Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, an integrated marketing communications firm.
She’s the lead blogger at the PR marketing blog, Spin Sucks, and co-author of “Marketing in the Round.”
If that wasn’t impressive enough, Gini is the co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications in social media.
On this podcast, Gini discusses how thinking for yourself is the key to great marketing. She also shares powerful social media tips to help her reader’s grow their marketing base.
Don’t Always Default to the Cookie-Cutter Approach
Even though popular opinion might have decided that some techniques are more effective than others, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, thinking outside the box is the best way to go.
For instance, Gini brings up the concept that 2pm on Thursday is the best time to post something. However, if everyone follows that advice, then that’s no longer the best time to post something.
While you shouldn’t do away with common knowledge, you should embrace your creativity and inner iconoclast, as this is where the best techniques originate from, until they’re driven into the ground, of course.
Will Conversational Interfaces Become the Future of Content Marketing?
Some marketers believe that chat bots and programs like Amazon’s Alexa will usher in a new era of content marketing.
Gini believes this is happening, but not as quickly as some people have predicted. She believes it will be a slow process that will drag out further than 2018.
That’s not to say there aren’t already marketers doing interesting things with AI. Much of it, in fact, is being done with Facebook Messenger, such as sending receipts to customers and creating your own chat-bots.
Gini also believes that VR will take a while before it becomes a vital part of the culture and, by extension, marketing.
Podcasts, on the other hand, are proving to be an effective and popular form of communication. According to Modern Gentlemen, podcasts were the 7th most used media service in 2019, and can put your content in front of a unique and consistent audience.
It’s a Pay to Play World
With the new algorithms employed by Facebook, which make it exponentially harder for business to earn a place on your feed, Gini believes that paying for an online presence to going to become the new normal, if it hasn’t already.
On the other hand, videos are still able to get some pretty decent engagement without ads.
In fact, Gini tried to put money behind some videos, but found that they weren’t doing that much better. Organic results were about the same as paid results.
However, videos are the outlier.
How Important Will Video Become on Facebook?
We know now that videos still do well in Facebook’s new algorithm, but how important will they become?
Some marketers believe that Facebook will come to rival YouTube in the near future. Live video, in particular, has become incredibly effective, as it is placed high in the Facebook algorithm.
It’s also important that you turn blog posts into videos. This is will both bring people to the blog posts and allow you to make a video with pre-prepared material.
One small thing: remember to always post a raw video. Simply posting a link will not result in the same amount of organic reach.
Building a Brand Over Building Content
In the past, marketers have been primarily concerned with creating content for their brands. However, in the modern era, many marketers believe that the individual content isn’t as important as the brand’s overall reputation.
In other words, it’s about building a relationship with the consumers.
Gini doesn’t disagree.
A big part of this new approach is bringing consumers under your umbrella before attempting sell to them. Create an area where they feel comfortable, then make your move. Since they already trust and like you, they are far more likely to buy.
Has Marketing Gotten More Creative?
Gini finds that there’s less of an emphasis on written content than in the past, and more marketers are focusing on video and podcasting, which isn’t necessarily more creative, but different.
However, Gini does point out that creativity is the key to your success as a marketer – doing things that other people haven’t even thought of doing.
Even if your product is as boring as locks and doors, there are ways to produce interesting content. In fact, Gini has a client that does just that. They started doing video blogging and it took off, because they were tackling topics and fun facts about locks that people didn’t know about. And it worked!
It’s also worth mentioning that interactive content is gaining in popularity, such as quizzes.
Is SEO Getting More Difficult?
Some marketers are predicting lower website traffic, partially due to Google’s search result pages. Therefore, your SEO efforts are going to become more strenuous.
Gini adds that publishers are seeing a big decline in website traffic, as well, so this will be a new digital world that marketers will need to adapt to.
This is especially true with the rising popularity of voice search, which will complicate things further.
Will SMS Texting Become a Larger Part of Marketing?
As individual personalization becomes a larger focus in marketing, so does SMS texting. As time progresses, texting from businesses will likely become a two-way street, instead of the automated messages currently being sent out.
While Gini believes that personalized, two-way texting is inevitable, she doesn’t see it coming in the near-future.
Currently, receiving a text message from a business feels a bit intrusive, as texting is a more personal form of communication than an email. That’s a perception that marketers need to overcome.
Will Brands Put Their Content Exclusively on Platforms?
As platforms like Facebook and Instagram gain in public prominence and become more apart of the culture, there’s a chance that brands will use these platforms exclusively, instead of their own website.
Gini doesn’t quite buy this.
She points out that with Facebook’s algorithmic changes, companies began wondering if they wanted to put all their weight on a third party that might not have their best interests in mind. Therefore, sudden reliance on these third party platforms seems unlikely at best.
ABOUT GINI DIETRICH
Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro, and co-author of Marketing In the Round.
Gini is the author of the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, which is a 2012 Cision Top 100 Blog, the 2010 and 2011 Readers Choice Blog of the Year, a Top 42 Content Marketing Blog from Junta42, a top 10 social media blog from Social Media Examiner, and an AdAge Power 150 blog. And she is co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications, social media, and where they all meet and intersect.
