In a message on the first page of the brochure, Brett says, “Welcome to. Adapt or die. Eat or be eaten. Move or be bulldozed. Learn what you need to know The Marketing Challenge or become obsolete.” For marketers who continue to struggle with the deluge of marketing automation tools and the changes associated with content marketing, those words may either paralyze them into thinking they’ll never change enough or scare them into accelerating their quest for relevancy.
Following Erin O’Brien, COO, and I discussed the adaptation of marketers, some other things we learned, and questions we heard at.
Adapt or Die
For marketers, as with professionals in any industry, adaptation is necessary and always has been. Although the marketing ecosystem is changing very buy telemarketing data quickly right now, it has always been necessary for marketers to learn new things and to keep current with changes associated with messaging and channels.
“Google is not going to stop rolling out algorithm changes and social media channels and ad platforms are not going to stop creating updates and changing,” notes Erin. “The idea is to continuously adapt, always evolve, and constantly learn new things – that’s not new and not just something for marketers.”
The best chance for survival in any profession is to find something you’re good at and then hone your skills in that area. Marketing is no exception. As things change, find ways to apply your skills to something new and re-market yourself. It’s not that different from what you do for your company or your clients as a marketer.
Brett’s warning to continue to learn and evolve is a general wake-up call for anyone who has become comfortable with the status quo. Afterall, learning is uncomfortable and time consuming and people like to feel that they’ve accomplished what they set out to do and are now comfortably at the top of their game.
The problem with complacency
is that you may go to sleep tonight thinking you’ve reached the apex of your skill set and knowing that you’re considered the expert in your field, but by tomorrow something else will have changed. The really successful people, and the ones that remain experts in their field, are the ones that have committed themselves to a constant state of evolution, the ones that continue to learn, change, and grow.
To stay relevant, successful marketers will want to keep up with the latest trends and react accordingly by adjusting the medium, the method, and the message in response to changes in how and where content is consumed. Here are a few trends in medium and method that we noticed at Pubcon.
Trends at Pubcon: Local and Mobile Search
There were a lot of sessions at Pubcon this year that focused on the increasing importance of local and mobile search and their influence on marketing and SEO success. As marketers continue to adapt their practices, local and mobile are two trends they’ll need to learn more about and adapt their practices to include.
“When it comes to marketing, this is an area that is evolving quickly because technology continues to make a lot of advances and is being implemented into a lot of platforms right now, ” notes Erin.
Erin suggests some things marketers can do to stay current with local and mobile trends:
Do your reading and stay current on what’s happening.
The landscape is changing quickly and it will be too hard to get caught up a year from now.
Don’t make any sudden movements.
Don’t make a ton of changes based on one new channel or algorithm update – things are in flux and it often takes time to figure out how things will shake out.
Get local search data.
Begin to understand marketing channels and engagement by location to optimize efforts for both B2C and B2B businesses.
Create content that is optimized for mobile.
Google’s mobile friendly algorithm means everyone needs to have considered mobile with regards to their content.
The mobile and local combination is going to become increasingly important for all sizes of businesses, not just the B2C and e-commerce. Often, the conversation around local gets focused on the consumer side of things – those local and regional businesses that are optimizing for people searching for their product or service on a mobile device. For instance, the proprietor of a coffee shop, or some sort of coffee chain, would want their content, business name, and location to show up at the top of the search query. In this case, content should be local-specific and easily consumable by answering the questions people will be asking first – How do I get there? Where do I park? What can I find once I get there?
But the application for local search data for the B2B marketer is going to be another adaptation for brands hoping to reach an audience and differentiate themselves from other voices in the market. While brands may already have an idea of the general areas, regions, or countries where their website traffic is originating, local search data will give them the ability.
The growing popularity of mobile devices is changing the way Google is showing results for search queries. Local SEO is not just about small local businesses anymore.
How has Pigeon update of 2014 affected the recent emphasis on local
Pigeon really reflects Google’s recognition and move towards integrating pretty much everything around local awareness. They’re trying to figure out what restaurant should I go to?
People are in a rush, they’re distracted, they’re trying to get information quickly, and Google is responding to this. So, the Pigeon release was really about integrating all of. The local data that they have, all the maps information they have into their search.
How has popularity of mobile technology been the catalyst for the growing interest in local search?
Ray: Mobile devices, smartphones in particular, have really driven the. Promotion of local and that’s obviously a huge platform at play here. As that part of the industry continues to evolve, we’ll start to see things really move in that direction, too. But Google is obviously very focused on smartphone and tablet usage.
Screenshot – Mobile Group Content InsightsRay: Local listings are for companies that depend on regional traffic.
Local search results – the local listing will be. Part of that but it’s a situation where people are going to be looking for or expecting to see. Results for a very specific. Chain store in that location. Their way to go to these spots), depend on quality results. So Google has nearshore: 7 advantages enforced that. Requirement by providing better. Rankings for companies that update their local listings on a regular basis and make sure that their profiles are. Completed correctly. They give preference to stores that are well reviewed. And have all the correct data in place.
Can you address the growing trend of B2B brands and non-regional.
Businesses to rely on local search ranking data to.
Ray: Local search listings are kind of the default organic search result within the local context. Local, in this case, doesn’t just mean city level. It means national or state level, as well. If you’re in Pennsylvania versus Wisconsin, when you search for certain aero leads things you’re going to get different results. Searchers may be looking for local branches of national chapters, for example. So if you’re living in Trent, Pennsylvania and you type “boy scouts,” there’s a very strong. Possibility that you’re going to get different results there than you will for that same query. Performed in Wisconsin or Idaho. It’s basically providing that local context and information around queries that are. Not necessarily looking for local listings but are much more specific to different regions.
What are some of the challenges that arise from using these solutions?
Ray: It’s the same type of challenge that you expect with any sort of one-off solution. There are a lot of really good. One-off feature-focused tools out there. For certain cases, I would recommend using them – especially if you’re a company
