As we approach 2025, the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace. It’s a world full of shiny new tools, AI-driven tactics, and the latest buzzwords—but succeeding in this ever-changing environment requires more than just chasing trends. True success comes from having a clear, adaptable strategy that aligns with your goals.

That’s why we’ve tapped into the expertise of our Elite Marketing Program coaches. These are not just industry experts; they’re leaders who have guided countless businesses to real, measurable results. Learn more about their work and explore their expertise:

• Lauren Petrullo: https://mongoosemedia.us/
• Monique Morrison: https://www.moniquemorrison.ca/
• Amara Omoregie: https://amarareps.com/
• Dave Albano: http://jozamarketing.com/
• Scott Cunningham: https://merchantmastery.io/
• Renée Boudakian: rubiconfranchisepartners.com

Their insights offer not just predictions but actionable strategies for navigating the challenges and opportunities of 2025. This isn’t about jumping on the next bandwagon. It’s about focusing on what truly matters—building a solid marketing foundation, embracing personalization, and leveraging AI and automation in a way that deepens your connection with your audience.

These answers capture the heart of what the Elite Program is all about—helping businesses cut through the noise with clear strategies, proven systems, and the latest insights to drive sustainable growth.

Read on to discover how our Elite coaches are helping businesses prepare for 2025—and how you can too.

1. What’s the Most Important Trend You Believe Will Define Digital Marketing in 2025, and How Can Businesses Start Preparing Now?

Lauren Petrullo

Content will curate your audience. This answer is going to be drastically different depending on the size of the business, but in general, you need to have better content and lead with personalization whenever possible. The more I sound like one of the many you’re talking to, the more I’m gonna ignore you as one of the many I don’t care about. With AI and emerging tech, it’s easier than ever to provide personalization in your marketing.

Monique Morrison

I think with the onset of AI and how quickly it’s transforming and its capabilities, we will see that as the biggest trend. It allows smaller companies to implement predictive and personalized customer journeys, especially in the retail and eCommerce space, and I believe that will be an important trend to jump on in 2025.

Amara Omoregie

I think there’s a difference between what’s trending and what needs to trend. What will trend in 2025 will be the shiny object that is AI and all of the cool things that you can do with it… that’s a given. We’ll see more tools rise, and old ones fall. During all of this ebb and flow as marketing technology continues to hockey stick, the ability to connect with humans on a deeper level will be what people will resonate with. What needs to trend is knowing our customers better and using technology to build deeper relationships with customers.

Dave Albano

Without a doubt, it’s AI. This should come as no surprise. You’ve been living under a rock if you haven’t realized the importance of this, but it’s shocking how many small businesses are ignoring it when it’s going to radically change the face of how we do business.

How to start preparing? If you haven’t already:

1. Dedicate at LEAST 1 hour a week to explore ChatGPT (upgrade to the paid version for $20/month to unlock its “current” potential—it’s only going to get better from here).
2. Subscribe to a reputable source for regular AI news and updates (e.g., Matt Wolfe’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow).

Scott Cunningham

• Coaching businesses: Throughout 2024, we saw a big shift from high-ticket, one-call-close coaching offers back to low-ticket front-end programs that allow coaches to first build trust with their audience before committing to high-ticket programs. The buzzword of the year was that we are in a “trust recession,” and we need to allow people to experience our value before committing big. I predict that businesses who made this pivot will thrive in 2025, and those who didn’t will struggle to compete.
• eCommerce ads: AI is becoming more of a factor in building meta audiences, and I predict that people won’t be frantically testing new audiences so often. From what I’ve seen, and from what I’ve been told by high-level Meta reps, letting ads run gives AI more time/insights to adapt, instead of constantly changing things and causing it to re-learn.

Renée Boudakian

AI-powered personalization is going to fundamentally change digital marketing and transform the customer journey experience.

The big opportunity lies in building AI-powered dynamic, hyper-personalized systems that:

• Adapt messaging based on actual performance.
• Learn from real-time customer behavior.
• Optimize for individual preferences at scale.

How can businesses start preparing now?

1. Conduct an audit of your first-party data—understand what customer signals you’re capturing and where the gaps are. Focus on collecting quality behavioral signals and ensure your data is organized and accessible.
2. Perform an audit of your tech stack—most current marketing tools don’t talk to each other well enough to support real AI personalization. Now’s the time to fix those gaps and build connections between your platforms to prevent future headaches as AI capabilities expand.

