workloads across multiple cloud providers, ensuring that no single point of failure disrupts their operations.

This feature is particularly valuable for agencies with high-traffic websites, where downtime or slow performance can have a significant impact on revenue and user experience. Hybrid cloud solutions, on the other hand, let agencies blend the scalability of public clouds with the security and control of private cloud environments.

This service is ideal for clients with sensitive data or compliance requirements, such as ecommerce or healthcare businesses.

Bluehost Cloud provides scalable infrastructure and tools that enable agencies to customize hosting solutions to fit their clients’ unique requirements. Our cloud hosting solution’s elastic architecture ensures that websites can handle sudden traffic spikes without compromising speed or reliability.

Additionally, our intuitive management dashboard allows agencies to easily monitor and allocate resources across their client portfolio, making it simple to implement tailored solutions for varying workloads.

By adopting multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies, agencies can offer their clients enhanced performance, improved redundancy, and greater control over their hosting environments.

With our scalable solutions and robust toolset, agencies can confidently deliver hosting that grows with their clients’ businesses while maintaining consistent quality and reliability. This flexibility not only meets today’s hosting demands but also helps position your agency for long-term success in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Trend 3: Edge Computing & CDNs Replace AMP For Improving Website Speed

As online audiences grow, the demand for faster, more responsive websites has never been higher. Edge computing and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are at the forefront of this evolution, enabling websites to reduce latency significantly. For agencies managing clients with diverse and international audiences, these technologies are crucial for improving user experience and ensuring website performance remains competitive.

Edge computing brings data processing closer to the end user by leveraging servers located at the “edge” of a network, reducing the time it takes for information to travel.

Combined with CDNs that cache website content on servers worldwide, these technologies ensure faster load times, smoother navigation, and better performance metrics.

These features are especially beneficial for media-heavy or high-traffic websites, where even a slight delay can impact engagement and conversions.

Bluehost integrates with leading CDN solutions to deliver content quickly and efficiently to users across the globe. By leveraging a CDN, Bluehost ensures that websites load faster regardless of a visitor’s location, enhancing user experience and SEO performance.

This integration simplifies the optimization of site speed for agencies with multiple clients. By adopting edge computing and CDN technology, you can help your clients achieve faster load times, improved site stability, and higher customer satisfaction.

Bluehost’s seamless CDN integration enables you to deliver a hosting solution that meets the expectations of a modern, global audience while building trust and loyalty with your clients.

Trend 4: Core Web Vitals & SEO Hosting Features Make Or Break Websites

Core Web Vitals play an important role in today’s SEO, as Google is increasingly emphasizing website performance and user experience in its ranking algorithms. Today, loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability impact a site’s ability to rank well in search results and keep visitors engaged.

That means optimizing Core Web Vitals isn’t just an SEO task for agencies managing client websites. Fast load times and responsive design are critical parts of delivering a high-quality digital experience. For example, metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures how quickly a page’s main content loads, depend heavily on hosting infrastructure.

Agencies need hosting solutions optimized for these metrics to ensure their clients’ sites stay competitive in the SERPs.

Bluehost offers a WordPress-optimized hosting environment with features specifically designed to improve load times and server response speeds. From advanced caching technology to robust server architecture, Bluehost ensures that sites meet Core Web Vitals standards with ease.

Additionally, our hosting solutions include tools for monitoring site performance, allowing agencies to proactively address any issues that could impact rankings or user experience.

By prioritizing Core Web Vitals and leveraging SEO-focused hosting features, agencies can enhance their clients’ visibility, engagement, and overall online success. With Bluehost’s optimized hosting solutions, you’ll have the tools and infrastructure needed to deliver fast, stable, and high-performing websites that delight users and search engines.

Trend 5: Sustainable Hosting Practices Help Reduce Energy Consumption

Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword. It’s a key consideration for businesses and agencies alike. As 2025 progresses, more clients will prioritize environmentally conscious practices, and hosting providers will step up to offer greener solutions, such as energy-efficient data centers and carbon offset programs.

Migrating to a sustainable hosting provider not only supports client values but also demonstrates a commitment to responsible business practices, which will resonate more with consumers in 2025 than ever before.

Efficient hosting practices reduce energy consumption and create a more sustainable digital ecosystem. It will also allow you to help clients meet their environmental goals without compromising on performance.

These benefits are especially valuable for clients with higher energy and performance demands, such as those in ecommerce, media-heavy, or high-traffic industries.

Bluehost has long been recognized as a trusted hosting provider that operates with efficiency in mind.

Our robust, energy-efficient infrastructure already aligns with the sustainability goals of environmentally conscious clients.

In addition, our long-standing reputation, proven history with WordPress, and demonstrable reliability enhance your clients’ sustainability objectives, ensuring they can operate responsibly and confidently.

By choosing sustainable hosting practices and partners like Bluehost, you can contribute to a greener digital future while reinforcing your clients’ environmental commitments and strengthening client relationships by aligning with their values.

Trend 6: Security Must Be A Core Offering

Security is a non-negotiable priority for any website. Cyber threats like data breaches, malware, and DDoS attacks are on the rise, and the consequences of a breach, including lost revenue, damaged reputations, and potential legal issues, can devastate clients. As a result, offering secure hosting solutions with proactive security measures is essential to safeguarding clients’ businesses and building trust.

These key features include SSL certificates, which protect sensitive data while boosting SEO rankings and user trust, and regular malware scans to prevent vulnerabilities.

