The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

The ever-evolving world of digital media can be challenging to stay up-to-date with all of the changes, but if you are selling digital media and want to do it effectively, it is a challenge you must take! 

So where you do you start? There is so much information available and it can feel overwhelming. I would recommend that you find a handful of different resources that you turn to on a regular basis. I like to think about resources in categories – those that help keep me up to date on what is coming and what is changing in digital media, tools to gain insight about a company’s website and those that help me stay current on consumer trends.

Below are 12 of my favorite digital resources:

Websites:

When I was about 10 years old, I was chosen to represent my school in a storytelling festival. I spent weeks rehearsing a story about a terrifying gorilla. I can still remember that nervous feeling as I began to tell my story to a room full of strangers. As I told my story, that feeling quickly turned to excitement and a sense of accomplishment. It was at that moment that I first realized the tremenous power of storytelling.

That power is more relevant than ever today—when salespeople are challenged to explain Google Analytics to their clients. And to make those analytics tell a powerful story.

Over the past few months, I have had a lot of questions from salespeople regarding Google Analytics. They want to know how website analytics can help them show the performance of the campaigns they’re running for clients. The answer is not just in the numbers, but also in how you use the numbers in a narrative that makes the performance come alive.

Website analytics are loaded with information, and with thoughtful analysis, insight as well. Simply communicating numbers from a client’s Google Analytics report might put your client to sleep, but you can strike gold if you can draw them in with a story of how the campaign is achieving results. In order to tell your story, you need to gain access to their analytics, of course, but equally important, you need to have a clear picture of what they want to accomplish with their campaign.  

For some clients, you can look to the basic metrics like site traffic, time spent on site, or bounce rate. These can provide a general understanding of the traffic that you might be driving to a website, or if visitors are spending more time on the site as a result of a campaign. But the lines begin to blur if there are multiple resources directing potential consumers to a website. 

So where do you start?  

Over the past couple of months, I have read numerous blogs and articles regarding the increased focus from marketers on proving ROI in 2014. The stories have ranged from specific advertising platforms to overall marketing efforts.  The demand to prove a positive return on investment is high and difficult. Part of the challenge is that while marketers are looking at individual metrics for each platform they are utilizing, the consumer is typically being influenced and engaging with multiple platforms in their path-to-purchase. 

So how do you help to prove ROI in a world where consumers are more connected than ever? 

Another new year is quickly approaching and 2014 will be here before you know it. Each new year produces a multitude of predictions around what trends to be aware of in the next year. This is not that blog – instead of giving you a list of potential trends to be on the look out for, here are three big trends that started already and will continue to stick around in 2014.  

1. Online Video will continue to grow

According to Adapt.tv’s report Q4 2013 State of Video Industry, 86% of brands plan to increase their budgets by an average of 65%, while 91% of agencies plan to increase their online video budgets by an average of 28% in 2014. These are big jumps and while some of the increases will be incremental a good portion of the dollars will come at the expense of traditional media.  

Social Media continues to change the way consumers and marketers connect. Marketers are getting smarter about how to use social media to interact with consumers and influence the path to purchase, but the landscape is ever changing. Keeping up with those changes, whether you sell digital media or use digital media to market your business is critical to success. 

Here is a look at some of the most recent changes that you should know about: