What challenges are digital marketers facing in 2019?

In this fast-paced social web world, staying on top of all the latest digital marketing tools can be a challenge for digital marketers. Tune as we discuss this and other real world challenges.

What challenges are digitals marketers facing in 2019?

Hello good afternoon, Michael Winn Chief Digital Officer of Digital Opps division of RB Oppenheim Associates. Thanks for joining in today on the video podcast where we’ll discuss digital marketing tactics to grow your business. Today, we’re going to talk about what challenges are digital marketers facing in 2019, what are some of the issues and challenges that we’re facing in 2019. By far, if you don’t understand it right now it’s worth repeating again, the internet is to TV what the TV was to radio in the 40s. The revolution in communication that happened in the 40s when the world switched from gathering around a radio and listening to program and consuming content through the radio, when that shifted to the television lives and entertainment and pastimes were radically changed and that is now the case with the internet. And especially when we consider that we carry the internet with us in our pocket no matter where we go. You know that’s much different than television, you didn’t just put a TV in your pocket.

 

And so because of that, the things that are built on top of the internet, whether they are apps or websites, social media or news or applications, whether its productivity or balancing or just life functioning, all of those things really, really make a huge difference. And so as digital marketers, I think it’s really important that number one, we stay on top of all the tools and updates which is a job in it of itself. I mean I think of the only way that I can do it is to have a team that is hungry for knowledge and Innovation as I am. I’m incredibly grateful for the team here at Digital Opps which is at RB Oppenheim Associates. We all share links with each other and say “hey did you see this?”, “did you read about this?”, if everyone wants to make sure that we do stay on top of what’s happening.

 

But I do want to point out a couple of resources, so if you are a business owner trying to educate yourself on what’s out there, I think number one is socialmediaexaminer.com. Sign up for their newsletter, it’s a great resource with very practical tactical information regarding all the different platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn, podcasting, search engine optimization. Over there, Michael does a great job producing content on a daily basis with an email newsletter that’s really packed full of great information. So I highly recommend that. Obviously, if you’re not following Gary Vaynerchuck of VaynerMedia is one of the largest digital media companies out today. Within four years grew his small media company from 22 employees to over 900 employees and is really doing some amazing stuff. So if you’re not checking out his content and learning about how to build your own personal brand you’re missing out. If you love SEO, check out the Hoth. These guys are doing some great stuff in the SEO space, they’re based out of Florida. Love, love their theory, very white hat, very strategic on search engine optimization. Again, very practical information and I love their content, all those guys. When it comes to pop culture and what’s happening I love mashable.com as a great resource to what’s happening in the space. I love smashingmagazine.com, its great as a WordPress website developer and in thinking about landing pages. They do a lot of information on how to create a welcoming space and a welcome user experience when it comes to the web. I love Wordfence, a security company plug-in with a million plus installations of their security a plug-in running on WordPress sites. Of course Ad Age is a great resource to also staying in touch with what’s happening sort of in the advertising and marketing world. You get a sneak peek behind what some of the big outfits are doing in terms of the agency and firms so I think that’s a resource. And that’s just a few. I’ve got lots of emails that I read and consume to try to stay on top of things.

 

So staying on top of tools and updates, the other part is balancing life. Like you’re trying to keep up with all of this stuff, how do you balance your life? My youngest daughter is going to be a senior in high school and we’re trying to map our if she has the right classes for next year so that she can position herself best for scholarship opportunities or bright future money that might be available so that she can pursue her dreams. My middle daughter who will be a junior, going into the fine arts program at Florida State University, I am trying to encourage her to keep life simple. My oldest daughter who is a mother of one and about to have baby number two coming in the fall, like all these things… how to balanced that. And then thinking about like how do I live debt-free. I am really interested in not racking up any more personal debt. And those are things I’m wrestling when I’m not thinking about SEO, WordPress, Facebook stories, Instagram, Snapchat, and Linkedin. So all of those things, I think are challenges.

 

And the other thing is, I feel like we are in one of those incredible times the economy is definitely in a resurgence I feel, in some degree a lot of companies are looking to grow. So for us too, we’re looking what does it mean to be a digital agency marketing company in 2020? It’s about having the right people at the right values, in the right seat. And having a plan and having it mapped out, for those you listen to the series that we do on Fridays on Traction, getting a grip on your business before your business gets a grip on you. It’s a great book and I’m going with Katie Lilly from Lillyfield Accounting Solutions on that podcast video series.
So those are some things that just from a personal standpoint as a digital marketer, I’m facing. I’d love to have your two cents. Where do you find your greatest challenges? Where do you find your greatest resource for keeping up with the latest trends? So if you see this video on Facebook or on LinkedIn love to see and hear your comments in the comments section. And the other thing obviously is juggling what your current workload is, right now we currently managing and host over a 150 websites on our cloud-based servers and in an average day I may respond to 20 or 30 emails from clients that look to me to be their resource. So they don’t have to go out and learn, they can focus on their day-to-day job and what they have to do whether they’re in the executive director of an association or if they are just the owner of the business. They need to have a source, a go-to guy that can help deliver results when it comes to digital marketing. We’re working on a really cool project right now for a company that has over three thousand members, creating an open source CRM system along with the back end of their websites so the two talk to each other. So my partner Johnathon Lyons and I are working on that and it’s a very exciting project.

 

So all of these things I feel like are the challenges that digital marketers face in 2019. Keeping up with all of the tools, balancing the real world, looking forward to the future and how to grow and scale your business and then managing the day-to-day operations that you have. So those are just things I wanted to share with you guys today, maybe pull back the veil and and give you a little bit of a peek inside what’s happening in the real world and in what digital marketers face day today. Guys, thank you so much for your time I look forward to sharing with you guys tomorrow my name is Michael Winn, I am the Chief Digital Officer of Digital Opps a division of RB Oppenheim Associates. I will catch you guys tomorrow.