They should also include automated backups that enable quick restoration in the event of a crash or attack and provide comprehensive protection and peace of mind. Essential security features are standard in Bluehost hosting plans, including SSL certificates, daily automated backups, and proactive malware scanning.

These built-in tools eliminate the need for additional solutions, added complexity, or costs. For agencies, our security features reduce risks for your clients and provide peace of mind.

By choosing a hosting provider like Bluehost, you can prioritize client security, reinforce client trust, and minimize emergencies, allowing you to avoid spending time and resources addressing threats or repairing damage.

In short, by partnering with Bluehost, security becomes a core part of your agency’s value proposition.

Trend 7: Hosting Optimized For AI & Machine Learning Is Key To High Visibility On SERPs

As artificial intelligence and machine learning become increasingly integrated with websites and applications in 2025, hosting providers must keep pace with the increasing demands these technologies place on infrastructure.

AI-driven tools like chatbots, recommendation engines, and predictive analytics require significant computational power and seamless data processing.

AI and machine learning applications often involve handling large datasets, running resource-intensive algorithms, and maintaining real-time responsiveness. Hosting optimized for these needs ensures that websites can perform reliably under heavy workloads, reducing latency and downtime and delivering consistent performance.

If you plan to be successful, you’ll also require scalable scalable hosting solutions. These solutions allow resources to expand dynamically with demand, accommodate growth, and handle traffic surges.

Bluehost’s scalable hosting is built to support advanced tools and applications, making it an ideal choice for agencies working on AI-driven projects. Our robust infrastructure delivers consistent performance, and flexibility allows you to scale easily as your client’s needs evolve. By leveraging Bluehost, agencies can confidently deliver AI-integrated websites that meet modern performance demands.

Trend 8: Managed Hosting Helps You Focus More On Profits

In 2025, websites will become increasingly complex. Businesses will require higher performance and reliability, and everyone will be looking to operate as lean and efficiently as possible. These trends mean managed hosting will become the go-to solution for agencies and their clients.

Managed hosting shifts time-intensive technical maintenance away from agencies and business owners by including features such as automatic updates, performance monitoring, and enhanced security. In short, managed hosting enables you to simplify workflows, save time, and deliver consistent quality to your clients.

These hosting services are particularly valuable for WordPress websites, where regular updates, plugin compatibility checks, and security enhancements occur frequently but are essential to maintaining optimal performance.

Managed hosting also typically includes tools like staging environments, which allow agencies to test changes and updates without risking disruptions to live sites and ensure you can deliver a seamless experience to clients.

Bluehost offers managed WordPress hosting that includes automatic updates, staging environments, and 24/7 expert support. These features allow you to handle technical details efficiently while focusing on delivering results for your clients without added stress or time.

Trend 9: The Shift Toward Decentralized Hosting Boosts Your Brand’s Longevity

In 2025, expect to see decentralized hosting gain attention as a futuristic approach to web hosting. Like Bitcoin and similar advancements, the technology leverages blockchain technology and peer-to-peer networks to create hosting environments that prioritize privacy, resilience, and independence from centralized control.

While this model appears to provide exciting new opportunities, it’s still in the early stages. It faces challenges in scalability, user-friendliness, and widespread adoption, which agencies can’t typically rely on for client sites.

Decentralized hosting may become a viable option for specific use cases, such as privacy-focused projects or highly distributed systems. However, centralized hosting providers still offer the best balance of reliability, scalability, and accessibility for most businesses and agencies today.

For these reasons, agencies managing client websites will continue to focus on proven, reliable hosting solutions that deliver consistent performance and robust support.

So, while decentralized hosting may gain traction this year, Bluehost will continue to provide a trustworthy hosting environment designed to meet the needs of modern websites. With a strong emphasis on reliability, scalability, and user-friendly management tools, we offer a proven solution agencies can depend on to deliver exceptional client results.

Trend 10: Scalable Hosting For High-Growth Websites Is Key For Growth

As businesses grow, their websites will experience increasing traffic and resource demands. High-growth websites, such as e-commerce platforms, content-heavy blogs, or viral marketing campaigns, require hosting solutions that can scale instantly. And scalable hosting is critical to delivering consistent user experiences and avoiding downtime during peak periods.

Scalable hosting like Bluehost ensures your clients’ websites can easily adjust resources like bandwidth, storage, and processing power to meet fluctuating demands. Our scalable hosting solutions are designed for high-growth websites. Our unmetered bandwidth and infrastructure were built to handle traffic surges, ensuring websites remain fast and accessible.

These features make us the ideal choice for agencies looking to future-proof their clients’ hosting needs.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve in 2025, keeping up with the latest trends in hosting is essential for agencies to provide top-tier service, drive client satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge. From AI and automation to scalability and security, the future of hosting demands flexible, efficient solutions tailored to modern needs.

By understanding and leveraging these trends, you can position your agency as a trusted partner and deliver exceptional results to your clients, whether by adopting managed hosting or integrating CDNs.

Bluehost hosting will meet today’s demands while helping to prepare agencies like yours for tomorrow. With features like 100% uptime guaranteed through our Service Level Agreement (SLA), 24/7 priority support, and built-in tools like SSL certificates, automated backups, and advanced caching, Bluehost offers a robust and reliable hosting environment.

Additionally, Bluehost Cloud makes switching easy and cost-effective with $0 migration costs and credit for remaining contracts, giving you the flexibility to transition seamlessly without the high cost.

