Benchmark Search & Digital Marketing Magazine - Issue 10 for Winter 2021/22

SEARCH MARKETING MAGAZINE

G E T C R E AT I V E D E L I V E R I N G C O N T E N T A N D C A M P A I G N S T H AT W O R K I N 2 0 2 2

NEWS

WINTER 2021/2022

TRENDS

PREDICTIONS

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LET’S BEGIN...

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A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR

CONTRIBUTORS

Hello and welcome back to Benchmark Search Magazine.

CONTENT Immy Jones John Warner Lisa Anne Mittal Sophie–Leigh Edwards Karen Ngai Damien Horwood Sarah Macklin

Welcome to issue ten of our Benchmark Search & Digital Marketing Magazine, we’re delighted to bring you another information packed issue to prepare you for the coming year. Although there are a lot of questions hanging over 2022, we can be fairly certain that it will be another year of digital growth – even with the looming possibility of recession ever present.

We’re proud of the work we do here at Click Consult, and the expertise of our teams, so it’s always a joy to be able to showcase their thoughts and advice as we do here. Like all previous editions, this edition is packed full of actionable insights and thought-provoking articles to help you and your brand reach its full potential.

Whatever happens with the final end of Brexit’s interim treaties and with the, fingers crossed, final stages of the pandemic, we know that search and digital marketing will be at the heart of most brand’s strategy for the year ahead – and we hope the articles here will help make a success of those strategies.

Happy New Year, we wish you all a successful 2022.

Until next time...

DESIGN Lisa Anne Mittal PUBLISHED BY Click Consult Ltd ADDRESS Willow House Oaklands Office Park Hooton Cheshire CH66 7NZ PHONE 0333 009 8299 WEBSITE www.click.co.uk

Julie Sowa, Managing Director

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

THE CONTENT MARKETING PROCESS

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INDUSTRY NEWS The latest from the worlds of search and digital marketing and interesting tech developments

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THIS QUARTER IN SOCIAL All the most important news from the world of social media marketing from the last quarter

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DESIGNING FOR CAMPAIGNS IN 2022 Explore how to design effective digital campaings that give results in 2022

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2022 PREDICTIONS: SEARCH AND DIGITAL MARKETING The top 2022 predictions from Click’s search and digital marketing trends report

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THE CONTENT MARKETING PROCESS A deep dive on the processes and techniques involved in the practice of content marketing

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OUR RESOURCES The chance to download one of our free resources: Search and Digital Marketing 2022 Trends Report

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CONTENTS

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THE IMPACT AND SUCCESSES OF USER-FOCUSED CONTENT Find out how user focused content impacts your campaigns

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CASE STUDY - CHUMS See how our team delivered great results for an established mail order clothing company

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12 STEPS TO CAMPAIGN SUCCESS The twelve steps Click Consult takes when creating a successful campaign

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FIVE WAYS TO TARGET YOUR CONTENT BETTER Five key considerations to help you better target your content to your audience

WHY CREATIVITY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

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2021: THE YEAR OF CREATIVE CAMPAIGNS 2021 was the year of creative campaigns – we look at what we can learn from the year

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DEMYSTIFYING THE DIGITAL PR PROCESS

buzzwords

buzzwords

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INDUSTRY NEWS

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INDUSTRY NEWS

INDUSTRY NEWS - IMMY JONES

MARKETING EXECUTIVE

It seems like no time has passed since issue 9. Yet, in spring, 2022 seemed so far away. From some surprising events to some mundane predictability, news within the industry leading up to this issue has been very Google-centric. Here’s what you need to know from Q4 of 2021.

“MUM’S” THE WORD IN NEW SEARCH TECHNOLOGY Although still not quite as sophisticated as an expert’s answer, Google’s ‘Multitask Unified Model’ (MUM) allows users to get closer to solving complex needs with fewer searches.

When asked about how many search queries the MUM algorithm was affecting, Google’s John Mueller admitted that he didn’t know, but that was due to the vast capabilities of MUM - it isn’t just used within a ranking context.

What’s especially impressive about the algorithm is that it can search for answers across web documents regardless of language and can even use images as part of the search query. MUM is set to bring a change and Google characterised this change as a redesign of search. With three main changes coming to the search engine: •

• •

Things to know: This feature identifies the most relevant/ popular “paths” that users take when exploring a topic, and surface more related content - without the need for follow up searches.

Topic zoom: Within this feature, a user is able to jump in and out of related topics.

Visually browsable search results: While not available for all searches, this feature is restricted to searches where the user intent is to find inspiration.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

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INDUSTRY NEWS

GOOGLE ADS RELEASES NEW BUDGET REPORT Google’s newest Ads budget report allows users to visualise campaign spend behaviour - with navigable features such as: daily spend, your campaign’s monthly spending limit (solid grey line), your monthly spend forecast (dotted blue line), cost to date (solid blue line), and any budget changes you’ve made during that particular month.

The area that is shaded blue shows the prediction intervals that indicate the upper and lower bound that the actual aggregate spend will likely land for a given day.

Changes to your average daily budget are represented by arrow icons on the days the budget changed and you can hover over the arrows to see the budget changes.

PROFESSIONAL TWEETERS; A NEW WAY TO NETWORK WITHIN 280 CHARACTERS After an initial 6-month beta test to a small group of businesses in the United States, all organisations can apply for a professional profile on Twitter - this type of profile grants access to exclusive features like Twitter Shopping, and Quick Promote.

What’s useful to know is that professional profiles are completely free, however there are no immediate plans to build professional account targeting.

GOOGLE ROLLS OUT NEW ECO-FRIENDLY SEARCH FILTERS Google rolled out new search filters to help people make more environmentally conscious decisions about how they travel and what they buy.

Searchers can compare flights with lower carbon emissions, and Google displays a carbon emissions estimate for nearly every flight. This isn’t limited to flights, but also hotels that travellers search for will give information on their sustainability efforts, such as waste reduction and water conservation measures.

Another key feature of the search filters is through Google Shopping, where browsers can find information on energyintensive products which have environmentally friendly options.

AI POWERED CONTENT Google states in their webmaster guidelines that they are against automatically generated content. With developments and improvements to machine written content that make pieces of written work not only understandable but useful google could soon be rethinking their rules.

As long as what is written is of the standard quality Google has come to expect, it may come to fruition that it won’t matter if content is written by a human or robot.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

FACEBOOK FEATURES: STRONG COMMUNITIES Meta has rolled out new features to Facebook Groups in order to promote and improve communication between members, and to strengthen the communities on the platform.

To make groups feel more unique admins can use a range of creative features such as: • • • •

Customisation: Colours, post backgrounds, fonts and emoji reactions can be customised.

Feature sets: Preset collections of post formats, badges, admin tools, and more can be turned on for their group.

Preferred formats.

Greeting message: Users can create unique messages that all new members will see when they join a group

B2B SELLING: FROM PUSH TO PULL B2B sales cycles have traditionally been more “push” than “pull”, with sales teams proactively pitching to clients via calls and trade shows. The pandemic has accelerated the use of “self-serve” buying experiences, which means that sellers need to adapt to a “pull” dynamic. Meaning that buyers will expect to have all information needed to make purchases any time and anywhere.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Straightforward purchasing experiences are at the forefront of buyers’ minds, where convenience and personalisation are a top priority.

Research carried out by Digital Commerce 360 B2B in July 2020 found that 89% of purchasing managers were buying at least the same amount, or significantly more, on B2B marketplaces as a result of circumstances brought about by Covid-19.

‘VOICE SEARCH’ IS NOT THE FUTURE Google’s Martin Splitt shared his opinion that voice search is not the future in an interview on podcast ‘Search Off the Record’ with John Mueller. Mueller asked “What about voice search? Will SEOs have to optimize for voice search?”, with Splitt replying “Oh God, the future that never will be. I think no, because if we learn anything…”

Voice search has changed since its launch of Google Assistant in 2016, however the back end of voice search processing has remained the same which could mean that SEO specific tactics for voice does not have to exist.

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GOOGLE PATHWAYS AI The way the web works has changed a phenomenal amount over the past 20 years. From machine learning in 2001 to help correct misspelt queries, to AI augments that influence many of the things that we do, whether that’s helping you capture a nice selfie, providing more useful search results, or warning hundreds of millions of people when and where flooding will occur.

Advances in AI research has made it not only a nice-to-have but also an indispensable tool to aid billions of people’s lives.

The next generation of AI architecture known as Pathways, is a new way of thinking about AI - it will address and combat many of the weaknesses of existing systems and synthesize their strengths.

WHERE GLOBAL AD BUDGETS ARE GOING IN 20212022 According to recent research from WARC the overall ad market grew 24% year-over-year in 2021 with social media, online video, and search being the ad channels showing some of the strongest growth.

These channels are expected to grow within the next couple of years with a forecast of growth of 13% in 2022, and 8% in 2023.

This year has been an exciting one in terms of new features, and revisited trends (we’re looking at you voice search), but we’re looking forward to what the next few months will bring - and will keep you posted on the best bits.

Today’s AI models are typically trained to do only one thing. Pathways will enable us to train a single model to do thousands or millions of things.

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THIS QUARTER IN SOCIAL

THIS QUARTER IN SOCIAL - IMMY JONES MARKETING EXECUTIVE

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THIS QUARTER IN SOCIAL

It’s been an interesting few months to say the least, with “snackable content” being at the forefront of social media trends thanks to the seeming Tiktokification of the industry, and online shopping experiences like we’ve never seen before. This is the unmissable news from an action-packed quarter in social…

WHATSAPP MAKING WAVES WhatsApp has continued to increase its features for businesses, after becoming a go-to personal app with which consumers liaise with brands. Their newest feature, which is currently piloting in São Paulo, Brazil, will be great for local businesses in particular.

The feature is a business directory that lets users find and search for businesses that are active on the app. It will sort companies in order of “businesses nearby” from your location tracking services on mobile.

The messaging service, owned by Meta (formerly Facebook), has seen a major increase in popularity for business accounts which have reached 175 million daily users globally.

In terms of personal accounts, WhatsApp has rolled out a feature that allows users to preview their voice messages before sending them. The app has also updated “disappearing messages”, meaning that a user has more choice over the message duration by adding 24 hours and 90 days as well as the existing option of 7 days.

TWITTER TESTING REACTIONS AND AUTOMATED BOT LABELS There are two new features that Twitter has tested earlier this year, which we may well be seeing soon for future strategies.

The first of these features is reactions, which we are no stranger to due to them being available on LinkedIn and Facebook for quite some time. These emoji reactions will replace the current “like” one and allow users to react to tweets with things like “tears of joy”, “laughing” and “sad”, along with hearts. This one is in advanced testing so could be seen soon.

The second feature is that Twitter is going to start labeling accounts that are automated bots so everyone will be able to see which ones are. Of course, there are a lot of spam bots on Twitter, but there are also some useful ones too, so at least we will know. This gives people a better understanding of what accounts they are reading or interacting with.

TWITTER “COMMUNITIES” IS HERE TO STAY Twitter launched “Communities”, a new feature in order to compete with the likes of Facebook Groups and Reddit, allowing users of the platform to connect with other users who publish content on a certain subject.

The feature has people tweeting directly to those who would be interested in it rather than to Twitter as a whole. To kick things off, they have released communities like #DogTwitter, #SkincareTwitter and #SoleFood (for fans of footwear).

Twitter stated that Communities were created to give people a dedicated place to connect, share, and get closer to the

discussions they care about most. While general users can see what is Tweeted in a Community, only members who are in one can engage and participate in the discussion.

Communities will also be administered each by their own moderator, much like it is with Facebook ‘groups’ and Reddit ‘subreddits’. Moderators have the authority to set community rules, as well as to invite or remove people.

TWITTER REMOVES FLEETS AND FOCUSES MORE ON SPACES Earlier this year, Fleets were removed from Twitter after a short stint due to people not using them as much as they were expecting. With a prioritised focus on Spaces, which allows users to host an “audio-room” to followers, Twitter has continued to improve on this feature since its inception.

First, Twitter introduced the ability to include a co-host in your audio-room, then they allowed for a host to invite 2 cohosts. The top table in a room can also have 10 additional speakers. Having an extra pair of hands to help manage the administrative tasks during a live chat, especially one that involves a big number of attendees, will be a massive help with less interruptions to the conversation.

Another additional feature to Spaces is the ability for all users across iOS, Android, and web, to listen to recordings of Spaces, which can come in handy for listeners who are late to a live broadcast.

FREE RESOURCES FROM TIKTOK FOR BUSINESSES TikTok is the gift that keeps on giving. With the social media app continuing to grow in popularity amongst consumers and businesses alike, they are beginning to realise the opportunities the app can bring in promoting brands to a whole new audience.

To go with this increase in usage, TikTok has provided a whole load of free resources with guidance for businesses on using their features. What does it include? Well, the guides recommend getting rid of your big budget videography with community and creativity the key here, using their in-app effects. They also recommend keeping your ads immersive, including 9:16 ratio, sound on at all times and a shorter length.

TIKTOK TEAMS UP WITH VIMEO AND CANVA TO MAKE CREATING ADS EASIER This is a brilliant collaboration for small businesses with smaller budgets who want to promote themselves to their TikTok target audience. The social app has now teamed up with Canva and Vimeo, which are using AI technology to create adverts for brands in the platform’s Ads Manager.

Businesses using “Vimeo Create” can now create an engaging advert within minutes. It will offer optimised video templates that are specifically designed for TikTok. The Canva feature on the other hand, offers a library of templates for businesses to choose from when creating their ads. It also introduces a new Publish End Points tool, designed to bring ease and simplicity for creators to natively publish directly to TikTok.

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THIS QUARTER IN SOCIAL

MICROSOFT-POWERED NATIVE VIDEO MEETINGS FOR LINKEDIN LinkedIn started rolling out a new native video meetings feature earlier this year, which means users can set up and interact in video meetings within the channel itself, without having to download a third-party app, which was previously needed.

Powered by Microsoft, users can find the “Create Video Meeting” option within their LinkedIn chat window. It also means users can now have easy access to an integrated calendar, where scheduled meetings will automatically send an email to attendees with a link to take part. For those who want a bit of creativity, you can also share screens and add backgrounds to your video chat.

LINKEDIN MARKETING SOLUTIONS HAS ANNOUNCED NEW FEATURES At the beginning of Q4, LinkedIn announced new features designed to help marketers navigate the new working world.

These features aim to build greater connections with their communities.

The first feature is “articles for pages”, which is a new tool that allows creators to publish articles on their LinkedIn pages and engage members with professional content on the platform itself.

The second is “LinkedIn live events.” This new feature will join strengths with the reach and engagement of LinkedIn’s native live-streaming tool, and with the planning and targeting options on LinkedIn Events. The result is a new all-in-one simplified experience that enables creators to live-stream an event.

LINKEDIN EXPLORES HOW GEN-Z ENGAGE WITH THE PLATFORM In a somewhat surprising report from LinkedIn, it has been discovered that Gen-Z is the fastest-growing global audience demographic on LinkedIn, with (at the time of writing) 78 million global Gen-Zers on the channel - roughly 10% of LinkedIn’s member base.

Findings from the report showed that 80% of the younger generation believed LinkedIn to be trustworthy, and that they felt confident posting and engaging with content from individuals and businesses.

They are more likely to interact with content relevant to their goals and objectives, and value transparency and thoughtleadership from companies they follow.

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THIS QUARTER IN SOCIAL

LINK STICKERS ON INSTAGRAM STORIES The ability to include a link in your Instagram story posts without having the threshold of 10,000 followers to include a “swipe up” link, has been frustrating for many smaller businesses and marketing departments.

The popular social media channel, which (somewhat controversially) announced it’s officially no longer just a “photo-sharing” app, was testing and giving users the option to add a link sticker to their story posts, in the same way a user could include a poll or question sticker. This could be a game changer when promoting products in a creative way, allowing people to directly find and purchase a product that is being promoted. Unfortunately, links in posts haven’t been included in the update.

POST IMAGES AND VIDEOS TO INSTAGRAM VIA DESKTOP Instagram has really been listening to social media marketers recently, with this second update too. It was announced that they started testing the ability to post videos and images to Instagram accounts through desktop, rather than sending files over to mobile to publish there instead.

Of course, social media management platforms like Hootsuite have been doing this for a while, but for Instagram to start doing it too allows for smaller businesses and brands to get involved on a cheaper and easier scale. They have started testing this out with a small number of users but expect to see this for everyone very soon, as the social platform starts to notice the adaption to how people use it’s platform.

YOUTUBE STARTS A LIVESTREAM SHOPPING SERIES With eCommerce being such a big commodity in 2021, it is set to be bigger in Q1 2022 and a lucrative move by YouTube in late November justifies this theory.

The week-long “Holiday Stream & Shop” event introduced a new way of shopping on the platform. Similar to a Beta test, the live shopping event was a way to gauge people’s reactions and interactions with the content.

A study run by YouTube with Publicis and TalkShoppe showed that people want to shop on the channel and that 89% of viewers agree that YouTube creators give recommendations they can trust.

Social media’s ever changing role in keeping up with the trends of the day has made it easier for users to fall behind.

It’s imperative that a lot of time is dedicated to research into what’s “hip and happening”.

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PREDICTIONS

FROM OUR EXPERTS

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FROM OUR EXPERTS

NEXT STEPS for OMNI-CHANNEL RETAIL 2021 took baby-steps into omni-channel with various ‘shoppable content’ events, but we expect to see further efforts by retail brands to begin building omni-channel presences.

SOONER RATHER THAN LATER FOR GA4 As humans are naturally There’s another change in

resistant to change, a lot of

the overall look and feel of

businesses may hang on

the web on the way, driven

to GA3 until the bitter end.

by accessibility, 5G and improving CMSs.

However, new features are likely to only be available in GA4, so early adopters in

Demand agility from your

2022 will have an advantage.

next website build to allow for changing trends.

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FROM OUR EXPERTS

A LEAP in COM OMP PREHENSION

Google is getting a better at understanding content and judging intent.