The companies that win won’t be the ones with the biggest AI budgets—they’ll be the ones who build smart, scalable systems while staying focused on actual customer value.

2. If You Had to Pick One Growth Strategy to Double Down on in 2025, What Would It Be and Why?

Lauren Petrullo

Long-form video content. People will consume before they convert. With long-form content, they’re getting to know you before they even talk to you, putting you in a place where calls are with pre-sold prospects. Also, as AI evolves, video still has a year or so before it’s as competitive as blogs. Content written with AI has exploded over the last 3 years, making it more competitive than before as the barrier to entry and opportunity to compete is at its lowest. With long-form videos, you can then bring in the multi-lingual aspect and compete in a blue ocean while your competitors are struggling in crowded waters.

Monique Morrison

We’re doubling down on our loyalty systems and predictive AI strategies for our retail and eCommerce clients. For service-based businesses, back-end AI systems that automate clerical work and time-consuming tasks are essential, especially for those tasks that are not done efficiently but are necessary for the sales process. We’re implementing systems from Buy Back Your Time that allow our clients to focus on revenue-generating tasks rather than being bogged down by low-value but necessary operations.

Amara Omoregie

Organic. Period.
On a few different levels:

• SEO → GEO: Creating content strategies to not only appear in organic search but to have responses shared from your brand and cited in generative/AI search experiences (e.g., Search GPT, Perplexity).
• Social SEO: Positioning your social content for discoverability on the platforms and in organic search when possible, while building backlinks and shares to boost your brand.
• Forums and Communities: Reddit and Quora are dominating search. People want help, and like-minded people want to discover new things. These areas are ripe for innovation.

I’d triple down in these areas. If you do, you’ll build a moat around your business.

Dave Albano

Robotic Process Automation—it’s going to transform businesses. When you can build automated “bots” that have agency to replace humans and hours and hours… even DAYS of research, repetitive tasks, content production & distribution, voice call handling—you name it—your competitors will leave you in the dust if you don’t jump on board.

Scott Cunningham

• Live events: These have been our highest ROI activity for filling sales calendars and bringing in deals.
• Low-ticket community: We are doubling down on our low-ticket community and using webinars to fill it. Following our insights into how to navigate the trust economy, we’ve also learned that webinars are a great way to fill low-ticket communities because people first get to spend time with you on the webinar before committing to your low-ticket community.
• The Trust Tri-Fecta: Webinar or event → Low-ticket community → High-ticket community.

Renée Boudakian

Double down on building automated marketing and sales systems. Map and automate your customer journey, from first touch to repeat buyer. This creates predictable revenue that scales without draining your team’s bandwidth.

In 2025, your most valuable asset won’t be your content or products—it will be your automated acquisition system that converts while you sleep.

3. How Do You See Customer Behavior Evolving in 2025, and What Steps Should Businesses Take Now to Meet Those Changing Expectations?

Lauren Petrullo

Customers want to know more than ever and get frustrated if you miss out on sharing critical answers they need. You NEED better conversation starters and an outlet for the person to ask their questions rather than assuming you’ve provided the answers they need. If you’re letting customers struggle to find answers, you’ll lose them as customers.

Set up phone numbers and chatbots to answer questions WHEN they have them. STOP ASSUMING. People crave connection, and with “Prime’s same-day delivery” mentality, every minute a customer waits for a critical answer drastically affects your conversion rate.

Monique Morrison

AI really took off in 2024, and many have adopted chatbots and other AI communication tools. In 2025, I believe customers will become more aware of AI interactions and gravitate toward companies that can provide truly human or human-like experiences.

This will be a critical time for companies to balance the power of AI with the expectation for authentic human interactions.

Amara Omoregie

Customers are sick of funnels. They hate being forced to get on a rollercoaster and not being able to get off until the ride is done.

Meaning, they want to learn about what is out there without having to talk to a sales rep, download an ebook, or watch an hour-long webinar. They want to be empowered to make their own decisions. Whoever gives their customer the most agency to make decisions will win.

Dave Albano

BECAUSE of the rise of AI, trust is going to be at an all-time LOW and inauthenticity will be at an all-time HIGH. Businesses will need to go ALL-IN in cultivating authentic, transparent relationships with their prospects and customers and provide even more value by giving more in delivery than they receive in return financially.

Scott Cunningham

I believe that 2024 was the year of the trust recession, and I expect this behavior to continue in 2025. I think we need to show more empathy in our marketing towards our customers and their lack of trust, rather than ignore it.

I also think we need to work harder, and listen better, to earn that trust.

Renée Boudakian

The market is shifting from “wait and see” to “show me now”—businesses need to adapt their delivery speed and accessibility accordingly.

• Fast Wins Beat Big Promises: 2025’s customers are done with “it takes time” excuses. They’ll pick the company that delivers a 20% improvement now over promises of 100% in six months. If you’re a marketing agency, start by fixing one leaky funnel stage this week. Small, concrete victories build more trust than grand transformations.
• Break Your Solution Into “Now, Next, Later”: Give them something they can implement today (template), something for this week (quick process fix), and then your bigger transformation. When they see results from the quick wins, they’ll trust you with the longer journey.

4: What are the most effective ways to build trust with cold audiences in a crowded digital landscape?

Lauren Petrullo

The best way to build trust with cold audiences is through authenticity and upfront value. SHOW me. PROVE your deserved attention. Gen Alpha grew up on YouTube subscriptions, and they’ll be incredibly powerful purchasers in the coming years, with many already self-made millionaires. Gen Z grew up with influencers and #ad controversies—no one’s getting fooled. If you’re providing value in a gated capacity or pretending it’s valuable but really just advertising, they’ll know. So lead with authenticity. No one is perfect, especially not your customers. Be raw, vulnerable, and valuable. Don’t just talk about it; show how you walk it, and you’ll gain attention. By providing actionable ideas, you’ll command loyalty.

Monique Morrison

Getting out and being in front of cold audiences is crucial. Showing you’re a real person and listening to followers creates immediate trust with new audiences encountering your brand.
One tactic that has worked well is running contests for email subscribers, with bonus entries for commenting on an Instagram reel with a question. We then reply to those questions with another reel, which has boosted organic reach, engagement, and comments outside of contestants. When people see that you’re listening and responding, they’re more likely to engage. This has been a winning tactic this year.

Amara Omoregie

Shift their state of awareness almost immediately. And I don’t mean bragging about your company/brand. I mean, if they are unaware, make them problem-aware. Problem to solution. Solution to product. Product to brand/most.
Why?
If you can solve an unsolvable problem.
If you can treat a group of customers better.
If you can end people’s suffering.
If you can make people aware of solutions that didn’t exist.
If you can change the status quo.
You’ll get the right kind of attention, from the right people, at the right time, and they’ll trust you.

Dave Albano

Strip away big “productionalized” content pieces, especially in video, and shoot your reels, stories, video ads, etc., in your day-to-day element (e.g., walking down your neighborhood street) on your phone. While technology has evolved, what has NOT is PEOPLE… we still connect best through face-to-face eye contact, and the best way to do that in digital is through close-up videos in selfie view.

Scott Cunningham

We’ve been running ads to a webinar, where we offer a free $1500 gift to those who attend. Then at the end of the webinar, we give everyone a $1500 ticket to a three-day live virtual bootcamp, where all they need to get the ticket is join our $39/month community. This has been working very well for us.

Renée Boudakian

Demonstrate proof. Feature concrete results, verifiable case studies, and authentic customer stories—let real outcomes speak for themselves.

5: Many business owners feel their growth plateaus because they’re constantly in ‘reactive’ mode. How can they step back and create a scalable system that can handle growth without constant intervention?

Lauren Petrullo

Most of the time, business owners need to fire themselves from the operation side. HIRE someone who has done it not once, but at least twice before.

Often, it’s ego stopping you from reaching your potential. You assume because you got your business to where it is today that you’re the solution to get it to where it’s going tomorrow. That’s absurd.

If you’re afraid to invest in quality talent, then you don’t truly believe in your growth. Most people aren’t great at being entrepreneurs and business owners—it’s like 1% of the 1% that are successful.

There are MANY who could be intrapreneurs or strong supporting roles to get you out of reactive mode and back into your zone of genius.

Monique Morrison

In addition to what’s taught in ELITE and Scalable, most business owners would benefit from a strong executive admin to manage their time.

Also, AI and automation can handle many tasks that often distract from revenue-generating work.

The reactive mode often comes from not having time for high-value tasks due to a lack of systems to handle lower-value ones. This imbalance leads to a pattern of either a great marketing month or a great fulfillment month but rarely a balanced approach to both.

