It’s an excellent time for digital marketing, but sometimes teams can get worn-out and lose creativity. In any business, it’s necessary to revamp the people in your company from time to time. This article will run down some general ideas on quickly jump-starting your digital marketing team’s creativity.
The digital marketing economy is three-times faster than the GDP of the USA. So, wake up your squad because the time is ripe and success is near-by. Let’s jump right in!
1. Refresh and update
Ensure your squad is up to date with the industry’s latest news, strategies, and tools. Organize a seminar to refresh your team’s skills and expertise. Propose a couple of relevant resources and websites they could follow to stay informed. Also, cover the fundamentals and not just last-hour news as some employees might have knowledge gaps.
All major social media platforms change their algorithms and advertisement policy rather often. It’s essential to have a team that’s informed about similar variations in all major online platforms. So, start with a general refresh about recent trends and technology that might aid in the future.
There are a couple of websites your team should undoubtedly follow. For example, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) sites like SEOGadget and Search Engine Land are good contenders to keep informed.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) websites like PPC Hero are useful, just like content-related media such as Hubspot. Finally, Social Media Today and Social Media Examiner are all-inclusive resources relating to social media.
2. Introduce new talent
New hires, whether organic or outsourced, can breathe new life into your company. Experienced candidates can contribute with their know-how and secrets of the trade. At the same time, inexperienced applicants are fresh on the fundamentals and full of contagious aspirations.
Even assets that aren’t in your exact business model can prove valuable acquisitions for your venture. For instance, a writer from a buy assignment online firm may prove very useful when devising new content. Although he’s not specialized in digital marketing, a career writer has cumulated many skills that might propel you into a higher production standard.
Take Into account both veterans and newbies, pair them with existing long-runners, and watch the creativity magic happen.
3. Brainstorming sessions
Free-thinking methods such as brainstorming are useful strategies to help produce many ideas in a short amount of time. It may not be the most well-organized strategy, but it’s a great technique to warm up your team and start productive conversations.
The beautiful thing about brainstorming sessions is that it takes one or two ideas to inspire others to start an innovative project. You could end up with several unpolished gems that can give your brand the recognition it needs in the future.
Consider holding the sessions more often, as opposed to longer. And avoid pressuring your team with deadlines or psychological stress. Make everybody speak, and don’t turn the session into a dull, monologue-based meeting.
4. Spy on the competition
Monitoring your competitors is a must-do for virtually every business. It’s an incredible way to track-down innovations and effective practices:
- Discover their keywords/keyphrases through apps like SpyFu;
- Use AccuRanker to track progress against your competition;
- Identify their most shared content through BuzzSumo and similar;
- Stay ahead of competitors by using notifications such as Google Alerts;
- Track new links of your contenders through LinkResearchTool and insert the URL through Majestic to create an outreach list for associated domains;
- Supervise your competitor’s social media activity manually or through applications like Hootsuite.
5. Automate menial tasks
Small tasks take time to resolve and cost energy to perform, so why not automate them? AI-powered apps such as Chatbots can take a massive load off your team. They’ll be able to concentrate on more complicated tasks and save mental resources.
Furthermore, ensure your team has everything it needs for efficient content creation. For instance, some WordPress plugins can speed-up the process and make work easier. Professionals worry more about optimization than the content itself. You can change this by automating wherever possible.
6. New tools and metrics
Ask your team straightforwardly if they have all the tools they need. Also, evaluate if your business has all the necessary metric indicators for the market you’re in. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are fundamental to track campaign performance. Custom-made KPIs are easier to follow but may require some investment on your part to design such apps. In any case, here are some fundamental metrics to remember when evaluating your data-driven equipment:
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV);
- Click-Through Rate (CRT);
- Lead Conversion Rate (LCR);
- Online Conversion Rates (OCR);
- Returning viewers;
- Traffic leads;
- Estimated cost per lead;
- Brand image/awareness;
- Website traffic sources.
7. Domestic cross-pollination
Gather all your assets and ask everybody for their input. Consider switching up for a few days and pair colleagues from different departments. Distinct perspectives could devise modern solutions to old problems. For instance, customer service representatives could have valuable feedback for the marketing department and vice-versa.
Cross-platform content
A similar concept also exists for content. People use more than one social media website. You’ll frequently need a post to become successful on one website before gaining traction on another website. Sort of like success breeds success.
Cross-platform followers
The same goes for subscriptions: followers on one social media website are more likely to become friends on other platforms. That’s why cross-pollination is significant. It allows professionals from different departments to devise hybrid strategies to get the best from both worlds.
Digital marketing teams need a boost once in a while. Consider refreshing and updating your team’s work methods. Hire new talent to add fresh perspective and pair different departments together for specific projects. Brainstorm often, spy on your competition and automate menial tasks to improve productivity. Lastly, verify you have the right tools and metrics for the long run.
