An effective digital marketing strategy requires the right tools and technologies. However, using too many different marketing tools can create issues like data silos, wasted budgets and inefficient workflows. Streamlining your marketing tech stack can solve these problems. To begin, identify which marketing channels and functions require technology to support them. This may include your website, email marketing, social media, paid ads, CRM, analytics and automation. Next, list all the different tools and platforms you currently use across those marketing functions. Audit each tool for its functionality, feature set, data integration and cost. Then, determine which tools are truly indispensable based on how

While income from sales transactions will always be important, digital marketers are increasingly recognizing the need to provide value beyond just making sales. Customers now expect brands to offer relevant and useful information that improves their lives. To begin with, customers have more options than ever before. If your brand only talks about your products and promotions, customers will tune out and turn elsewhere. However, by providing valuable information and resources, you distinguish your brand as a helpful partner. Furthermore, valuable brand content unrelated to sales can earn customers' trust over time. When customers do have a need, they'll be more likely

A/B testing involves comparing two versions of a digital marketing element like a webpage, video, ad or email to determine which performs better according to key metrics. Using this technique can optimize the effectiveness of your digital efforts. How A/B Testing Works With A/B testing, you create two versions of a piece of digital content - Version A and Version B. These versions may differ in minor textual elements like headlines, captions, calls to action or button text. Or they may have more substantial visual differences like alternative page layouts, various product images or different types of videos. You then expose

As consumers increasingly prioritize sustainability and eco-friendly products, leveraging brands' positive environmental impact through 'green marketing' strategies is poised to become an essential component of digital marketing in 2023. Here are factors driving the rise of sustainability marketing and strategies brands can adopt. The Rise of Sustainability Values Multiple consumer trends point to sustainability gaining prominence as a factor in purchasing decisions over traditional product attributes like price and quality. Recent surveys find a majority of consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. Sustainability also ranks as one of the top reasons consumers choose certain

'Dark social sharing' refers to content that is privately distributed by users through channels like messaging apps, emails and file transfers instead of public social media platforms. This type of sharing is now a significant portion of overall social media traffic, prompting new strategies for digital marketers in the coming year. What is Dark Social Sharing? Traditional social networks only measure sharing that occurs publicly within their own platforms. However, extensive content sharing also happens privately through channels they cannot track. This 'dark social' sharing encompasses messaging app forwarding, comments shared over text messages and content emailed or transferred between users.