Combined with the growing understanding that the author of an article is more than just a name, success will depend on aiding algorithmic ‘understanding’ of both your content and its authors.

TIKTOKIFICATION TIKTOKIFICATION TikTok will climb the list of the

top ten social media platforms and get bigger for businesses.

RSA BUILD

OUT

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TARGETING AND THE END OF SEGMENTATION Leave behind the segmentation of old

With RSA being the main ad type

(Device, Match Type etc.)!

by the middle of year, building

Performance is more likely to

these out and testing/reviewing

be improved by consolidating

combinations will be

campaigns and focusing on the

key to a successful 2022.

Audience element of targeting.

FROM OUR EXPERTS

We expect to see a lot of highcontrast and punchy design. Think big, in your face graphics, and the use of bright, vibrant colours.

Poetry in motion

INFLUENCERS WILL NEED TO PROVE THEMSELVES

Motion graphics will play a

To remain competitive,

larger role in image heavy

influencers will be looking to

campaigns.

improve the content experience to attract users by creating highly visual posts that share trustworthy information as brands seek hyper-relevant links over quantity.

DIGITAL

MARKETING

Go to P43 to download the full report

TRENDS REPORT

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Designing Campaigns in 2022 - LISA ANNE MITTAL DIGITAL DESIGN EXECUTIVE

Great design is vital for a successful campaign. Without it, it is more difficult to capture the audience’s attention, incite action, and get results. In the digital age, companies have seconds before a customer makes up their mind whether to engage or not. It is essential, therefore, for the design not just to meet modern design standards, but to ‘wow’.

Great design makes businesses stand out, sets them apart from competitors, builds customer relationships, increases engagement, boosts sales and can even increase a company’s monetary value. How do you produce such a design? Is there a certain process that has to be followed to achieve the best results?

Here are some steps the digital campaign design process should follow, along with tips on how to make your design stand out in 2022.

THE DIGITAL DESIGN PROCESS Although it may seem like a simple process to some, there are many things that have to be taken into consideration when producing an effective design. Here are some of the steps taken when designing for digital campaigns: The brief The first step is to read the design brief carefully. Make sure you fully understand the campaign concept, and what is required to be designed. Check that you have all the information required to make a start and, if in doubt, always set up a meeting to eliminate uncertainties. If the brief is flexible, try to think outside of the box and do something to make the campaign unique.

Know your audience Who is the target for the campaign? Is it your usual customers, or another demographic? For example, if you are designing for 18-30 year olds, you can be much more experimental than if you are designing for over 70s. Your audience will heavily influence the design you make, so make sure you get this part right!

Goals Next, you should identify the goals of the campaign, what is it trying to do? What results are expected? Think about how you can make any calls to action extremely clear and how you can guide the customer with the design, making sure they can do what is required with ease.

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Medium If it has not been established in the brief, think about the best way to present the campaign. Will it be a video, infographic, email, interactive asset or illustration? Is it going on a website or on social media? Determine the best way to present the required information to help you achieve your goals.

Ideas Once you have established the above, play around with some initial ideas on how it will look. If you get stuck, have a look at some design blogs, existing campaigns or have a quick check at what competitors are doing.

Refine Once you have some ideas, refer back to the brief, audience and goals to see which one you think will work best. Show some of your ideas to other team members to get their opinion.

Keep it simple Keep the design simple, clear and easy to navigate. Do not overcrowd designs or add too much text in one area, as the audience could get overwhelmed and instantly dismiss it.

Mobile-first Around 65% of searches are now made on mobile devices and that number is just increasing. Now you have an idea of what it will look like, make sure you design for mobile-first, followed by desktop. Check that the text is big enough to read on mobile, any interactivity will work easily, or that the design is responsive.

Inclusive design Inclusive design is gaining more popularity. It is, simply, a design that can be accessed and used by as many people as possible, regardless of age, gender, culture, language and ability. For example, think about how the design will translate for someone who has difficulties with seeing colour.

Check Once you have finished, check that your design answers the initial brief and that all the points above have been considered.

Now is the time to get the copy checked over too.

Present Time to present the design! This is where you can get some feedback and amends to refine the design. Once these are done, present it again. Sometimes the design can go back and forth a few times before you get a final sign off.

Go live One of the best parts of the design process is seeing your design go live. Make sure it is presented how it is meant to be, and that everything is legible. Check it is displaying correctly across multiple devices and that all links and/or interactivity are functioning. If there are any issues, report them to whoever can fix them. You may have to do some updates on the design itself to make sure everything is perfect. Then let it go live!

Some designers may have more steps to their process, some may use less. Experiment on the way you design and think about all the things that you need to consider during the process. What is important to one company and its values, might not be important to another. Find the process which works best for you to give a well thought out campaign design that delivers results..

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TOP TIPS FOR CAMPAIGN DESIGN IN 2022 Let’s take a look at the elements that make up the physical design and how these can be adapted to stand out in 2022.

Brand guidelines Despite what you may think, it is not always important to follow a company’s brand guidelines when designing digital campaigns. This is especially true when you are trying to reach new customers that fall outside of the usual demographic.

Unbranded campaigns can achieve more reach than branded campaigns, especially if the company is small or not very well known. If you decide to use different styles than those defined in the guidelines, make sure it still conforms to the company’s values, and still includes the company’s logo on the design.

Colours If you do decide to choose colours, make sure they all work together. There are online tools that can help you pick out great palettes, such as coolors which is a free online colour palette generator. Don’t forget to think about the campaign content and its audience. Colours can be linked to certain ideas and emotions (eg green for sustainability) so, although it may seem ironic to use them, it will make it easier for the audience to connect the campaign with the message.

Maximalism is set to be a design trend for 2022, so why not try pushing the boundaries and use bold, bright shades of colours to create a vibrant, modern design?

Font The general rule is only to use two or three different fonts when designing, but with the maximalism trend, it is possible to add a larger mix. Large, in your face fonts are trending, so experiment with big bold typography, dialling up the contrast between flowing lines and sharp angular shapes. Whatever you decide to do, make sure the text is legible and mobilefriendly.

Images Whether it is illustrations or photographs, images play a large part in grabbing attention. Simply drawn 1990s style graphics, Ukiyo-e flat design and doodling are all set to be trending in 2022, so why not look at how you can incorporate these styles into your design?

Escapism and surrealism is also a predicted trend for 2022, so this could be easily incorporated into any photography you use. Whatever images you decide to use, however, make sure they are high quality and unique!

Motion Motion graphics are set to be big in 2022. Try to include some motion in your campaign, even if it is subtle. When creating videos for social media, they need to be short, simple and deliver the main message in around ten seconds. Videos are best designed either in a square size (1:1 ratio) or full portrait (9:16) for maximum effectiveness. Make sure any text on the video is legible on mobile devices.

Whatever campaign you are making, great design is essential for attracting an audience to give great results. Use the design process above and incorporate some of the expected design trends for 2022 for an outstanding campaign. If you get stuck along the way, head over to p66 for tips on how to boost your creativity!

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The Content Ma - SOPHIE–LEIGH EDWARDS HEAD OF CAMPAIGN OUTREACH

On a daily basis the content marketing team at Click Consult are set the task of developing creative campaigns for their clients. The aim of most of these campaigns is to support search engine optimisation (SEO) by building on the brand’s backlink profile which will ultimately pass authority to the website.

Many people think of SEO as a tech focused activity and whilst there are obviously tech heavy elements involved there are also some very creative areas. From the creation of user focused content to the development of content marketing campaigns, creativity is as much a part of an SEO strategy as tech.

Within this article we will look at what content marketing is, the creative process and the steps we take when developing a content marketing campaign that is both relevant and valuable.

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arketing Process WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING? Content marketing is the process of developing content that drives discussion rather than explicitly promoting a brand and its products. Content can come in many forms from video and animations to interactive assets that encourage engagement.

Of course any campaign that is created must be driven by research into trending topics that are relevant to the brand and its target audience.

THE CONTENT MARKETING PROCESS The process we use at Click Consult is outlined below and uses five key steps. Imagine this process as a circle, the process is ongoing and never really ends, there’s always a story to tell or a reactive opportunity.

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Outlined below are the five key steps that include: define KPIs, initial research, concept development, outreach and reporting. Each of the steps will be discussed in greater detail before highlighting barriers to the process and providing a summary of key takeaways.

DEFINE KPIS A content marketing campaign can have several key performance indicators (KPIs) other than link quantities.

The KPIs chosen really depend on the overall business objectives. For example, if you are looking to raise a brand’s profile one KPI may be to reach as many people as possible through your campaign, this would see large publications being targeted and the concept supported by paid social.

By defining KPIs from the start of the process you can build a concept and outreach strategy that are highly focused, whilst ensuring you are monitoring the channels you plan to report on and that provide valuable insights.

START INITIAL RESEARCH Once KPIs have been defined it is time to begin researching competitors, trends, current conversations and much more...

As narratives start to form it is important to start asking questions such as: ‘What’s the hook?’

Try to explain the hook in one sentence, this ensures there is a clear angle that is simple to explain to journalists and influencers alike.

‘Is this clear and simple?’