Amara Omoregie

Business owners need to quit collecting shiny objects and piecing together makeshift solutions. Your tech stack isn’t meant to be a bird’s nest of mismatched tools and trendy platforms.

Think about a lemonade stand. The fundamentals are dead simple: Go where your customers are. Put up a sign. Stock your product. Open for business. This is all foundational.

From there, you test everything. Your pricing. Your location. Your recipe. You watch the data – which spots bring the most traffic, what times drive the most sales. Then you adapt and improve.

Digital marketing has made it dangerously easy to skip the fundamentals. To shoot from the hip without a plan. That advantage becomes your burden when your systems turn into a tangled mess.

RevOps (revenue operations) brings back that simple lemonade stand clarity to your digital operations. One integrated system. Every component working together. Clear metrics. Real feedback. Continuous improvement.

Don’t be afraid to make educated guesses about your future. Just make sure you’re testing against a plan and using that data to get better. That’s how you build a resilient, scalable business instead of another bird’s nest.

Stop chasing trends. Start building systems that solve for your customer. RevOS keeps it simple, measurable, and scalable.

Dave Albano

Well Duh… that cues up ELITE and the Growth OS nicely now doesn’t it ;).

I’ll bite. Join a program with trusted advisors and experts that have already done what you’re trying to do, and implement the proven frameworks & systems they provide to scale predictably.

Scott Cunningham

You need a KPI tracking tool for every stage of the customer journey, and you need to actually use it.

Our team has been using DM’s Growth Scorecard for years, and it is our holy bible of accountability. It can be overwhelming/intimidating thinking we need to be insanely proactive at all times.

Our scorecard allows us to move small things forward bit by bit that creates a big impact. (AND, there was a period where we stopped using it, and things fell off. So I think we need to prioritize the basics).

Renée Boudakian

• Document & Systematize Core Operations: Map and create clear workflows for the critical 20% of tasks driving 80% of results.
• Automate → Delegate → Eliminate: Start by automating repetitive tasks, then delegate remaining processes to capable team members, and ruthlessly eliminate activities that don’t drive growth.

6: How can businesses leverage AI and automation to scale their efforts while maintaining a personal connection with customers?

Lauren Petrullo

My favorite way of leveraging AI right now is through personalized AI chatbots, where the chatbots even call prospects.

Start personal conversations with leads to discover their true questions rather than guessing what they’re looking for.

With AI and personalized connections, you position yourself to care about your customers as if they’re in a 1:1 conversation with you—at scale.

Monique Morrison

It’s essential to train any AI interacting with customers to be conversational and engaging, making it as human as possible.

There are many back-end tasks AI can manage that usually consume time. When those are automated, it frees up space for more one-on-one conversations and personal connections.

We’ve used AI to analyze customer actions and purchases, allowing us to use predictive marketing. For example, integrating our Shopify database with Airtable lets the AI analyze the data, which we then use to guide our communications with customers.

Amara Omoregie

Automate what works. Set that baseline, and make sure that AI can produce the same quality or better when it comes to its outputs.

Never settle with AI. It has the capabilities to take the best of what we do and make it even better if we provide enough context.

Dave Albano

Do the “Handoff”… Use AI & Automation to INITIATE conversations in “triage” sessions to find out what they really need, then pass prospects/leads/customers off to a real person via calendar scheduling, direct phone transfers, etc.

Scott Cunningham

Never ask AI to do all the heavy lifting.

Feed it your own frameworks, processes, and case studies so it’s not telling stories that anyone can tell. It needs to tell stories unique to you.

Also challenge AI responses, or give it options to vote on, and get it to explain why it chose what it chose.

Renée Boudakian

• Automate the Routine, Personalize the Meaningful: Use AI for repetitive tasks (scheduling, basic support, data entry) but keep high-value touchpoints human (strategy calls, problem resolution, relationship building). This lets your team focus on conversations that matter.
• Create Smart, Adaptive Workflows: Build systems that recognize customer patterns and trigger appropriate human intervention. For example: Have AI handle initial support inquiries, but flag emotional or complex issues that require human attention.

7: What’s the best approach for creating content that resonates with audiences in 2025? How should brands be adapting their content strategies now?

Lauren Petrullo

When creating content in 2025, start by crawling into your ad comments, emails, and customer service FAQs.

Begin by creating content to answer questions they’re already asking.

Yes, you can focus on SEO, but if you want to resonate, don’t focus solely on the algorithm—focus on quality.