Take your agency’s hosting strategy to the next level with Bluehost. Discover how our comprehensive hosting solutions can support your growth, enhance client satisfaction, and keep your business ahead of the curve.


Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bluehost. Used with permission.

The Future Is 360°: Trends And Tactics For Comprehensive Marketing In 2025 [Webinar] via @sejournal, @lorenbaker

Feeling the pressure to keep up with shifting marketing dynamics? You’re not alone.

In today’s competitive landscape, a unified, 360° marketing strategy is the key to success. It’s time to connect every channel, message, and tactic to achieve your overarching business goals.

Join us for an exclusive webinar where industry experts from Rhapsody and their valued partner Ceros will reveal the strategies, trends, and tools that will shape marketing in 2025 and beyond.

Why This Webinar Is a Must-Attend Event
Discover how to embrace a comprehensive marketing approach that will keep you ahead of the competition. In this session, we’ll cover:

  • Practical Strategies: Learn how to build a cohesive, full-service marketing strategy to drive results.
  • Future Marketing Trends: Explore AI-driven personalization, the evolution of customer experiences, and the power of value-based marketing.
  • Interactive Content in Action: Understand how interactive content like landing pages and eBooks can transform your engagement efforts and bring your brand stories to life.

Spotlight on Ceros
We’ll showcase Ceros’ interactive platform, highlighting how it enables dynamic, engaging content that captivates audiences across channels.

Who Should Attend?
This webinar is perfect for:

  • Marketing professionals, particularly in retail, aiming to stay ahead of industry trends
  • Businesses serving a B2B market seeking to increase ROI
  • Ecommerce marketing professionals looking to gain insights for 2025

Live Q&A: Get Expert Answers
After the panel discussion, join our experts for a live Q&A where you can ask your most pressing questions and gain tailored advice.

Don’t Miss Out!
The future of marketing is here, and a 360° approach is the way forward. Don’t miss your chance to gain actionable insights and strategies to make your business stand out.

Can’t attend live? No problem—register now, and we’ll send you the recording.

Get ready to revolutionize your marketing strategy for 2025. Sign up today!

Future Trends In B2B Influencer Marketing Across Industries

This edited extract is from B2B Influencer Marketing by Nick Bennett ©2024 and is reproduced and adapted with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.

Just a few years ago, B2B influencer marketing was a niche concept, reserved for selective people. Well, those days are long gone!

Today, the landscape is buzzing with activity, as brands and creators alike embrace the power of collaboration to reach targeted audiences and achieve their goals.

But what does the future hold for this dynamic field? Buckle up because we’re about to embark on a journey into the crystal ball to see what trends are shaping the future of B2B influencer marketing.

Predictions For The Future: What Lies Ahead In B2B Influencer Marketing

Let’s peer into the future and explore some of the exciting trends that are likely to shape the B2B influencer marketing landscape.

The Rise Of Interactive Content

Forget passive consumption – the future belongs to interactive content.

Imagine engaging your target audience with quizzes, polls, and assessments – or taking them on virtual tours and product demonstrations through VR and AR technology.

Interactive content promises a deeper level of engagement and knowledge retention, making it a powerful tool for B2B brands.

Beyond Sponsored Posts

Collaboration in the B2B influencer marketing space is about to go beyond the traditional sponsored post.

Long-term partnerships will allow brands and creators to build trust and develop deeper relationships, resulting in more authentic and impactful campaigns.

Additionally, we’ll see the emergence of new collaborative formats, such as co-created content and exclusive access to influencer communities, fostering a more collaborative and mutually beneficial environment.

LinkedInfluencers Take Off

While Instagram and TikTok have long dominated the influencer marketing scene, LinkedIn is quietly emerging as a powerhouse platform for B2B brands.

With its professional audience and focus on business-related content, LinkedIn presents a perfect opportunity to connect with industry leaders, decision-makers, and potential partners.

Imagine collaborating with a renowned LinkedIn influencer to share your brand’s expertise and thought leadership, reaching a highly targeted audience of potential customers. Who wouldn’t want that?

AI Takes The Wheel

Gone are the days of relying solely on human influencers. AI-powered bots are rising to the forefront, offering unparalleled opportunities for personalized engagement and content delivery.

Think of a virtual spokesperson, perfectly tailored to your brand voice and values, interacting with your audience in real-time and answering their questions with uncanny accuracy.

This new breed of influencers promises a future where brand messaging resonates with each individual, fostering deeper connections and amplifying your brand’s reach.

Multi-Platform Nomads

Consumers today are like nomadic tribes, constantly exploring the diverse landscapes of various social media platforms.

To reach them, we must become multi-platform cartographers, charting a course that encompasses the unique features of each digital territory.

We need to identify and collaborate with creators who hold sway over these ever-evolving communities, ensuring that your message reaches the right audience at the right time.

Affiliate Programs

Historically, the realms of marketing and sales have remained distinct entities. However, in the dynamic world of B2B influencer marketing, they are converging, forging a collaborative spirit that benefits both brands and influencers alike.

Affiliate programs act as treasure maps, leading brands to new audiences and potential customers.

Influencers, in turn, become trusted guides on this journey, promoting your offerings and sharing the spoils of success.

Immersive Brand Experiences

Virtual and augmented reality are no longer just science fiction – they’re becoming integral parts of the B2B marketing landscape.

Imagine immersing your target audience in virtual product demos, taking them on guided tours of your facilities, or even hosting interactive workshops and training sessions.