Explain the idea to family or friends to get the opinion of those not immediately involved in the concept or industry. If they understand the concept easily this is a good indicator of a clear and simple concept.

‘What is shocking about the story?’

If you are using unique data from a survey or scoring system this question can be difficult to answer due to undefined results, if this is the case think of the potential headlines or answers - this can also highlight future problems.

‘Is my information credible?’

This is key to a campaigns success layout the methodology prior to undertaking the research to ensure it is clear and from credible sources.

Throughout this process it’s important to have conversations with other team members to ensure you see the information as it is and that the concept makes sense - discussions can also help you gain a better understanding of what you’re producing. Once you have a few ideas you are happy with it’s time to share with the rest of the immediate team.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT When developing the concept we always start with an ideation meeting. Everyone who attends the meeting is expected to bring any research or concept ideas they have with them. This meeting is supposed to be a creative space where ideas are discussed but on occasion we go off topic going off topic can be good as a free conversation can spark inspiration.

A few techniques we use for ideation are the creation of mind maps, social listening, online research during the meeting and moodboards. Once the concept is decided it is time to consider how the concept will be presented.

There are several ways to display data, stories or guides from infographics to videos and it’s important to choose the correct asset for your concept. The correct asset should; present the data in an easy to read format giving the reader clarity, if interactive should be easy to use with the user in mind, and should emphasize the purpose of the data to provide a clear story.

The asset along with content explaining the concept in greater detail should be added to the website, remember to include an internal link in the content so that authority is passed through the site. Usually the campaign’s landing page will sit on the blog, news or resource section of a website. Ensuring the story is made clear through the asset and content will encourage use of the asset on third party sites and can assist with outreach.

OUTREACH Once the asset is ready and a concept landing page is set up, outreach can begin. To start a press release highlighting the key areas of the story is created and shared with a media list of relevant websites.

After an initial push to press the campaigns team can continue outreaching to other websites and influencers.

When outreaching to influencers it is important to set clear expectations as to what you expect from the influencer.

Before approaching influencers, be sure they meet criteria that should have been determined from setting KPIs such as domain authority (DA) range, number of followers and engagement rate.

REPORTING During the reporting process there are several tools that can help provide a clear picture as to the success of the campaign, some of these are outlined below:

• • •

Google Analytics can be used to provide details for many KPIs but we usually use this for reporting on referral traffic and landing page activity.

Brandwatch is a great tool for monitoring brand mentions, hashtag usage and keyword activity. The detail provided allows us to report on several things such as sentiment, mentions and impressions.

BuzzSumo has a monitoring section where you can monitor any placements that are gained for a specific landing page or domain - again whether this is set up at campaign or brand level is up to you based on KPIs.

When creating a report we always ensure the details are clear and presented in a visual way, after all this is a creative area of digital marketing.

Any process should be classed as a framework and not a definitive way of working. As with most things it is best to be adaptable so that you can easily react to the market and media.

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BARRIERS TO THE PROCESS An important area to consider when developing content marketing campaigns is that of barriers to the creative process. Being creative doesn’t come easy to everyone and can mean different things to different people.In content marketing being creative can mean anything from identifying gaps in a story or dataset to the actual creation of aesthetically pleasing materials.

One of the best ways to create a concept is to discuss ideas with others, usually we do this during the ideation meeting.

In this meeting people must be open to all ideas, listening to find the hook and story in any discussion. One of the main barriers in such meetings is feeling reserved and having a fear of being mocked. For this reason these meetings should be attended with an open mind as any idea may spark inspiration.

Other barriers to creativity include setting limitations on the data that can be used or having preconceived ideas as to what your audience like or dislike before actually doing the research.

These barriers do not support creative thinking and in turn can affect the whole content marketing process by delaying campaigns and changing narratives so much that the campaign becomes a mixture of hooks and stories.

KEY TAKEAWAYS In summary, like with any process you must identify what works for your business and this can be a case of trial and error. Set KPIs before moving onto concept creation and be sure to discuss concepts with those around you. Take the time to listen to the ideas of others and what’s in the media, and remember to be open to suggestions before testing the idea against a set of questions that look to determine success. When outreaching, be clear as to what you expect from influencers and allow time for PR success. Finally, when reporting, remember to use tools to help showcase your successes.

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SEARCH & DIGITAL MARKETING TRENDS REPORT: EXPERT PREDICTIONS & ANALYSIS FOR 2022 Predicting the future is an inexact science – it’s about trying to assess trends as they are and extending them as logically as possible over time, but it takes a lot of reading – so we did it for you!

The last few years have thrown enough curve balls to keep businesses swinging at thin air, so it pays to have something to focus on to help you prepare as best you can for the things that can be predicted.

All of our experts make sure they’re up to date with the latest trends, research and developments in their particular skillset in order to ensure that our clients are in the best possible condition to face the changes that are approaching, and each year we try to put together some of our most impactful trends and predictions to help our audience do the same.

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CASE STUDY

CLICK CONSULT CASE STUDY

Chums achieve 55% growth in 2021 using broad match keywords

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CASE STUDY

ABOUT THE CLIENT Chums is a mail order company with 40 years of experience, they provide quality clothing and furnishings at fantastic prices. With their customer base firmly at the heart of their business strategy, they are proud of the fact that some of their first customers are still buying 30 years later.

With wide ranges of men’s and women’s clothing on offer, and the recent addition of furnishings for the home and garden, Chums are a company that diversify according to the needs and desires of its customer base, often bringing in ranges at the request of their customers.

OBJECTIVES The challenge for Chums was to build on its success in 2020 by capturing new customers as they continued to move online in the wake of the COVID pandemic. Chums understood that there was still significant opportunity through paid search, and so the challenge was how to reach these new customers in a profitable way in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

HOW WE HELPED Click Consult decided to implement the broad match keywords to tap into more queries and attract incremental traffic to Chums’ website. To begin with, smaller campaigns were placed live, and monitored over a 2 week period. The results were an immediate success, with an increase in conversions at strong ROAS. Following the initial success, Chums implemented broad match campaigns on their core campaigns and again, the results generated immediate results.

RESULTS Since implementing broad match keywords, Chums has seen a a 47% increase in transactions YoY and 9% increase in average order value as they capture new customers on their generic campaigns.

Most importantly these stats are supported by a 62% increase in new customer revenue, meaning a consistent ROAS was maintained against this growth.

47%

INCREASE IN NEW CUSTOMER TRANSACTIONS

62%

INCREASE IN NEW CUSTOMER REVENUE

“

At the start of 2021, we were facing a challenge with growing our generic campaigns profitably. However through adopting a test and learn approach with Google and our agency we are extremely pleased with the uplift in clicks, demand and ROI that has enabled us to scale up sustainably.“ — PAUL GRAY, MARKETING DIRECTOR, CHUMS

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Five Ways To Target Your Content Better - IMMY JONES MARKETING EXECUTIVE

One of the key objectives for digital marketing is to create meaningful, authentic and lasting connections. Through high quality and relevant content to engage your target audience, a marketer must make the experience quintessentially human.

Google’s main aim is to answer user’s questions in a way that is relevant, useful and has excellent user experience (UX). As a marketer, your focus should be on good quality content not only to achieve Google’s primary objective, but also for search engine rankings.

Quality content simply isn’t enough if it isn’t properly targeted. You could come up with an innovative and creative idea, write up and press “publish” to your blog, but that wouldn’t be good practice.

So, what is good practice?

We’re here to help answer that question through our 5 top ways to create fantastic content that meets specific needs and intent.

1. CLARITY IS KEY Our first point may be an obvious one, but it is often overlooked even though its importance is paramount. Spend time to clarify your objectives to help you focus your ideas into content that ensures relevancy. Define what success looks like and be as specific as you possibly can because blindly posting content that will have little reach and engagement will lead to less than satisfactory results. You might be asking “where do I even begin?”

Use our tried and tested template to get you started, a series of questions that can pinpoint exactly what you want your content to achieve. Of course if these questions don’t suit your specific needs, add some in that do.

• •

What message/ image do you want to communicate?

What action do you want your audience to take, are there specific steps?

• •

What are your wider marketing strategies and commercial goals, how does the content support this?

What does success look like, and how is it measured?

Remember that your content marketing objectives have to be aligned with the overall commercial goals of your business. Increasing traffic to the company’s website, driving conversions and creating brand awareness are some common objectives, but aren’t an exhaustive list.

2. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE You’ve finalised your objectives, great! Your content is relevant, thought provoking and of a high quality. Again, that’s great but if it doesn’t actually resonate with your audience you’re not likely to get much engagement or many conversions. You need to stop relying on assumptions about your target audience and start gathering every piece of information you possibly can (that’s relevant to your campaign of course).

The following steps lend a helpful hand for you to reach your target audience:

• • •

Identify customers’ values, goals, challenges and interests, although this takes up a lot of time it is worth it.

Create engaging content that meets the above.

Deliver it in the most suitable format for the content this includes place and time.

It’s a good idea to create multiple buyer personas, which can give an overview of your target customers’ buying habits, interests, motivations and pains. Creating these personas gives you the opportunity to delve deeper into your audience’s needs, and identify the right topics, formats and distribution methods for your content.

• • • •

How and when they use the internet.

