SEO
How upskilling your paid advertising skills will tackle economic downturns
30-second summary:
- Marketing budgets are often the first to be slashed in a downturn – upskilling your existing team with digital marketing techniques can provide huge efficiencies and minimize the impact of cuts
- Creating an upskilling program does not need to be expensive or time-consuming if a well-thought-out strategy is adopted and results are constantly measured
- Nurturing your own in-house talent pool also increases business resilience, improves marketing innovation and creativity, and reduces reliance on third-party operators
- Choosing the right skills for your team to acquire depends both on your immediate goals and long-term business strategy – done right you can steal a march on your competitors
- Sarah Gilchriest, Global COO of Circus Street, discusses the key skills brands need to cultivate to stay competitive during an economic downturn
We’re entering what is likely to be a pretty tough global recession. As consumer sentiment worsens, brands will increasingly look at ways they can cut costs to protect their bottom line. Unfortunately, we all know that marketing is usually one of the first budgets to be slashed.
It is seemingly much easier to stop a campaign or give an agency notice than it is to sack a developer or reduce infrastructure costs. However, more often than not, cutting marketing is a false economy that worsens the impact of a downturn by slowing a company’s growth. So, is there a way for brands to instead maximize their digital marketing output while also freezing or reducing costs?
The answer may be found in upskilling.
Training while cutting costs?
Now, your first reaction may be that training programs are expensive luxuries that make little sense if your goal is to cut costs. There are a few things to unpack here –
- Size and scope of training matter. You can make an outsized impact by training one or two individuals who then share their knowledge with their wider team. The right strategy (which I’ll discuss further below) can lead to a highly targeted program that gives the most critical skills to those who will be best placed to use them immediately.
- Next, there are a lot of freely available supporting resources that can significantly reduce costs and help to embed learning.
- Finally, let’s put costs in perspective. The ROI on a well-executed training scheme pays for itself and the initial outlay pales in comparison to most other business functions. Put simply, you get a lot of bang for your buck.
Why paid advertising skills?
Paid advertising makes a lot of sense to focus on for a number of reasons. Generally, compared to other marketing fields, paid advertising is characterized by the sheer diversity of skills and techniques needed to fully execute a campaign. It is incredibly fast-moving and often requires you to leverage a number of different tech platforms. Consequently, many brands outsource this functionality to a network of agencies and freelancers. Those that don’t usually rely on one or two individual ‘power users’ or worse, skills are haphazardly spread among a range of departments leading to bottlenecks and single points of failure.
As such, digital advertising is usually the prime area where efficiencies, greater innovation, and marketing effectiveness can occur via upskilling. It is where your business can do much more for less.
Identifying the right skills
Getting the right skill mix is where the rubber meets the road. A mixture of creativity, data analysis, platform knowledge, development techniques, and marketing expertise are all needed. To get started the best approach is to fully understand what capability your team has in-house. The crucial element is to remember that a lot of ability might be hidden because it is not used on a day-to-day basis. You would be surprised at how quickly a business ‘forgets’ about the previous experiences of team members after they have been hired.
Auditing team skills should expand beyond the marketing department
You don’t know what gems are lurking in other areas of your business until you start to look. This is also the perfect opportunity to identify both the potential of your employees to acquire new skills and also their individual aspirations. It is much easier to upskill someone who has a professional and personal investment in learning that particular expertise. The audit itself does not need to be complex – a simple matrix that enables people to categorize their proficiency and outline the areas where they would like to develop will suffice.
When you know what you have to work with, then it’ll become much easier to define the best way forward. Deciding the best skill mix comes down to first working out how to fulfill your most immediate needs. For example, taking a costly service in-house, plugging a weakness – where a team member’s departure would severely hamper your ability to function, or obvious gaps in ability that prevent you from undertaking certain digital advertising activities.
Build on the compatibility between your employee’s aspirations and your commercial objectives
This is then overlaid by areas where your marketing output can most obviously be improved and your future aspirations in line with your commercial objectives. For example, if in the future you want to more heavily target users on particular social media platforms or ‘exotic’ platforms like IoT devices and digital boards. Perhaps you can see the financial benefits of adopting headless CMS tech and would like to put in place the skills needed to make that transition after the recession. Maybe you want your team to have the insight to tell you whether the Metaverse has any potential for your business.
This may sound complex but once you get started the hierarchy of skills you need more often than not becomes very obvious. Remember, one of upskilling’s great strengths is its flexibility – if your needs change or you feel you have chosen the wrong skills – it’s very easy to change track.
Getting started in a cost-efficient way
How you train your team is very much up to individual preferences – everyone learns in different ways. Speaking to your employees and specialists will enable you to build a tailored teaching structure. It can be a combination of in-house learning, online tutorials, accredited programs, or book learning. You do not have to go all in on a full program straight away. Piloting can remove a lot of the risk. Start small – one team or a handful of individuals from across your company – and continually assess the impact.