VR and AR offer unparalleled opportunities to create immersive and engaging experiences that resonate deeply with your audience.

TikTok Takes Center Stage

TikTok has transcended its initial hype, evolving into a powerful platform for B2B brands seeking to connect with younger audiences.

Its unique format of short, engaging videos offers a compelling opportunity to capture attention and deliver impactful messages in a quick and concise manner.

Imagine creating captivating narratives that unfold within seconds, leaving a lasting impression on potential customers and propelling your brand to the forefront of their minds.

Data-Driven Decisions

As the B2B influencer marketing landscape matures, data-driven decision-making becomes increasingly crucial.

Predictive analytics will allow brands to anticipate audience behavior and tailor their campaigns accordingly, while big data will provide valuable insights for precise audience targeting and engagement strategies.

By leveraging data effectively, brands can optimize their influencer marketing efforts and ensure they are reaching the right people with the right message at the right time.

Diversity And Inclusion

The B2B world is no longer a monochrome landscape. Consumers demand authenticity and representation, urging brands to embrace the richness of diversity and inclusion.

We must actively seek partnerships with creators from all walks of life, weaving a tapestry of perspectives and experiences into our marketing campaigns.

This not only ensures that your brand resonates with a wider audience but also fosters a sense of belonging and inclusivity within your community.

The Rise Of Specialized Influencers

Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all influencers. Today, we see the rise of specialized influencers who possess in-depth knowledge and expertise in specific niches and industries.

These “micro-influencers” may have smaller follower bases compared to mainstream figures, but they offer unparalleled reach and engagement within their targeted audience.

By partnering with specialists, brands can ensure their message resonates deeply with the right individuals, maximizing the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Future B2B Influencer Marketing Trends Across Industries

While the core trends of B2B influencer marketing resonate across industries, each sector faces unique opportunities and challenges.

Let’s delve into the crystal ball and forecast some industry-specific trends poised to shape the future.

Tech And SaaS

These days, the tech and SaaS industry is moving at lightning speed, and when it comes to B2B influencer marketing, it’s important to stay nimble and creative to keep up with the pace.

Imagine partnering with tech influencers who are early adopters of emerging technologies, showcasing your latest innovations through engaging demos and reviews.

This will help you reach a highly targeted audience and build brand awareness among tech enthusiasts and decision-makers.

Challenges:

  • Technical expertise: Ensuring influencers have the technical knowledge to accurately represent your product or service.
  • Competition: High saturation of tech influencers, making it crucial to choose the right fit for your brand.

Case Studies:

  • Microsoft’s #SurfacePro campaign: Partnered with creative people from various professional backgrounds to showcase the Surface Pro’s capabilities through creative video content, driving significant sales and brand engagement (Green, 2022).
  • IBM’s #ProjectDebater campaign: Collaborated with AI experts to create a debating AI program, generating widespread media coverage and thought leadership in the AI space (Stetka, 2024).

Healthcare And Pharma 

B2B influencer marketing in healthcare faces stringent regulations and ethical considerations. Transparency, compliance, and building trust are paramount.

Imagine collaborating with healthcare professionals who are active on social media, sharing valuable educational content and addressing sensitive topics with accuracy and empathy.

This can help you raise awareness about your healthcare solutions and build trust among medical professionals and patients alike.

Trends:

  • Rise of micro-influencers: Partnering with healthcare professionals who have smaller, highly engaged communities can be more effective than collaborating with celebrities.
  • Emphasis on patient stories: Sharing real patient experiences and testimonials through influencer content can build trust and emotional connection with the audience.

Challenges:

  • Regulatory compliance: Ensuring all influencer content adheres to strict regulations and ethical guidelines.
  • Sensitive topics: Navigating sensitive health-related issues with accuracy and sensitivity.

Finance And B2B Services

In the world of finance and B2B services, trust and authority are essential.

Imagine partnering with industry experts and thought leaders who can share their insights and expertise through webinars, blog posts, and social media content.

This can help you position yourself as a credible and reliable partner, attracting potential clients and expanding your reach within the industry.

Trends:

  • Focus on long-term partnerships: Building long-term relationships with influencers fosters deeper trust and creates more impactful campaigns.
  • Content diversification: Utilizing a variety of content formats, such as infographics, videos, and podcasts, to reach a wider audience and cater to different learning styles.

Challenges:

  • Overcoming skepticism: Building trust and overcoming potential skepticism in a traditionally conservative industry.
  • Maintaining compliance: Ensuring all financial information and claims are accurate and comply with regulatory standards.

These industry-specific trends offer just a glimpse into the exciting future of B2B influencer marketing.

By understanding the unique challenges and opportunities within each sector, brands can tailor their strategies and collaborate with the right influencers to achieve their goals.

Beyond The Numbers: Measuring The Impact Of Creator-First

The success of these campaigns extends beyond traditional metrics like clicks and impressions.

Creator-first strategies focus on deeper engagement, brand affinity, and, ultimately, driving business impact. Here are some key KPIs to consider:

  • Social media engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and mentions are indicators of audience interest and interaction with creator-generated content.
  • Website traffic and conversions: Analyzing the impact of influencer campaigns on website traffic and conversions helps measure effectiveness in driving leads and sales.
  • Brand awareness and sentiment: Tracking brand mentions and sentiment analysis provides insights into how audiences perceive the brand and its message.
  • Sales and revenue growth: Ultimately, the success of Creator-First partnerships is measured by their ability to contribute to the brand’s bottom line.