The search terms they use.

The way they interact with your content.

Their social media activity.

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3. KEYWORD RESEARCH Keyword research is pivotal to inform your content strategy, but just adding keywords for the sake of it (aka keywordstuffing) is not the right thing to do. Keyword research needs to be relevant to the target audience you’re marketing to, and you also need to see what your customers are searching for.

While volume is important, quality should be the main focus alongside quantity. The question you should ask yourself is not “how many” but “how many of the right kind?”. The searcher’s intent needs to be understood, and keyword research can help with this.

According to Search Engine Land: The user intent of a keyword is the goal of the user typing the search query, and it typically falls into three categories: Do something, know something, or go somewhere. In fact, there’s often more than one intent per query.

By thinking about what people search for at different stages of the buying cycle you can really get to grips with the mindset of the buyers.

At the first stage of the journey potential buyers are possibly more likely to search with problem-based keywords, for example “how to dry out a smartphone”.

Further into the cycle, the buyer finds themself typing solution-based keywords such as “waterproof case for smartphones”. At the decision stage you would expect to see branded keywords like “Samsung case reviews”.

Try to avoid industry jargon as customers are more likely to use natural/ casual language in their searches. Assemble lists of key terms and questions and use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool and Google Trends to find out what the search volume is from your lists, and what should be the focus of your efforts. Ideally you’re looking for the golden ratio of low competition and high volume.

4.TARGET KEYWORDS TO HELP OPTIMISE PAGES Now that you’ve got your keyword/phrase lists ready, you need to know how to best use them. Think strategically about when your target audience is searching, so that they can find you.

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You must also ensure that your keywords (and any synonyms/variants) flow with the natural progression of your copy content, use them in:

• • • •

page titles; H1 headers; image alt tags; meta descriptions.*

*Meta descriptions are possibly the most important factor in a user’s decision about whether your content is relevant to their search query and worth checking out. Remember to include appropriate keywords you’re targeting for the page the user will hopefully go to.

5. TRACK PROGRESS AND TWEAK YOUR APPROACH If you take anything away from this article, please make it be the fact that a content strategy is never finished. It needs ongoing refinement. Google Analytics landing page stats allow you to learn and see the progress of your strategy:

• • • • •

How your content is developing your traffic (New Users/New Sessions).

How well your ‘similar content’ lists or CTAs are working (by analysing bounce rate).

How well your content is performing against specific goals (Goal Conversions/Goal Conversion Rate).

How your content is performing across various platforms (Attribution Modelling).

Whether you’re successfully reaching your target market (Demographics tracking allows you to see a breakdown of visitors to your site by gender and age group and interest categories).

WHAT ARE YOUR VISITORS SEARCHING FOR WHEN THEY’RE ON YOUR SITE? There’s an easy way to answer this question, all you need to do is set up “Site Search” to track what your visitors are typing into the search bar of your site. This data is crucial to learn what exactly customers want, in their own words, ensuring that you can refine and share content that better meets their needs.

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2021: Looking Back on The Year Of Creative Campaigns - KAREN NGAI SENIOR CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIST

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The pandemic accelerated a drastic shift from bricks to clicks, which meant that many brands and businesses have had no choice but to adapt and develop their digital strategies.

In 2022, brands who have already been in the digital marketing and PR sphere will see a surge in newcomers working towards the common goal of attracting new customers and building brand loyalty.

With there being an anticipated rise in competition within this field of work, brands will have to work much smarter for them to be noticed. In order to stand out from the crowd, creative campaigns are almost non-negotiable during this ever growing era of consumer-first mindset. Here are a few things to consider:

The Expanding Digital Demographic Brands and businesses have conventionally formed their digital strategies around the likes and needs of a younger demographic. This assumption is backed up by stats and data that show those aged between 25-34 are the most active on various digital platforms, with those aged 18-24 coming at a close second.

However, with the closure of most physical stores, the pandemic forced many of us to have to shop online. According to IBM’s retail index data, the pandemic is estimated to have caused the world to accelerate the shift to e-commerce by 5 years.

Brands and businesses need to be aware of the expansive growth in internet users across all age groups and address each of these strategically. Most brands and businesses are seasoned experts when it comes to communicating with the tech native Gen Zs and tech-savvy millennials, but lack understanding in digital users of older age groups.

It’s been revealed that those aged between 38 and 54 are the most digitally-engaged generation (Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative), meaning short-form content and microstorytelling won’t be as effective on this group of consumers.

Instead, brands will need to put new efforts and resources into creative campaigns that address the needs and wants of the expanding demographic of digital users. An older age group in the digital sphere may respond better to long-form, investigative and informative content.

When Creativity Meets Data Besides the expanding digital demographic, forming unique ideas are also crucial to creating an impactful campaign. The benefit of having the internet on our fingertips is that there is a vast amount of information available for marketers to use and repurpose. Big data and in-depth research led by corporates, industry leaders and the government are made accessible to the public which means that marketers require creativity when researching for their brands or clients and creativity in recognising how they can leverage these bits of information and create a campaign that would allow a cohesive and compelling narrative to be formed.

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Brands and businesses can start by looking for datasets relevant to their industry and analyse the data by segmentation.

This can be done by temporal trends, by regional differences (or similarities) and more. Additionally, if more than one set of data is available, marketers can consider using a unique scoring system. This allows an interesting comparison within a chosen category.

For example, for one of our clients, Lease Car, we created a unique scoring system that looks at each UK region’s preparedness for an electrical vehicle revolution in line with Boris Johnson’s ‘Ten Point Plan’.

We took 9 UK regions and scored them based on 4 different EV-ready markers: The number of licensed EV cars in the region per 100,000 people; the number of rapid charging devices in the region per 100,000 people; the number of regular charging devices in the region per 100,000 people; and the total CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) caused by transport in each region in 2018. Each of these were based on unique datasets but were put together to create a strong story and narrative and generate success amongst influencers and journalists alike.

When Creativity Meets Innovation Digital disruption has accelerated innovations such as marketing using new forms of mediums for brands and businesses to use as part of their creative strategies.

Brands in the coming year need to understand that it isn’t just about creating unique ideas, but instead diversifying from conventional mediums, like infographics, videos and interactives and realising that you can present these same ideas in new, more exciting medium forms.

Brands need to be visible in order to reach existing and future customers, which then leads onto conversion, engagement and further advocacy of the brand. Creative campaigns are fundamental to achieving the first of the 4-step process.

In recent years, brands are putting more emphasis in experiential story-telling for their consumers. For example, one of the most effective new mediums is augmented reality.

These take products and creative campaigns as we know them, and repurpose these into a more interactive and lively medium.

For businesses and brands wanting to give these new (slightly foreign) mediums a go, you can collaborate with an expert within the field and make use of their expertise to create an impactful creative campaign together.

Cultivating Brand Loyalty Through Community On the topic of finding new ways to engage with consumers, On the topic of finding new ways to engage with consumers, brands and businesses are conventionally highly focused on using emotive campaigns to spark an instant connection with their customers. These are often one-off and focus on triggering a specific emotional response, like humour, sadness and even anger.

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However, after the pandemic years, consumers aren’t just passively waiting for an interesting brand to come by, but are eagerly looking to participate in a community of value, where they can stay connected with like-minded people.

Lotus Bakeries, ranked as one of the best brand improvers of 2020, created a stream of organic Instagram content showcasing what normal people made for breakfast amidst lockdown. The Drum reports that ‘[t]his offered a space and community for people to connect and share ideas for recipes using the brand’s products’.

Where brands and businesses previously focused on establishing a recognizable identity, in order to maintain or foster success, the coming year will be about using creative campaigns to weave your brand into everyday conversations.

Marketers need to stay in the know and be observant over emerging conversation topics that can be transformed into creative campaigns.

Brands with a Purpose Besides the pandemic, the last few years have been charged with social awakening. We’ve just gone through a period of time that has forced many of us as people to question and reevaluate our values. And as a result, we have seen strides being made in various issues including racial disparity, environmental issues and gender inequality.

Consumers recognise that businesses have an immense impact on our society and the world, and are therefore demanding much more transparency and efforts in showing their support for these social issues. They are now actively looking for brands that not only reflect their personal values but are actively taking part in these difficult conversations and driving change.

Brands and businesses not only have to be more conscious and deliberate with their messaging, but use creative campaigns to address otherwise sensitive conversations.

Those that do it well, and correctly, are often rewarded with long term brand loyalty and support.

In the coming year, brands and businesses will have to work smarter and harder in order to stay relevant in the fast evolving landscape of consumer desires and going digital is only part of that ‘recipe’. Consumers will develop more loyalty with those brands that are devising purposeful and creative marketing strategies.

Campaigns play a huge part in successful digital marketing strategies, however, in order to do so you need to first understand what is required for a campaign to be successful in the coming year. This includes understanding the needs and wants of the expanding digital demographic; generating unique ideas; exploring and utilising new medium forms; and weaving your brand into the everyday lives of your consumers by getting involved in both everyday and important conversations.