A mistake to avoid
A common mistake businesses make is they wait too long to get their team to use their new knowledge. This can hold up the process and damage ROI. The best way to embed new skills is to apply them. Ensure that your team has an opportunity to practice their newfound expertise on real initiatives. Then keep a close eye on your business metrics – including team and customer feedback – to determine the impact. Unlike many other departments, digital marketing can have very clear outputs. This will let you know quite quickly if it is working. From there, you can decide on how to roll out your training scheme.
Marketing doesn’t end with the marketers
As I’ve mentioned, diversifying the skillset of your team builds resilience and promotes more innovation. The reason is simple, if you only have marketing skills in your marketing department, you are naturally limiting the number of people who can provide useful insights that fuel innovation. You reduce oversight and feedback loops, and your marketing output will suffer from a lack of outside perspectives.
By making your teams multidisciplinary and cross-functional you can spread useful skills throughout your business. Customer service teams can learn the fundamentals of digital marketing, marketers know how to do the basic dev and data work to enable their day-to-day, and your data teams can think like marketers if they need to.
Preparing for the worst doesn’t mean losing capabilities
If the worst does happen and you do need to make cuts to your team, having key skills shared across your business means that the damage to core functions will be limited.
To finish – I should highlight that much of what I’ve discussed applies equally to business owners as it does to individual freelancers. A downturn can be a daunting prospect if you are a sole trader. Upskilling can be one of the best ways to increase your value to clients now and future-proof your business.
If you have seen business drop off, the time you now have available could be best dedicated to more training. This may sound obvious, but a mistake many people make in their careers is failing to adapt to how demand for skills can quickly change or technology can come along that makes them obsolete. Adding more skill strings to you and your company’s bow is never a bad thing.
Sarah Gilchriest is the Global COO of Circus Street.
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SEO
LinkedIn Rolls Out 4 Updates For Business Pages
LinkedIn is rolling out an array of new features for business pages.
These updates can help you showcase your business’s brand identity, values, and offerings while utilizing advanced publishing and community-building tools.
Learn how these innovative features can enhance your LinkedIn marketing efforts.
1. Update To Scheduled Posts
One of the new features lets you plan your business page posts up to three months ahead for steady interaction with followers.
Available now on desktop, this feature will come to mobile soon.
2. Audio Events
LinkedIn is introducing live, audio-only discussions, eliminating reliance on external broadcasting applications.
Screenshot from: LinkedIn, March 2023.This versatile, casual approach fosters audience connections and can position your organization as an industry authority.
Listeners can engage in the discussion through emojis and request to speak if they wish to contribute verbally.
3. Automatic Job Posting
For businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees, LinkedIn now offers an automatic job posting feature.
Screenshot from: LinkedIn, March 2023.Once activated, the platform will automatically share one open role daily as a pre-scheduled post. The posts can be edited after they’re shared.
The feature excludes what LinkedIn categorizes as “basic jobs.”
4. Following Pages As A Page
LinkedIn Pages can now follow other Pages, making it easier to join chats related to your field with a feed dedicated to content from the businesses you’re following.
This feature aims to help businesses work together, share ideas, and create strong online communities of professionals.
In Summary
LinkedIn’s latest features for business pages offer new options to share content, connect with people, attract new talent, and keep up with industry chatter.
By leveraging these tools, you can improve your B2B marketing efforts and strengthen your online presence.
SEO
Top 3 Ways To Build Authority By Going Beyond Just Link Building
You want your online business to thrive. One of the best ways to do this is to establish website authority – and the key to successful authority building is to increase trust with your audience.
With the rise of AI tools, you must publish high-quality content that stands out from your competition, who may be using tools like ChatGPT.
On March 15, I moderated a webinar with Sabrina Hipps, VP of Partner Development, and Jeremy Rivera, Director of Content Analysis at CopyPress.
Hipps and Rivera demonstrated how content promotion, link building, and authentic subject matter expertise could help you rank higher on SERPs and elevate your online authority.
Here’s a summary of the webinar. To access the entire presentation, complete the form.
1. Create Unique Content With First-Hand Experience – Avoid AI, The “Fancy Parrot”
In the world of content creation, where good content creators are showing their expertise, there are certain key things AI can’t do.
- AI can’t have first-person experience. They can’t think for themselves the same way humans can.
- If the AI follows a generative model, and it can’t yet distinguish the truth. If you fact-check some of the information, you’ll find it doesn’t exist.
The counter to AI content is unique content that shows this truth, expertise, and first-hand experience.
[Learn how this helps build your authority] Instantly access the webinar →
2. Highlight Quality Authorship
High-quality content encompasses everything from accuracy and mistake-free writing to clearly displaying expertise.