By focusing on these KPIs, brands can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of their creator-first campaigns and demonstrate the tangible impact they have on their business objectives.


To read the full book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 25% discount code and free shipping to the US and UK. Use promo code SEJ25 at koganpage.com here.

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Featured Image: Accogliente Design/Shutterstock

25 Of The Best Examples Of Homepages via @sejournal, @LWilson1980

For most websites, the homepage represents your brand’s first interaction with your audience on your website.

As the catch-all landing page where people will be sent by default, your homepage needs to cater to a breadth of user needs and intent.

Consider your homepage as your shop window. It showcases your most valuable content, positions your brand so that it stands apart from the competition, and leads the user to take an initial action to enter the site and see more.

Your homepage sets the tone for your brand identity and communicates the brand messaging, company values, and personality of your business.

From your homepage, you have the first opportunity to establish positive brand recognition and clearly define the company’s value proposition to new and repeat users.

A homepage has many practical functions, too, such as:

  • Making an impactful first impression.
  • Driving user journeys into conversion funnels.
  • Helping people discover content assets, products, and services sooner.
  • Showcasing new incentives to buy and leading people to click.
  • Reinforcing trust, expertise, and authority.
  • Catching all topic areas that do not currently have dedicated destinations on the website.
  • Resonating with your audience through your brand positioning.

Here are 25 of the best examples of homepages. I’ve looked to include a wide variation of homepage examples, so you can see practically where you can refine your own homepage for increased performance.

1. So Cosy

This homepage example combines setting the perfect tone through distilled messaging, imagery, and color scheme.

Everything is simplified so the user can relax, discover, and enjoy the website.

Often, so many conflicting messages are crammed into a home page that the brand and purpose of the site become lost in the noise.

This example is the perfect reminder that, in many cases, simplicity pays off for the user and for search.

So Cosy home pageScreenshot from socosy.co.uk, November 2024

2. Toby Carvery

Homepages should reflect changes in your audience’s interest areas, industry trends, and broader seasonality.

This enables tailored messaging and ongoing servicing of intent to the full. This requirement becomes even greater in certain industries such as food, travel, and hospitality.

Your homepage sets the scene, showing what resonates with your key audience types, and should be proactively updated based on changing data sets.

All of this is reflected in this homepage example.

Toby Carvery home pageScreenshot from tobycarvery.co.uk, November 2024

3. Safetec

Certain industries, from financial services to safety supply companies, have a stigma and preconception attached to them as needing to be positioned in extremely formal ways. It can become an easy trap to fall into, assuming people expect a certain tone and positioning.

In this homepage example, the tone is relaxed, friendly, and welcoming.

Tonality includes statements like “it’s ok” when accepting cookies, and “we are here” to encourage chatbot interaction.

This subtle messaging, combined with audience-aware images and related content positioning, is a fantastic way to see how your homepage can set the tone and reinforce brand positioning from the outset.

Safetec - home pageScreenshot from safetecdirect.co.uk, November 2024

4. Post Office

In some cases, the homepage can be the fastest way for people to achieve their search goals.

In this example, the homepage facilitates the four core functions that the users of the website look to complete most frequently without the need to go through additional pages/clicks.

Widgets on the homepage service immediate action completion in a fast, fun, and intuitive way.

While the task of paying a bill, sending a parcel, or tracking postage may not seem a fun task, this website presents a light tone and an easy way to complete your intended actions as quickly as possible, so you can get back to your other activities.

Post Office home pageScreenshot from postoffice.co.uk, November 2024

5. TED

The TED homepage embodies the company’s mission of sharing information, ideas, and interests in an easy-to-digest, accessible fashion.

Content is themed into playlists, the latest, creative ideas, and other taxonomies such as “small world.”

The website taxonomy supports fast access to information topics and facilitates an easy and intuitive approach to information architecture at scale.

TED home pageScreenshot from ted.com, November 2024

6. Pandora

When it comes to associating the brand with the audience, Pandora does a fantastic job.

There is instant clarity, alignment of messaging, and impact of images that enable fast user engagement and establish trust and brand awareness.

Pandora home page Screenshot from uk.pandora.net/en/, November 2024

7. Davy Wine

An important aspect of homepage success comes down to the use of evidence (data) to drive decision-making.

The ordering of information displayed for the home page, content segmentation, and CTAs are arguably more important than any other page on your website.

For ecommerce sites, this necessity is becoming increasingly important.

This homepage example showcases the application in data to drive optimized user journeys from the moment they land on the homepage.

Davy Wine home pageScreenshot from davywine.co.uk, November 2024

8. Under Armour

This entry into the top 25 homepage examples warrants its place, based upon well-planned information architecture and scannable content, which gives users an enjoyable experience.

Function and “fit for purpose” are understated homepage virtues that this site brings to the fore.

There is also the seasonal aspect of tapping into changing needs, wants, and pain points effectively.

The “Spotlight” segment also works well for presenting new/fresh information to returning users to expand the type of purchases being made.

Under Armour home pageScreenshot from underarmour.co.uk/en-gb/, November 2024

9. BMW

Many car sales and dealership websites have similar approaches to homepages.

The dominant key model image is supported by quick filtering options to drive users to convert.

The stand-out item from this BMW homepage example, however, is the simplicity of messaging combined with minimal conflicting CTAs for the user.

There is no excessive sales content, and the homepage enables natural next steps rather than the excessive pushing of deals and related commercial CTAs often seen in this space.