KNOWLEDGE BASE

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Buzzwords, Crystal Balls and Clashing Waves : Demystifying The Digital PR Process - DAMIEN HORWOOD DIGITAL PR EXECUTIVE

“IF I WAS DOWN TO MY LAST DOLLAR, I'D SPEND IT ON PUBLIC RELATIONS” - BILL GATES

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buzzwords

buzzwords

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THE PR PARADOX

There There is is an an old old saying saying that that advertising advertising is is telling telling everyone everyone how how great you are but PR is getting other people to great you are but PR is getting other people to say say it it for for you. you.

In In that that sense, sense, PR PR is is almost almost a a paradox paradox -- it’s it’s about about promoting promoting your your business business or or brand… brand… to to encourage encourage others others to to promote promote your your business business or or brand… brand… without without looking looking like like you’re you’re the the one one promoting your business or brand. promoting your business or brand.

If If you’re you’re looking looking for for an an official official definition, definition, PR PR is is usually usually described described as as “a “a strategic strategic communication communication process process that that builds builds relationships relationships between between organisations organisations and and their their public”. public”. This This is is important important when when we’re we’re considering considering the the difference difference between between traditional traditional PR PR efforts efforts and and Digital Digital PR PR -- because because the the goal goal and and how how we we achieve achieve it it has has (for (for the the most most part) part) remained remained the the same, same, all all that’s that’s changed changed is is where. where.

The The public public is is online; online; it’s it’s where where we we work, work, socialise, socialise, shop shop and and even even find find love. love. It’s It’s our our first first port port of of call call whenever whenever we we don’t don’t know know something something and and most most importantly importantly (for (for Digital Digital PR PR anyway) anyway) it’s it’s where where we we consume consume content content and and news. news. So So it it only only makes makes sense sense that that if if you you are are looking looking to to build build a a relationship relationship between between your your brand brand and and the the public, public, you’d you’d do do it it online. online.

So So that’s that’s precisely precisely what what Digital Digital PR PR does does -- we we create create and and distribute engaging content online, so that users are distribute engaging content online, so that users are aware aware of of different different brands, brands, can can form form opinions opinions on on what what these these companies companies are are saying, saying, and and eventually eventually grow grow to to trust trust them, them, recommend recommend them them and and even even buy buy from from them. them.

Put Put simply simply Digital Digital PR PR is is a a promotional promotional marketing marketing tactic tactic used used to to increase a company’s online presence.

It is a measurable increase a company’s online presence. It is a measurable and and strategic strategic tool tool to to help help drive drive brand brand awareness, awareness, search search traffic, traffic, backlinks, social engagement, and sales. backlinks, social engagement, and sales.

PR + SEO: GOOGLE’S TRUST VS USER’S TRUST

Why WhatDigital DigitalPR PRisn’t isn’tisislink linkbuilding. building.

Yes Yes it it can can generate generate high high quality quality backlinks backlinks that that can can help help drive drive organic rankings organic rankings and, and, ultimately, ultimately, pass pass authority authority to to a a site site and and build build up up Google’s Google’s trust, trust, but but Digital Digital PR PR is is about about so so much much more more than that. that. than Digital PR is ais marketing tacticused usedtotoimpress impressGoogle users and and Link building an SEO tactic, prove to them why theyisshould trust aDigital brandPR or is website. make them think a site trustworthy. a marketing tactic used to impress users and prove to them why they Digital targets highly should PR trust a brand or relevant website.and It’s authoritative this end goalsites, that such sets as publications, that users are already visiting and that thenews two apart. they trust. It shares content with these sites, content that is unique,PR informative and relevant relevantand to the users lives.

Content Digital targets highly authoritative sites, such that theypublications, naturally want tousers shareare and engage with. and Content as news that already visiting that that strengthens thecontent bond with between brand and they trust. It shares theseuser sites,and content that is ultimately builds trust. unique, informative and relevant to the users lives. Content that they naturally want to share and engage with. Content that strengthens the bond between user and brand and ultimately builds trust.

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And if that content is linking, then great! You’ve managed to increase Google’s trust as well, and obviously the more links you get from high authority sites the more of that trust you’ll earn and the bigger impact you’ll have on organic rankings and SEO. But that’s just a bonus not the goal.

To amend that earlier saying: “SEO is showing everyone (including Google) you have an amazing website and PR is proving it’s more than the site”. The two work best when they’re used in conjunction, a good digital PR strategy can convince everyone you have an amazing online brand, but a poor website is going to undermine user trust so you still need that technical SEO strategy.

BUT HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Here at Click Consult, we have two main approaches for how we offer Digital PR as a service; traditional Hero campaigns and Always-On. Our traditional Hero campaigns are ‘big splash’ style campaigns that are usually a one off and receive both Digital PR and Influencer Marketing. These campaigns follow our standardised content marketing process.

There are five key steps: define KPIs, initial research, concept development, outreach and reporting. This process is a collaboration between both the Content Marketing and Digital PR teams to ensure that all campaigns have clear and measurable strategies for each discipline. Once a campaign idea has been fleshed out and developed, it is distributed to journalists.

The aim of this approach is to create as large an impact as possible, generate extensive coverage across a range of media, and get people to take notice of the brand. However due to work required and length of this process this often results in an almost wave of brand awareness for the client, which naturally peaks and dips depending on where in the process the next campaign is up to.

To make matters more complicated, that wave is often competing against a different one - the news cycle. Reader (and therefore journalist) interest in different topics naturally ebbs and flows, what was a hot topic last week is now of little interest as new stories break and while some topics may come back others won’t. Sometimes these waves are in sync and a new campaign launches at the height of public interest and sometimes they’re not and a great campaign can struggle to get the attention it deserves.

Which is where our ‘always-on’ approach comes in.

This approach is designed to ride that wave of public interest and adapt to the news cycle in real time instead of trying to force the cycle to adapt to campaign timescales. In order to be successful we have broken this approach into three distinct strategies; Reactive, Proactive and Newsjacking.

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REACTIVE

As the name suggests, our reactive strategy is focused around actively responding to opportunities in real time. This is most commonly achieved through closely monitoring everything from news aggregators to Twitter, and services like Response Source. Essentially, you are waiting for something to come in that you are prepared to jump on. Preparation is the key.

This reactive approach shouldn’t be a mad scramble trying to figure out the plan - instead it’s being aware of all the different tools you already have at your disposal and being creative with how you can use them.

Perhaps a journalist sends out a request for expert quotes on a story they’re working on, and you already have a similar quote from an older press release that has been signed off, meaning you can quickly jump on this opportunity. Or a couple of news organisations publish stories about an increase in litter due to the warm weather and you have a previous hero campaign covering this topic, perfect for reissuing now that the wave of interest is working in your favour.

PROACTIVE

But why play catch up if you can lead the pack? More often than not it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see what’s coming, just a keen eye, an ear to the ground, a bit of creativity and the occasional bold act. Most trending topics don’t just spring out of the ground overnight, they are often being discussed in great detail beforehand by people in that industry i.e. public interest is there, which is why a journalist eventually covers that story. Using social listening tools and immersing yourself into that client’s world, you can often spot a future trending topic before it breaks (afterall most PR professionals are trained journalists).

Which is where being proactive comes into play. Create content, or short statements, in advance - reach out to journalists in that field and ask them what they’re working on and if they need any help. Create thought leadership pieces that establish your client’s position on topical issues such as sustainability or social issues, especially if their competitors are yet to comment as this can help establish your client as an authority and influence customers who share those same beliefs - however, don’t try to force yourself into every trending issue, be authentic and make sure it’s a natural fit and therefore relevant.

NEWSJACKING

Truthfully, ‘newsjacking’ is little more than the buzzword du jour. In practice it is similar to the reactive approach, however the key difference is timing. Just as with reactive, the aim is to jump on current news stories and insert yourself or client into the narrative. The methods for doing this are mostly the same as well.

However, with newsjacking, speed is key. The term is mostly used to describe hijacking a breaking news story within the first hour of its lifetime, as most news stories will naturally evolve as more details become known or more context is added. This is where the opportunity lies to hijack it.

Obviously this only works when what you’re attempting to add to the story has editorial value. No journalist is going to insert your comment or link to your company if it doesn’t add real value to the readers.

Just because you’re moving fast doesn’t change the rules of the game - as with all PR success, relevant, engaging content is key.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In summary, like all things in life, PR has changed and evolved with the digital world, and no one approach in isolation is effective. Blanket issuing a press release, hoping for a bite, and twiddling your thumbs while you wait, is never going to be a recipe for success. Neither will jumping on every opportunity and topic you see, however, or aggressively hounding overworked journalists for potential opportunities.

In order to see the best success from Digital PR, you need to take a blended approach and figure out which strategies work best for you. Remember, there will always be times when a campaign or an opportunity doesn’t take off in the way you think it should, you just have to keep riding the wave until the next opportunity presents itself.

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The Impact and Successes of User-focused Content - SARAH MACKLIN SENIOR USER FOCUSED CONTENT STRATEGIST

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As a marketer, you’re trained to remain focused on your brand and its success - leads, conversions, CTAs, clicks, engagement, traffic, shares, etc. For this reason, it’s likely that all of your marketing endeavours share one main goal: to increase any or all of the above. But when this is your endgame, it’s easy to forget the thing that you rely on in order to succeed - the customer.

