Using capability maturity models to audit your digital maturity and set targets to improve digital marketing effectiveness
We've been adding to our visual tools to help all members assess how well their businesses are adapting to using digital media and technology and to set targets to improve their results from digital marketing.
[si_blog_banner_cta]
3 different types of benchmarking
We have collected these visuals together in a single download so that you can easily review them and print the most relevant for you. We've designed them So members can use them for different scales of business and roles. There are more than 10 templates which cover:
Digital marketing for small and medium businesses using our RACE framework
Digital transformation for larger businesses
Digital channel marketing activities including SEO, Social media, email and content marketing
You can see one example, which I designed for reviewing digital marketing effectiveness with senior leaders in small and medium…
Manufacturers are rapidly adapting their marketing strategies in the age of digital disruption. How do your digital marketing capabilities compare?
In this article, I will be reviewing the state of digital transformation in the manufacturing sector. I will give practical digital marketing recommendations for manufacturing companies at different stages of digital maturity. Plus, I'll be revisiting our popular 2021 digital marketing maturity benchmarking report to help you assess the effectiveness of your manufacturing marketing.
The manufacturing industry, including the marketing of manufacturing products, has typically been slow in its approach to digital transformation over the last 20 years. There are many reasons for this. McKinsey highlights 'external market factors, combined with fragmented and complex industry dynamics and an overall aversion to risk' in construction as barriers to change in this vital area.
However, the digital disruption caused…
Good digital marketing isn't just about creating content, you also need to review your performance to see where it can be improved
How often do you review your marketing performance?
Creating great content for the various channels you use for your marketing campaign, whether they be social networks, your website or blog, or any other channel you’re using to connect with your audience, isn’t really enough to get you results.
[si_monthly_campaign_blog_cta_banner id=160114]
The only way to continue growing and evolving is to constantly improve and optimize your marketing strategies. In order to do this, you need to review your marketing performance, consistently.
Our Content Marketing Learning Path supports members to plan their approach and increase the effectiveness of their content marketing activities with practical skills development and resources to measure and benchmark their success.
[si_learning_path_module_shortcode_block id=149911]
In this blog post, discover why reviewing marketing performance should be at the top of your priority list in 2021.
When…
Our summary of sessions from #Effweek: Using a more insight-driven approach for marketing
This week I attended the main session of the IPA-arranged #Effweek, which is aimed at sharing best practices on improving marketing effectiveness. In this article I'll cover the main themes, report on the new effectiveness research unveiled at the event and give examples from FMCG brands, financial services and telecoms of how effectiveness is managed.
The theme of the conference was how to use evidence-based decision-making in our marketing investments to improve value for our customers and business outcomes, particularly for media investments.
Now in its second year, the conference theme was closely linked to what we aim to support marketers in achieving through Smart Insights, i.e. harnessing marketing insight to make better decisions by moving from reporting to learning, which is nicely summarised by this Insight-driven marketing visual from the Marketing…
Google reveals its 'secret formula' to how they plan, manage and optimize
In August Google launched re:Work, an initiative to share their management tools - such as how to run and set up meetings and setting goals.
It is more HR than marketing orientated but it is a vital process of any business - and we wanted to cover OKRs - a technique relevant to marketers which we explain below. If you go to the site you will see that Google have split their tools and guides into 4 sections: Hiring, Managers, People Analytics, and Unbiasing.
This type of 'behind the scenes' work is often overlooked but is a necessary process in any organization.
What has been released cover basic management process and tools, but as the Harvard Business Review have noted in their review of re:Work:
"Basic management practices…
How does the digital maturity of your business compare?
Although digital marketing cannot be called new with the advent of the web now over 25 years old, this new research from Adobe shows that relatively few companies have mastered digital marketing. Only 19% of North American organizations and 7% of European organizations rate their digital maturity as “Advanced” when reviewing processes, data integration and technical skills.
Digital maturity definitions from the research shown in the figure are.
Advanced: Data mostly integrated, best practices generally followed, automation common, strong technical skills
Focused: Data and processes somewhat integrated, automation common, solid and expanding technical skills
Emergent: Basic data integration, some automation, growing technical capacity
Nonexistent: Limited data in silos, no automation, low technical capacity
This pattern of a low-level of maturity is similar to that we…
Discover your business's ability to Plan, Reach, Act, Convert and Engage
Applying the many digital channels and technologies to your business is no easy task. The industry moves fast, and there are a large number of different disciplines to master (see our list of the top 20 digital marketing skills). Email marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Conversion Rate Optimisation, the list goes on, and each one requires a very different set of skills and awareness of the success factors for different platforms.
Amongst the many different skills we need to master for digital marketing, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture of how a business is using digital marketing to compete. Our research shows that many businesses don't have a digital marketing plan, so knowing how to structure a plan can be difficult.
To help provide a structure for creating a strategy, when Smart Insights first launched, we developed this Excel digital…
Guidelines and research on how businesses can create a digital strategy
So, you know the importance of digital marketing is increasing all the time and you’re actively using it, trying to integrate it with your other marketing activities. Where next? How high can you reach? How about aiming high? Your competitors may well be. Can you reach digital nirvana?!
In 2015 we have updated our 7 Steps to Digital Marketing infographic to share the latest research from businesses who contributed to our Digital Marketing 2015 research report.
We hope you find the infographic useful and it helps you a little on your journey to improvement or even enlightenment, one step at a time!
To help you take the first steps, the first part of the infographic links to these articles explaining key techniques to kickstart your digital marketing
SWOT analysis for the digital…
Benchmarking digital marketing capabilities for your business or your clients against these success factors
The contribution of digital marketing to your bottom line is dependent on whether you have the right capabilities in place, to manage all of the digital touchpoints. But which capabilities are important, which do you need to review? Last year, James Carson and Dave Chaffey identified these in our Managing Digital Transformation Guide for Expert members illustrated in the top-level capability review visual below.
By Digital Marketing Capabilities we are referring to reviewing 7 core capabilities which are strategic approach, performance improvement process, management buy-in, resourcing and structure, data and infrastructure, integrated customer communications and customer experience. You can see that the first four, A-D are around process and management for digital marketing with E-G focused on the tactics to reach and engage audiences.
How do businesses compare - how advanced…
5 things we can learn from the Santa brand
Now, if you’re looking for tips on marketing, the big man in red may not be the obvious place to start. But look behind the bushy beard and you’ll see an astute marketer who has some smart tips to share on making Christmas a roaring success
1. He plans ahead
Those toys don’t all appear by magic on Christmas Eve. When the reindeer are all back in their stable, on Christmas Day, he and the elves have a confab about what worked and what they could do better next year. Now for marketers in the real world, this conversation probably needs to happen in January when everyone’s back in the office, and there are some stats to review. But the principle is still the same.
2. He knows his target audience
Santa has a…