BMW home pageScreenshot from bmw.co.uk, November 2024

10. UCFB

This website also appeared in the best examples of FAQ pages.

The key feature of this homepage offering is that by pre-scroll, the user has full access to everything they need without taking any further action.

They can see trust signals, get in contact, explore the main sections of the website, and receive a myriad of positive reinforcement specific to their lifestyle choices.

UCFB home pageScreenshot from ucfb.ac.uk, November 2024

11. Productive

Software companies need to compete in extremely crowded places where the research time and tolerance of the target market are often very limited.

This places increased emphasis on clarity in messaging, CTAs, and value proposition – all of which are present in this example of a best practice homepage.

Productive home screenScreenshot from productive.io, November 2024

12. Skype

One of the greatest challenges for homepages is to resonate with a varied audience effectively.

Skype handles this dilemma extremely well through a dominant audience message, supplemented by very clear and distinct alternative audience content assets.

Varying this based on trends and related data ensures every core persona receives initial verification to remain actively engaged on the website.

Skype home pageScreenshot from skype.com, November 2024

13. Uber

It takes a strong brand and confidence in user trust to present a homepage that is dominated by action-taking over value proposition.

Uber pre-scroll is 100% action-orientated, enabling the quickest route to booking prior to any conflicting messaging or related distractions.

The assumption is that if you land on the Uber site, the only thing that matters is getting you from “A to B” and servicing that intent to book above all else – and it works.

Uber home pageScreenshot from uber.com, November 2024

14. Dropbox

The simplicity of design and clarity of messaging are consistent throughout many of these examples. For a homepage, that is often a core challenge, as well as an aspirational goal.

In this example, headlines are emotive, and supporting statements are clear.

Mixed media walkthroughs of the service provide a trial of the solution without the need to sign up for one. It’s a great example of shortening the distance to purchase/use.

Dropbox home pageScreenshot from dropbox.com, November 2024

15. Allen Carr’s Easyway

When it comes to Your Money Your Life (YMYL) industries, homepages have additional challenges.

First, trust needs to be ever-present and supported by statistics without detriment to the brand’s style and tone.

Next, direct reinforcement of success, case studies, and audience associative needs are higher. And providing a positive outlook on tougher topic areas is far from easy.

This homepage example manages to cover all these areas plus more.

Allen Carr's EasywayScreenshot from allencarr.com, November 2024

16. NineFeetTall

When companies provide transformation and change, like in this example, you have to balance data and justification from the outset.

The homepage acts as the roadmap from now to the near future and requires expert guidance without information overload.

Every segment of this homepage example contributes toward this journey, empowering people to learn fast and take action sooner.

NineFeetTall home pageScreenshot from ninefeettall.com, November 2024

17. NHS

Websites that provide emergency help and support must reinforce trust, provide immediate access to contact, and solve problems from the first meaningful homepage interaction.

Visually, the homepage needs to drive action-taking and fuel the right choice to minimize already stressful situations.

Considering the vast array of people using emergency services like the NHS, intuitive and simple design comes into play with clear, concise content.

NHS home pageScreenshot from nhs.uk, November 2024

18. WeChat

Named one of the world’s strongest brands, the app’s homepage shows the opportunities to change the status quo with design and focus on brand-led power and positioning.

The navigation placement and impact on the page versus the streamlined and dominant CTA  is an interesting approach.

WeChat home pageScreenshot from wechat.com, November 2024

19. Colgate

For established and traditional brands, the homepage can present a complex range of choices.

One of these is how to remain relevant with existing audiences while looking to grow visibility with new people in fresh ways.

Colgate achieves this with a combination of trust and visual reinforcement.

Colgate home pageScreenshot from colgate.com, November 2024

20. Basecamp

The Basecamp homepage jumps straight into solving the main pain point of its audience.

This is then supported by segments that all actively contribute to the purpose of Basecamp as a service and nudge the user towards purchase.

This journey is without added clicks or engagement required – it’s a complete conversation on a single page:

  • The headline positions the brand and service.
  • The segmented homepage tells the story of why you may invest in the service.
  • The dominant CTA jumps out of the page.
  • Homepage screenshots provide an instant demo of the solution in action.
Basecamp home pageScreenshot from basecamp.com, November 2024

21. Time

A media site’s user base has high standards and expectations for creative, fast, and functional websites.

This homepage example from Time supplies easy-to-digest content while keeping text levels to a minimum.

The active use of white space is refreshing, as are the limited CTAs and removal of advertising.

The use of image, media, and text interaction supports audience preference and all device action-taking.

Time home pageScreenshot from time.com, November 2024

22. Ocado

Large retail sites have to cram in many potential and often competing triggers to drive action and speed up access to the endpoint.

User tolerance levels for online shopping are very tough to meet, plus you are catering to a variety of audience awareness and trust.

Ocado manages to build in quick access CTAs, clear trust signals, and simple steps to purchase without cluttering the page or pulling the user into conflicting directions.

Ocado home pageScreenshot from ocado.com, November 2024

23. Trivago

Comparison websites can feel like a bombardment of CTAs and promotional offers.

The Trivago homepage provides a relaxed, easy, and intuitive approach to booking that removes some of the complexity and time for the user.

Trivago home pageScreenshot from trivago.co.uk, November 2024

24. eBay

From a data-driven and personalization stance, sites like eBay need to be present in the best examples of homepages.