Customers are targeted by thousands of ads every day, many of which they don’t wish to see and aren’t seeking out. So what if you could target your customers with content that they are physically looking for?

When you begin and end with the user in mind, you can create content that specifically solves their problems, reveals the answers they need and provides them with helpful, interesting and accurate information. While this content shouldn’t sell products, contain complex buzzwords and industry language or be all about the brand, it can increase your organic visibility and sessions.

This type of copy is known as user-focused (or sometimes, customer-focused) content.

WHAT IS USER-FOCUSED CONTENT? Content is still powerful, no matter what some marketers or SEOs say on the subject, but it can only be so if it has a true purpose - writing content for contents’ sake is likely a waste of time and money, and a strategy that gives this practice a false reputation. It also needs to be good quality, accurate and demonstrate expertise to Google.

In order to produce such copy, you need to consider the user and create content for them (not because of them). This is exactly what user-focused content is.

First, you need to first understand what potential customers are asking. These could be questions directly about a product, such as: • • •

How can my business benefit from a CRM? How to install a smart doorbell What size collar do I need for my dog?

But, the questions can also be more general, though still focused on a certain industry or area of expertise, such as: • • •

How to grow a business How can I keep my home secure?

What are the best times to walk a dog?

These questions are still really relevant to what a brand offers and sells (in our example, this could be CRMs, smart doorbells and dog accessories), but the latter questions are informational and not product-led.

All of those examples provided could be used to create your user-focused content strategy. Based on the questions you identify during your keyword research, a full and relevant content strategy can be formed that directly answers such queries. The content is usually placed on a blog or content hub for users to find when they Google the query, helping to bring in relevant, organic traffic.

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WHAT SUCCESSES CAN USER-FOCUSED CONTENT BRING TO YOUR BUSINESS? As we’ve discussed, user-focused content is there primarily for the user, but the content isn’t beneficial in any way unless people can find it and read it. So when the strategy is working, what kinds of results and successes can you expect to see?

1. Improved SERP visibility User-focused content can increase your site’s visibility in Google SERPs, and not just that of the article that you’ve created but potentially site-wide. But how exactly does it do this?

Google has been very specific (for once) about the role content plays in your SEO strategy. In fact, they explicitly state that you should: “Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site.”

While here, Google is referring to content all over your site, including commercial pages, they also mention that such copy should be ‘useful’ - one of the primary objectives of user-focused content.

This form of content also appeases Google’s E-A-T update.

E-A-T stands for expertise, authority and trust and is an update that Google initially rolled out in 2018. Today, it’s still one of the most important updates yet, because it analyses how trustworthy and authoritative a site is to determine where it will rank.

So, when your site is trustworthy and authoritative and contains content that appeals to Google’s E-A-T update, Google is likely to favour your website and show both the article pages and the product pages in the top SERP positions.

The more you can build up your content hub/blog, the better. Not only does fresh content encourage Google to recrawl your website, but you can also begin to build up a solid internal linking structure between your articles and your products/services.

2. Improved organic traffic With increased SERP visibility comes increased traffic, providing the keywords you’re targeting have volume.

In the examples we provided above, ‘what are the best times to walk a dog’ has a monthly average search volume of 90 and ‘how to grow a business’ has 390 searches a month. This is potential traffic that you could direct straight to your site via the content you’ve written.

In some cases, we’ve seen user-focused content pages receive more organic traffic than the main homepage. This is generally because user-focused keywords tend to be long-tail, and therefore less competitive. Instead of targeting queries such as ‘dog collars’ and ‘home insurance’, the content title is longer and more specific, so these keywords may be less competitive. When competitiveness is down, it’s slightly easier to reach top positions and bring in plenty of relevant traffic.

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3. Increased chance of building links Building links to a website is still hugely important, particularly if you want to prove that you’re authoritative, but this task isn’t always easy. User-focused content could make the link building process a little easier. This is because these pages can build links naturally, if they include quality content that’s unique and interesting.

Other sites are more likely to link to an article, either because it contains information they’re referencing in their own guide or because they think their readers would like to read what you have to say.

If you currently have some sort of outreach strategy in place, you could encourage link building to your content pages, and use internal links to filter the new-found authority through to other important areas of the site, like the homepage or main product page.

4. Gives you something to share on social, in e-newsletters, e-books, etc.

Social media can provide you with so much visibility, but sometimes, you can just run out of ideas. It isn’t easy to constantly find and provide content that can be pushed out multiple times a day to your followers.

However, when you’re regularly updating a blog with new content, whether it be a couple of times a day or a few times a month, you have the option to push these out on your social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Encourage users to read the hub and explore some of the user-focused content.

Google really loves this kind of informational, helpful content that is there to assist the user. In fact, the search engine is showing even more favourability by ranking these types of pages over product pages.

For instance, a quick search for ‘heat pumps’ shows a real mixture of results. Not only do you have Wikipedia articles, guides and news publications explaining what heat pumps are, but also product pages from top manufacturers.

With all of these successes, creating user-focused content is almost a no-brainer.

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12 STEPS

12 STEPS TO CAMPAIGN SUCCESS

12 Steps to Campaign Success Here at Click Consult we know the importance of a well thought out campaign strategy. We understand the importance of getting the right message to the right people and the components of getting an idea from initial meetings to the client. Here is our 12 step approach.

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12 STEPS

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Campaign analysis

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Reporting

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Campaign distributed to the media

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Begin PR and influencer outreach

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Campaign and social launch

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Press releases written

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Landing page and supporting blogs creation

5

Campaign design

4

Write content briefs

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Prepare Content exploration document

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Research and Ideation

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Why Creativity is the Key to Success - LISA ANNE MITTAL DIGITAL DESIGN EXECUTIVE

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When creativity is mentioned, many people will picture an artist painting a masterpiece, or even a writer at their desk working on their latest novel; not many people think of an entrepreneur or a CEO in a suit. Yet creativity is a key skill in business - it enables alternative ways of thinking that lead to innovation, and creates new avenues to success. Creativity has now gone from a luxury, to a 21st century survival skill.

LinkedIn has named it as one of the most demanded skills, and researchers have named it as one of the top three skills required for business, but what exactly is it? How can we use it for growth and success?

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? Creativity is something we are all born with. As children, we look at everything from a fresh perspective, our minds are open to new ways of thinking and we look at everything with wonder, making all sorts of connections and imagining the impossible. This makes creative possibilities seem abundant, with our imagination at its peak. As we get older, we get used to the world around us and most of us start looking at things that we once thought were magical, as mundane. Our perspective and mind change to focus on what is familiar and what fits in with society’s norms, the new connections we used to make start to diminish.

For some, it may seem like our creativity has faded away, and we may question if we are still creative at all, but our creative imagination didn’t disappear, it simply transformed.

It is this transformation that is key to business success. Our creative ideas shift from ideas of two-headed dragons and fairy superpowers to something less fantastical, an innovative new product, for example. There might be a mystic aura around creativity and what it actually is that makes it seem unattainable for some, but the definition of creativity is actually pretty simple. Once the term creativity is understood, you realise that you can still be as creative, if not more, than when you were a child.

According to Wikipedia, creativity is ‘A phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible, such as an idea, or a physical object, such as a painting.’

To put it simply, creativity is the process of creation. So what exactly happens during this process?

THE CREATIVE PROCESS The creative process is simply the act of connecting existing ideas to make new ones. It is the realisation of relationships between two concepts that makes it possible to join them.

That’s right, most new ideas in the world are just the connection of existing things. Most paintings are just the blending of existing items, no matter how surreal or unusual they may seem. It is all about seeing connections.

When creating anything, whether it be a new business idea, book or design, there is normally a five-step process that happens, albeit subconsciously. These can also be used as steps that you can turn to for help to explore creativity.

1. Preparation This can be anything from gathering research or materials, deciding what it is you want to focus on or identifying problems.

2. Incubating This is where you take the materials from step one and mull them over, analyse them and work through the material in your mind.

3. Stepping away Step four normally happens subconsciously, so it is often a good idea to step away from what you have been working on at this point to let your brain work its magic.

4. Light bulb moment This is when your brain finally makes the connections between the materials and insights arise.

5. Testing Once the concept has appeared, write it all down, get it all out, start the painting. Check through it to make sure it works, it’s possible, aesthetic or useful. Use critical thinking to refine the work.

That is it - the magical creative process summarised in five steps. Although these are common steps for the creative process, some creative people do not always follow them.

Their minds can be non-linear, they may jump from step four to step one, then step three. They may possess certain characteristics or traits that make the path to connections easier, so they can skip out some of the steps. They can create their own individual process with whatever works for them.

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THE TOP FIVE TRAITS OF CREATIVE PEOPLE While we all have access to creativity, the people who are able to access it more frequently and easily tend to have key characteristics. It can make it easier for them to make connections and get new ideas, which leads to more creativity. These characteristics can often be advantageous for businesses, let’s explore them.

