Happy Members’ Month 2024!
This is – amazingly – the sixth year of our membership offering, and I’m delighted to share that we now have over 330,000 members, compared to 280,000 a year ago! You should have seen some emails with special offers coming in your inbox this month and, as always, you can also see all our upcoming events and news on our busy LinkedIn page.
Indeed, in a recent survey that we ran with members, it was confirmed for us that the top three reasons you choose DMI over other options is our exclusive focus on digital marketing, our up-to-date and relevant resources, and our continual learning opportunities.
In this update, I’ll run over some of the key ways in which we have met these points in the last while.
Staying ahead in the marketing game
2024 is proving to be a year of challenges for digital marketers – some are familiar, but others are wholly new, such as the bombshell news this week that Google has decided to not to go ahead with removing third-party cookies on Chrome! We will certainly be keeping an eye on that and responding to the fallout.
Another recent news story was the Google API documentation leak and how that reshapes the way we view search rankings. The ever-insightful Clark Boyd was able to jump in to offer a clear and practical response to what it means for digital marketers.
As always, we see all these challenges and aim to respond in a way that provides insights and practical advice.
Indeed, to cover a whole range of them in one blast, we’ve invited Rand Fishkin to present our August webinar where, for one hour, he’ll offer tactics on how to stay ahead. He’ll look specifically at what can replace channel attribution, how to invest wisely in your marketing, and how you can manage a zero-click strategy.
Register here.
Summer of sport
As is typical in our July update, I have to mention some big sporting events that are (happily) taking our attention these days: we’ve already seen Wimbledon, the Euros, and the Copa América. And starting today, we’ll get to see how the Paris Olympics is going to reveal the latest star athletes, inspiring stories, innovative technology, and impressive marketing techniques. Have a look at some of our tips on what to watch out for at the Paris games.
Careers focus
We’re always interested in learning about people’s careers, how they got into marketing, and where they’re going with it. Every month, we feature an interview with a renowned marketer who reveal some often-surprising snippets from their lives. Have a watch of Luke O’Leary who started as an accountant, see what Rand Fishkin thought he might be when he grew up, and try not to feel jealous of the real lives of digital nomads.
Tune in to the podcast this Friday to hear one of our career experts expound on what he’s seeing in the world of careers for digital marketers, based on what his agency has seen in the four markets they operate in. You might be surprised at some of the results!
In the meantime you can check out some of the details for UK, USA, MENA, and APAC, in the latest salary guides, which they have shared with the DMI over the last few years.
One interesting trend we’ve seen in 2024 is how LinkedIn is more popular, and powerful, than it ever has been. In fact, 77% of marketers agree that they see the best organic results from LinkedIn. To explore this, we had an excellent discussion on the podcast with social media consultant Luan Wise on smart ways to use it, for both yourself and your company, and she left us a quick checklist of her top tips.
And if you have yet to take a course with the DMI, we can assure you that it can only help your career. We recently ran a survey of marketing leaders and learned that 93% of them value professional industry skills certifications when hiring or promoting and – just as importantly – 86% of leaders are more likely to hire candidates with a DMI certification on their CV/resume.
Marketing: The how, why, and who
In the face of this year’s shifting marketing landscape, it’s more important than ever to consider how you can make a strategy. Catch up on the unique insights from serial entrepreneur and consultant Maeve Kneafsey, who covered some of the fundamentals of marketing strategy that never get old.
It’s also useful to consider the why of marketing – the consumer behavior that you want to tap into and influence. Our CMO, MIscha McInerney, reviews some key psychological principles in this blog, and considers ways to use them effectively.
There is also the who of marketing – and we were delighted to publish a very informative piece from Luan Wise about how you can ensure your social media content is accessible to everyone. It’s not a difficult thing to do once you can see examples and consider the guidelines. And, of course, ensuring that more people can view your product, services, and brand is a win-win.
Social commerce
Social advertising and behavior is changing at such speed. An overpowering influence is that of ecommerce platform Temu, who famously spent over $15bn on marketing last year. Whether you love it, hate it, or simply have strong opinions on its pervasiveness, corporate responsibility, or competitiveness, we think it is a fascinating story to explore and to look at its motivations and tactics.
We welcomed well-known social media strategy expert Mark Pollard to the webinar to present some original tips on ways to approach your social presence. Catch up with the webinar, and check out his free template for creating a snappy social media creative brief.
AI adaptation
Our recent survey of marketing leaders unearthed some interesting stats about what skills they see their teams lacking. It’s not surprising that AI comes in first at 54%, but that was closely followed by SEO (44%) and data analytics (42%). So, just as we continue to dig into what it means to call AI a skill through a variety of blogs, videos, and webinars, we will keep ensuring all areas of digital marketing skills are given due attention.
If you haven’t already caught it, one of our best webinars we’ve had was given by Kerry Harrision, where she walked us through really practical, and smart, ways for everyone to use AI tools for copywriting.And our run-down of how AI applies to social media is packed with examples and tips.
We have also created some walkthroughs from our own creative team at the DMI and you can view their tips on useful AI tools for social media managers and for creative designers. We hope to also share with you a few of the super-useful walkthroughs provided by Will Francis during our very popular July AI masterclass.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to suggest other ideas or even offer your own ideas to share with the community.
And finally
Have you heard about AI-washing? It’s where companies overstate their claims about their use of AI within their offerings and services. As one person says – quoted in this BBC story – it’s starting to be a bit like saying “We’re on the internet” way back in the day. Ah yes, I remember those days well!