Data is at the center of the design choices and content provisions and is frequently refined to bring the user closer to their perfect next buy, whether they are aware of it yet or not.

ebay home pageScreenshot from ebay.co.uk, November 2024

25. Imgur

Everything on this homepage shouts out fun, interaction, and enjoyment. Its core functionality is to make things simple to click, watch, and engage.

Yes, there is some quite intrusive advertising, but there is also an element of new audiences meeting nostalgia here with the early age of the internet ad space.

imgur home pageScreenshot from imgur.com, November 2024

What Should A Homepage Include?

First and foremost, the homepage needs to represent your brand values and proposition. Reinforcing the unique culture of your business and supporting brand recognition.

This is achieved through every piece of content, imagery, and prioritization of messaging on the page.

As your shop window, you need to present the most relevant messaging and CTAs that will resonate with your audience and drive them to click further into your website content and their unique conversion journey.

Visual elements should be of high quality, not competing with other on-page items, and making it simple for people and search engines to understand the core purpose of your site and what your brand represents.

Trust should be set from the outset. This includes star ratings and brand narrative through case studies and related social proof.

Your homepage needs to set out the key content assets and products/services that are the cornerstone of your business.

As with all pages on the site, the user experience is of even greater importance to the homepage. Their engagement should be fast, intuitive, and accessible for all content and devices.

And while there are other areas too, don’t forget to have readily available contact details that reinforce the brand identity, personality, and company values.

A Homepage Is A Showcase And A Signal Of Trust

The homepage is often the first interaction users have with your brand, serving as a critical entry point for visitors.

Your homepage is your shop window, showcasing your most valuable content and differentiating your brand from competitors while guiding users toward taking their first actions on your website.

There are many key functions that a homepage plays, including:

  • First Impressions: Creating an impactful introduction to the brand.
  • User Journeys: Drives visitors into conversion funnels.
  • Content Discovery: Helps users find products and services fast.
  • Incentives: Highlights promotions to encourage clicks and engagement.
  • Trust Building: Builds expertise and authority through social proof and related trust signals.
  • Comprehensive Coverage: Addresses topics without dedicated pages as a catch-all for search and users.
  • Audience Resonance: Reflects brand positioning and core values.

There are many essential components of a successful homepage, lots of which can be seen in the 25 best examples of homepages shared in this post.

To recap them, you should be thinking practically about:

  • Brand Representation: Clearly showcase your brand values and unique culture through the content and imagery you provide.
  • Relevant Messaging and CTAs: Prioritize calls to action that resonate with the audience, but limit them to a maximum of three to avoid conflicting attention demands.
  • High-Quality Visuals: Make sure that all visuals enhance understanding without competing for attention, and that they are unique and of high quality.
  • Trust Signals: Include reviews and ratings, case studies, and social proof from the outset so people can see a clear association with your existing and target audience types.
  • Key Content Assets: Highlight essential products and services that are cornerstones of your business offering.
  • User Experience: Focus on fast, intuitive, and accessible navigation and content in all its forms and for all devices.
  • Contact Information: Give easily accessible contact details to reinforce brand identity.

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Featured Image: eamesBot/Shutterstock

Demand Intelligence: Empower Your Strategies With Actionable Data via @sejournal, @alexanderkesler

In the context of B2B marketing, demand intelligence is a consolidation of data from various sources filtered through an actionable lens to provide critical insights.

This data can be utilized to anticipate client demand and implement targeted strategies to engage key stakeholders.

Simply put, demand intelligence enables marketing and sales teams to identify who is interested, why they are interested, and their likelihood to convert. Obtaining this data, however, can be challenging.

In this article, I will share best practices for sourcing, analyzing, and applying demand intelligence to maximize your return on investment (ROI).

The Importance Of Collecting Actionable Data And Leveraging It Effectively

The cost of missed opportunities due to outdated or incomplete data can quickly reach millions. Consider the time and resources invested in campaigns that target obsolete leads or contacts with limited information.

With prospect data averaging a lifespan of just nine months – often due to frequent job and title changes – relying on old data is a waste of both time and effort.

Only 16% of the marketers interviewed for our own 2024 market research utilize advanced buyer and account intelligence to inform their sales and marketing strategies.

This reveals a significant opportunity to leverage data to pinpoint the right accounts and personas – those who are truly qualified for your solutions – for more effective outreach.

To drive demand performance, sales and marketing teams need up-to-date, actionable data that accurately reflects the buyer’s behavior and preferences in their purchase journey.

Without this insight, nurture campaigns will fail to hit the mark, leaving prospects to disappear from your sales funnel entirely and, often, cause them to switch to a competitor.

What Is Actionable Data?

Consider actionable data as real-time insights that reveal prospect intent, behavior, and preferences, while also supporting predictive analytics.

This type of data provides valuable takeaways about prospects, helping you identify their pain points and tailor your outreach effectively.

With accurate and timely information, you can craft messaging that resonates with current prospect challenges and drive engagement for your solutions.

Sources of demand intelligence include:

  • Technographic data: Identifying prospect technologies to uncover opportunities for increasing your tech wallet share.
  • Engagement data: Insights from website interactions, blog activity, social media, and email communications.
  • Buyer personas and key account profiles: Detailed profiles of existing target audiences, decision-makers, and key accounts.
  • Buyer intent data: Behavioral cues, such as frequent searches or downloads related to specific solutions, indicating a readiness to purchase or, at least, buyer interest in your solutions.
  • Analysis of successful conversions: Examining the behaviors and patterns of successful conversions to inform future demand intelligence.
  • Average deal size and revenue: The average deal size can act as a benchmark for future sales opportunities.
  • Client lifetime value (CLTV): Client success teams can identify the common characteristics of prospects that generate the highest long-term revenue.