1. Curiosity Many creative people are curious about the word. They are interested in learning new things, are adventurous with their skills and like to make new connections. This is great for businesses as creative people are more likely to develop new skills which in turn can make them perform better. Since their minds are open and they are always reaching out, it makes them more likely to ‘bring more to the table’. Even if their thoughts are not primarily related to the business, they might still have a tangible impact. Their curiosity also leads to questions and challenging issues, which may refine processes in your business, or lead to new paths and business opportunities.

2. Playfulness Creative people tend to be more experimental and playful than usual. They are not afraid to try new ideas, play around with them to find what works best and not take things too seriously. They tend to not put pressure on themselves to get things right the first time and see work as more of an experimental journey. They may also be flexible and experiment with their work process, even if it is just working with a different colleague for a change or using different software. Breakthroughs can happen when you simply experiment, new and exciting ideas can be brought to businesses this way.

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3. Passionate When someone is creative, they tend to have a lot of focus, drive and passion. They can be very energetic, enthusiastic and dedicated about their work which leads to them being patient until they get it right, and are satisfied with the result.

This is beneficial as creatives don’t tend to stop until they produce the highest quality they are capable of. They are ambitious and normally do what it takes to achieve their goals. Their energy and passion can also be passed on to other team members, which results in more involvement and a better work outcome.

4. Attentive Creatives tend to be very thorough, they look at issues and their work from many different perspectives to make sure all areas are covered. They can test lots of different solutions and pay attention to the smallest details. This can be very useful when analysing business or customer needs which can lead to unique ways to engage or design unique products.

5. Imaginative Creative people tend to have a great balance between fantasy and reality - they have their heads in the clouds while keeping their feet on the ground. They are very open-minded and can make unseen connections between the world and their ideas. This can lead to imaginative solutions to issues and solving real-world problems.

Now we have looked at some of the traits of creative people and how they can benefit businesses, we will explore how it all fits together to lead to success.

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WHY CREATIVITY IS KEY We are living in a time of change. The pandemic forced businesses to update quickly and move online. Businesses need to be more creative than ever to get attention, update and survive. The fast-paced economy favours companies that are fast-thinking, flexible and innovative. Outdated processes need to be looked at with fresh eyes, new methods need to be thought of and introduced, and boundaries need to be pushed. Creativity can offer this edge, it can solve problems and help uncover unique solutions to keep a business on top. Creative thinking also allows new products and services to be introduced, helping to distinguish a business from its competition.

Creativity helped businesses survive throughout the pandemic; new solutions were introduced to cater to government rules. In many ways it was a test to see how flexible companies could be, and to see if they were prepared for managing unpredictable events. Businesses that adapted well in the response to the pandemic not only survived, but also gained customer respect, loyalty and reinforced confidence both within the company and the industry. Creativity is the best tool to help adjust to and conquer hardships.

There is so much competition for business in the modern world, and endless amounts of content, making it very difficult to capture customer attention. The ways in which businesses interact with customers should be thoroughly explored, with creative solutions for engagement sought to earn loyalty and to bring new business. This requires attention to detail and thoroughness, along with imagination and critical thinking.

As the world develops, more issues arise. Take global warming, for example, previous ideas caused this, and now we need to find new ideas to help resolve it or adapt it. Creativity can be used for the social good of the world, to refine society and benefit everyone. Many companies are introducing new processes to help with global warming, plastic waste and other social issues. This has slowly started to become the norm and, without coming up with creative solutions to join the movement, businesses may be left behind.

Some industries may not see themselves as creative, as there are set patterns and rules that need to be followed. Creativity can still help here, it can help reveal opportunities to make them accessible. Whatever goal you have in mind, creativity will assist. Creatives are often known as problem solvers, people who can look at any issue and come up with a great solution. They are able to face challenges more easily, with flexibility and innovative thinking. Creative problem solving can turn any problem into a solution, no matter what the topic.

Another reason creativity is important is the inevitable takeover of AI in businesses. A new study from Oxford showed that computers could take over most jobs that do not require a personal touch. Humans will require creative intelligence, unique problem solving and flexibility to survive and thrive in the AI workforce of the future.

Tangible benefits of creativity within a company can be vast, including increased productivity, increased market share, better employee retention, increased revenue, an ability to adapt to challenges and getting ahead of competitors. Go ahead, play with that idea, explore something new and see where it takes you.

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”

- EDWARD DE BONO

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HOW TO BOOST YOUR CREATIVITY The great thing about creativity is that the more creativity you use, the more creativity you have. It is an infinite resource that is always available. For those who do not frequently get a chance to use their creative mind, their creativity may seem to dwindle, and it can be hard to access when they need it.

Think of it like a muscle, if you never work out, how are you going to do those 50 push-ups? Our fast-paced modern lives and the multitude of stresses and distractions in them, make it hard to nurture creative minds and access creativity. Even the most creative people can sometimes struggle to tap into their creativity. Luckily there are many ways to get past the creative block and open your mind..

The right environment Creating a calm, inspiring environment is important for creativity. Light a candle to help you relax, declutter your space to clear your mind or add an inspiring image to your desk. Think of what will work for you and try to include this in your space.

The colour blue Have you ever felt creatively inspired while walking along the beach, with a bright blue sky and deep blue ocean? One of the reasons is that the colour blue is very dominant. Studies have shown that the colour blue has been found to make people more creative, why not paint a wall blue or wear a blue shirt to work?

Use pen and paper Technology is great, but sometimes taking a break from a screen and using just a pen and piece of paper will get your mind flowing. Try doodling to take you back to that child-like state of mind, or draw a mind map to get your ideas down and start to see the connections.

Day-dream Take regular breaks to let your mind wander. One of the big blocks to creativity is that we can be constantly entertained.

People never stare into space anymore - that’s when your brain just plays around and ideas are formed. You may be surprised at what connections your brain makes when you start to think about how old that tree you can see out your window is...

Move around Feeling a little stuck? Exercise increases blood flow and allows more oxygen and nutrients to enter the brain. This could be just what you need to wake you up and get more energy to the brain to allow new connections to form. Even going for a quick walk to get some fresh air, spend time in nature and change your surroundings can help you reach a breakthrough.

Take a shower As mentioned earlier in this article, creative breakthroughs tend to happen subconsciously, when you are relaxed and not forcing yourself to focus. You will be surprised at how many ideas come to mind while you are relaxing under a hot running shower.

Try something new Starting new hobbies can create new connections in the brain that will help to boost creativity. Take the plunge and finally start that new hobby you have been wanting to try.

Exercise your brain This can be as simple as doing some puzzles, but there are many great books out there with creative exercises to get your creative mind ticking. Have a look online and find the right one for you.

Make connections Since creativity and new ideas are all about connections, start training your brain to make more connections. One exercise to get you started is to take two seemingly unrelated objects or words, and try to create a new product or business idea using them both. Alternatively, just start mind mapping!

“The rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them.

If you don’t know it’s impossible, it’s easier to do.”

- NEIL GAIMAN

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HOW TO BOOST CREATIVITY IN THE WORKPLACE Here are some ways you can nurture creativity in the workplace: Environmental changes Consider how sound, colour, temperature and lighting affects staff. Ambient noise levels work best for encouraging creativity, along with blue decor and a temperature of around 22 degrees. Make sure there is space for ideas to bloom, with whiteboards, sofas and notepads. Why not also add some mood boosting plants and a relaxation area for staff?

Hire diverse talent As previously mentioned, the creative process is the joining of two existing ideas. The more diverse the staff are, the more unique ideas and points of view the team will have to connect and create. Studies show that papers co-authored by diverse groups were cited more often.

Offer support and encourage individuality Let employees know you value their uniqueness and ideas and give them space to grow. If staff feel appreciated, they are more likely to go the extra mile and reward you with their hard work and ideas.

Have a suggestion box and act on good ideas Let employees suggest ideas anonymously, either online or in a box in the office. Some people are more likely to submit their ideas anonymously. Staff may only submit genuine ideas if they know they are going to be implemented. Appreciate the thought and work employees have put in by really doing something with them to help the business, then make them feel appreciated.

Create room for growth Schedule in mind mapping sessions, allow staff to pass on knowledge and skills they have to other colleagues and pencil in some time for staff to learn new skills. This will open their mind, encourage communication and keep their mind fresh.

Plan social events To keep everyone connected, schedule regular social events for staff to enjoy. If in-person is not possible, take it online. This will not only bring the team closer and create relationships to allow creativity to grow, but it will also give everyone some time to relax and reset their mind.

Flexible working The pandemic forced a shift for people to work from home and even once restrictions were lifted, many businesses moved to hybrid working. The good news here is that working from home can actually increase creativity. Employees can get more comfortable at home, they feel less stressed, are more able to play around with ideas and productivity is normally increased.

Group exercises Get the team together for a 20-minute creativity boosting session, doing exercises that promote creative thinking: • • • • •

Word association games Make up your own ‘what do you get when...’ jokes Drawing visual connections between two objects Creative writing using images or objects as prompts Thinking of alternative uses for everyday items

Whether it is adapting through a pandemic, gaining customer attention or finding new business opportunities; creativity is the key when making any business succeed. By tapping into creativity and boosting creativity in the workplace, more doors can open than ever thought possible and tangible benefits can be revealed. Include more creative activities in your work and your life, and see what new connections you can make.

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