Ensure Your Content Is Error-Free
In many cases, low-quality content, or posts with false information and repetitive issues, can lead to being devalued on SERPs or accidentally containing duplicate content.
Add More “E” To EAT – Experience
The Issue: To combat low-quality SERPs, Google seeks first-hand experience.
The Solution: Invite a subject matter expert to review the content, check for factual inaccuracies, and add that extra layer of expertise to the content.
Bridge The Write ≠ Expertise Gap
The Issue: It’s important to recognize that the ability to write is not synonymous with expertise; just because someone can write doesn’t mean they are accurate or a subject matter expert.
The Solution: Try pairing a subject matter expert with a strong writer who can interview and interject quotes helps build better content.
Ask Questions
The Issue: Sometimes, you may not have the in-house subject matter experts you need for a piece of content.
The Solution: Conduct outreach to gather expertise to boost your content quality. First, consider what your audience wants to know. Then, generate three to ten questions to ask a professional.
[Learn a tactic that works] Instantly access the webinar →
Tap Social Media
The Issue: Where do you find the professionals you need to interview for your next piece of high-expertise content?
The Solution: With so many experts creating on social media, it’s a great platform to leverage. Here are essential outreach steps you can do:
- Observe.
- Participate.
- Engage.
- Network.
Doing this can also be considered link-building in another sense. Because link building is marketing, and marketing is about building relationships.
Find Allies Who Are Also Targeting Your Audience
Combining outreach efforts with the Nexus approach helps you create relationships and connections beyond just the link.
[Learn what the Nexus approach is] Instantly access the webinar →
3. Use Other Authority Builders, In Addition To Links
One way to increase brand queries is through influencers, knowledge panel (which becomes part of a brand’s search results), and mentions.
To increase mentions:
- Use HARO & Terkel.
- Publish unique industry data.
- Do something distinctive that stands out.
- Connect with publishers with significant traffic, not for links but for visibility & mentions.
- Leverage influencers and industry experts.
[BONUS: Get a step-by-step branded keyword strategy] Instantly access the webinar →
At the end of the day, when you publish unique, relevant, and authoritative content, it gets referenced and cited by others.
[Slides] Discover The Top 3 Ways To Build Authority By Going Beyond Just Link Building
Here’s the presentation:
Join Us For Our Next Webinar!
Google Shopping: 5 Ways AI Can Increase Ecommerce Sales and Profit
Join Malin Blomberg, CEO of Bidbrain and Google Shopping expert, as she shares the best hacks for digital marketers and ecommerce business owners to maximize conversion value.
Image Credits:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
SEO
Microsoft Introduces Category-Based Targeting For Search Ads
Microsoft has unveiled a new approach to search advertising that aims to help businesses more effectively reach their target audiences in the retail media space.
This innovative category-based targeting solution aims to address the limitations of traditional keyword targeting while leveraging the power of keywords to optimize campaign performance.
Moving Beyond Keyword Targeting
Although keyword targeting has been a cornerstone of search advertising for years, it has limitations.
By focusing solely on keyword targeting, advertisers may miss out on valuable opportunities to promote their products, which can negatively impact a campaign’s performance and limit revenue potential.
Retailers and advertisers are beginning to realize that shoppers browse digital aisles on retailer websites rather than solely searching for specific products using keywords.
As a result, strategies limited to keyword targeting don’t adequately address their needs.
Unlocking The Power Of Category-Based Targeting
Microsoft’s new solution targets shoppers based on their browsing categories, utilizing keywords to boost campaign bids.
This approach allows advertisers to capitalize on both audience behaviors, resulting in a stronger performance.
By boosting bids with keywords, advertisers can increase their chances of converting purchase intent into sales.
Retailers can optimize the site experience for shoppers through product taxonomy, making it easier for customers to find what they want.
Microsoft PromoteIQ’s AI-driven algorithms can then deliver more relevant ads by layering keywords as a booster in addition to categories.
This new approach simplifies campaign management for advertisers, as they only need to test and retain a few high-performing keywords.
For retailers, this efficiency translates into increased demand.
Proven Results: Higher CTR & RPM
Tests have shown that this unique solution delivers impressive results.
Campaigns that utilize category-based targeting and boost bids by keywords have a 320% higher click-through rate (CTR) than campaigns without keyword bid boosting.
Retailers also benefit from this approach, achieving 8x higher revenue per thousand impressions (RPM).
The Future Of Search Advertising?
Microsoft PromoteIQ’s new category-based targeting solution is a significant shift in search advertising.
By addressing the limitations of traditional keyword targeting and maximizing the value of both audience behaviors, this innovative approach can potentially improve performance for advertisers and retailers alike.
As the advertising landscape continues to evolve, embracing solutions like this is crucial for staying ahead and delivering an exceptional shopping experience for customers.
Featured Image: sockagphoto/Shutterstock
Source: Microsoft
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