Elevate’s Digital Marketing team came together in full force for a live Q&A webinar recently. Taking the stand was Shannan Peters – Elevate’s Head of Marketing, Gareth Duddington – Elevate’s Digital Marketing Specialist, and Jess Quinn – Elevate’s Digital Marketing Executive.
With 16 years of strategic marketing, communication and stakeholder relations experience, Shannan is a marketing generalist with a passion for helping organisations succeed. Packing away over 10 years of dedicated digital marketing experience, Gareth has seen the digital marketing industry grow and evolve. With experience in the digital marketing space, Jess is up to date with all the trends, channels and latest changes.
During the live Q&A, Elevate clients, friends and industry colleagues asked questions that got us all thinking. From emerging trends, to industry-specific strategies, to UX, AI and bringing your c-suite on the journey, we covered some ground and have shared the highlights below. If you’d like to watch the full Q&A, catch the full webinar here.
How would you recommend bringing the C-Suite along on the business digital journey?
The best way we’ve found to bring C-suite decision makers on the journey is by using data and insights in a simple, and impactful way. We start with the business goals – not the marketing goals – and finding the right data story to tell.
For example, if your business goals are around growth, use digital data to show your customers’ online behaviour relating to your growth, insights and benchmarks. At Elevate, we use industry-leading tools to build dashboards for our clients to share with their C-suite. Our preferred platform is Google Looker Studio dashboards, which provide live 24/7 data, displayed in an easy-to-digest way. We also conduct digital audits to understand the efficacy of all digital channels and make best practice recommendations.
We recommend pairing your digital dashboards with regular presentations to your business decision makers and tell your data’s story, such as key findings, and opportunities, interesting insights and what they mean for the business. Even better, overlay your digital data with overall business performance to show the relevance and impact.
What are some emerging trends in digital marketing in the current marketing landscape?
Given its dynamic nature, there have been a lot of new developments in digital marketing over the last 12 months. In our opinion, the four most important trends that have emerged are artificial intelligence and machine learning, voice search optimisation, influencer marketing, and short form video content.
Why is it important to consider user experience?
We’ve just posted a blog on this, read it here! User experience is about identifying a problem and looking for the most streamlined approach to solve it. It is important to consider user experience as it determines the way that users interact with your brand. You want to ensure the experience is streamlined and effective and promotes feelings of positivity.
What are the most effective strategies for promoting fintech solutions in the digital space and reaching target audiences while overcoming challenges unique to the financial industry?
Australia’s fintech sector is exploding with so many products and tools on the market, making it a challenging sector to stand out in.
Firstly, your B2C, B2B and B2D (developers) digital strategies should ideally be customised to each audience group. At Elevate, we start our digital strategies by developing audience personas, and then develop persona-specific messaging, channels, and creative to each group. One of the biggest challenges we face in partnership with our tech clients, is how to tell big stories (i.e. everything your tech can/will do) in a relatable and engaging way, that wins the hearts and minds of your audiences.
We’re seeing more opportunities for fintech brands to develop a suite of audience-specific video content, a series for each audience group that quickly shows your tech’s UVP and how it will enrich lives, businesses etc. These videos would ideally be rolled out under a robust owned/earned/paid strategy to effectively reach your target markets and seek to raise your brand a) awareness b) education and c) adoption.
We’re also seeing success in building integrated sales and marketing workflows for our tech clients. I.e. attract their attention, offer a free trial, become a paid client, and then continue to nurture your customers as loyal brand advocates.
What impact has AI had on digital marketing?
AI is now able to predict consumer behaviour with a strong degree of probability by analysing large datasets and providing personalised experiences based on the patterns it has identified. AI is also automating the creative process. With just a few prompts it can streamline the whole process from ideation and creation, right through to execution.
What is it like doing digital marketing in an agency environment?
Agency life is a very dynamic, no two days are the same – and that’s the best part! We love delving deeper into our clients and really understanding what support they are looking for and the ways in which we can provide it! Our clients have very different goals as they are in very different industries, and the best part is understanding how we can optimise results for each industry.
What are your favourite tools that make your job easier?
We love using tools like SEMrush to help us conduct keyword research, PageSpeed Insights to help with our website audits, Canva and the Adobe Suite for creative collaboration and execution, and we love a good project management tool, like Notion, to help us keep on top of our deadlines and upcoming tasks.
How do I get my website to the top of Google?
By conducting SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) work on a consistent basis, you will give your website the best chance of ranking highly on Google. Some of the key steps to consider are: Identify your target keywords; Embed these keywords in your metadata; Provide content that is valuable to your audience; Target location-based queries; Optimise for mobile; Focus on UX (User Experience).
If you would like to discuss how to elevate your brand through digital marketing services, get in touch with Gareth at gareth@elevatecom.com.au today.