The key is to unify these diverse data sources into an intelligent demand system – one that reveals where engagement is happening in the funnel and via which channel, in order to predict where it is likely to occur in the future.

This approach holds immense potential for organizations to fuel precise and timely engagement strategies that drive meaningful results – because they can engage the appropriate buyers with the most relevant messaging at the optimal time.

How To Collect Demand Intelligence Data

Building your proprietary database enables you to track market behaviors and trends, and develop strategies to address them effectively.

The best sources of information for your database include:

  • First-party data: Information collected directly from your channels, including your website, social media, events, and customer relationship management (CRM) analytics.
  • Data partners: Verified data partners can provide access to valuable first-party intent, behavioral, and technographic data.
  • Client-facing teams: Insights from your sales, marketing, and client success teams offer valuable first-hand perspectives on existing clients.
  • Community engagement: Utilize social listening and sentiment analysis tools to understand what clients say online and gather insights from reviews.
  • Surveys and feedback: Directly ask clients about their needs and pain points to inform your outreach and refine your solutions.

Enhance these insights by analyzing industry benchmarks and competitor reports that align with your target audience. If your budget permits, consider investing in the expertise of external specialists.

Combining these resources will help you develop a comprehensive demand intelligence profile.

How To Build A Framework For Collecting, Analyzing, And Applying Demand Intelligence

Below is a three-step framework to develop your demand intelligence strategy:

1. Build A Database Primed For Demand Intelligence

Your first step in leveraging demand intelligence as a growth driver is to gather insights from across your organization and create a secure, centralized dataset in a tool like your CRM or data warehouse.

The goal is to establish a unified view of your prospect and account data that can be easily accessed by your client-facing teams.

Focus on essential campaign-driving information like pain points and intent data, which can be tested to refine your demand intelligence.

Intent signals can be a valuable addition because they help marketers understand prospect behavior to enable the tailoring of services more precisely to buyer needs.

Before testing your dataset, you will need to perform some housekeeping:

  • Leverage automated data cleansing software or AI to identify duplicates and errors.
  • Set up filters and criteria to highlight actionable factors, such as budget range and buying group size.
  • Enrich your data with synthetic, or stand-in data, where necessary.
  • Ensure your data practices comply with regional privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.

2. Launch, Analyze, And Adjust

Launch a short-term campaign to test your first dataset and validate your existing demand intelligence sources, filters, and criteria. For example, this can be in the form of an awareness campaign via email and social media.

You will need to set up processes to ensure data flows into your analytics, not only to measure the results but to enable continuous assessment and improve the quality of your demand intelligence.

This can be done by:

  • Gating content with forms.
  • Creating UTM tracking links.
  • Using heatmaps to measure website engagement.
  • Sending email touches through your CRM.

Once your test campaign is complete, analyze the results to refine your data further. It is also worth adopting processes to gain feedback directly from your audience, such as through surveys or sales team outreach.

Focus on KPIs and metrics that will help the organization achieve its GTM and growth goals, such as:

  • Conversion rate.
  • Engagement metrics such as downloads, click-through rates, web traffic, bounce rate, and social engagement.
  • Buying group engagement on an account level.
  • Opportunities generated.
  • Sales or demo bookings.
  • Satisfaction scores (NPS, CSAT).

3. Continuous Optimization

Once you have your campaign results, translate them into actionable insights to inform ongoing marketing and sales strategies.

Processes that can be adopted for this purpose include:

  • Keyword and topic analysis: Identify the themes and discussions that generate the most interest among your prospects.
  • Engagement timing and frequency: Track engagement to understand interaction patterns and plan strategies accordingly.
  • Buyer’s journey assessment: Analyze the buyer’s journey and evaluate how prospect behavior aligns with it. Consider potential areas for improvement.
  • Effective content touchpoints: Identify which touchpoints are most effective in driving discussions among decision-makers in buying groups.

Adjust your strategy with targeted changes to your messaging and UVP, tracking the impact to refine further. It is better to make select, strategic changes that can then be monitored to assess performance.

Three areas of improvement to prioritize are:

  • Maintaining an updated database: Regularly assess the quality of your data and its relevance to your organizational goals to ensure it remains current and useful.
  • Refining buyer intelligence collection: Continuously improve your data collection methods based on insights gained, feedback received, and any changes in your objectives or technology.
  • Fostering organizational alignment: Share and align data across teams to promote collaboration and innovation within the organization.

Done well, demand campaigns have immense potential to amplify an organization’s bottom line. The goal of demand intelligence is to optimize strategies to better engage, nurture, and convert buyers – no matter where they are in their journey.

Businesses focusing on demand generation are better equipped to navigate the complexities of the evolving B2B landscape and drive sustained revenue growth.

Key Takeaways

  • Prioritize first-party data: Actionable data from owned channels and partners will help you to better understand and anticipate client demand.
  • Gain feedback from client-facing teams: Unique and timely client insights can be sourced from your own teams to guide your demand strategies.
  • Build a clean database: Focus on essential campaign-driving insights, such as client pain points, intent, and account information, while avoiding unactionable data points to not bloat your database.
  • Test, analyze, repeat: Continuously update your database to reflect evolving audience needs and the value of your demand intelligence.

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Featured Image: Viktoria Kurpas/Shutterstock