Answer your current customers’ questions. They’ll share your content.

Decentralization of SEO is coming, and the focus needs to be on directly answering, quickly, and with quality to win the content game in 2025.

Monique Morrison

See my answer to question four.

In addition to creating short-form content based on audience questions, we also turn those questions into longer-form content and email content.

Open rates have been strong for emails where the subject line hints at solving a customer’s problem directly.

Amara Omoregie

Helpful.

Creating content to rank is so 2010.

Create content that people will come back to over and over for reference.

Writers need to learn how to write again.

Do actual research—not just SEO research, but topical research. We need topical authority and information.

SMEs need their brains picked clean of the good stuff.

Google is getting sick of crawling hundreds of variations of the same exact content, so pretty soon, pages are going to get deindexed for not being helpful.

The more web pages there are on the internet, the more it affects our carbon footprint, so it’s up to us as marketers to stop the proliferation of low-value content.

Dave Albano

Trends and market tastes will always evolve.

It’s your job as the content creator to have your finger on the pulse of what’s trending, what people are asking, on what they’re searching, on what their wants/needs/fears/aspirations are.

Turn to AI for research (ChatGPT can search the web now) and the age-old favorite: AnswerThePublic.

Then where possible (platform-dependent) serve up your content dynamically to target your various avatars and audiences by segment.

Scott Cunningham

In our eCommerce world, I’ve been teaching brands to write long-form origin story ads that have been working better than anything else lately.

Show that you are the biggest nerd in your category, and people will look at you as the expert you are.

Renée Boudakian

Share Real Stories.

“I was drowning in client emails last year” creates more intrigue and connection than “Here’s how to manage your inbox.”

When you share your honest struggles and unexpected wins, people see themselves in your story instead of seeing another expert talking down to them.

8: What are the most effective ways to increase customer retention and loyalty in 2025, especially as competition intensifies?

Lauren Petrullo

Personalized interactions while leveraging AI.

You need more touchpoints and effective communication based on where they are in their buyer’s journey with you, addressing their needs—not where you are in relation to them paying you.

Monique Morrison

One big shift in 2024 has been automatically enrolling customers in loyalty programs instead of making it an optional step.

We’re also enhancing our indoctrination series to offer additional bonuses and free gifts with each new purchase.

The welcome email typically has the highest open rates, as customers are most excited then, so we leverage this moment.

Part of our approach includes a survey to identify the customer’s pain points, which AI analyzes for product fit and to create customized email content that addresses their biggest concerns.

We use two separate processes for leads and customers.

Amara Omoregie

Over-serve your customers.

Over-educate them.

Have them be a part of your journey.

Give them access to new products without having to pay (e.g., samples, GWPs).

Recognize your VIPs with great perks that have mutual benefit.

Right your wrongs, especially in public.

Be honest.

Share your roadmap for improvement.

Celebrate the wins of your customers.

Empathize—like Chewy when subscriptions end when a pet crosses the rainbow bridge. They send flowers and a card, and they donate the last bag of food to the local shelter.

Dave Albano

Same as #3.

Further, if you look at THE best companies in the world with the best retention (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Apple Music, HBO Max, Disney+, etc.), they target their pricing by being 1% of the average Social Security check in the U.S., which is $1787 as of Oct 2024 (Source).

1% of that is $17.87, or that $15-$20 range such that ANYONE can afford them.

Scott Cunningham

Keep adding more value when customers are up for renewal.

We do it in our coaching program, offering renewal bonuses.

Just this year we offered our mastermind members new quarterly review meetings to keep them on track with big goals.

This is something we constantly brainstorm as a team to ensure we keep leveling up the customers’ experiences.

The same goes for eCommerce.

Renée Boudakian

Make Customer Problems Your North Star.

Every dollar you’ll make in 2025 is hiding in a customer problem you haven’t fully solved yet.

The best product roadmap is your customer’s list of frustrations.

When you become obsessed with their challenges, customer retention & loyalty is a byproduct.

Design Your Offer Ladder Around “New Levels, New Devils.”

Success creates new challenges.

Your offer stack should solve each new problem that emerges from conquering the last.

When you guide customers through their entire journey, solving each evolution of their problems, they never need to look elsewhere.

The key to retention is being their trusted solution provider at every level.

9: With so many marketing tools and tactics out there, how do you prioritize which strategies to implement? How can business owners avoid ‘shiny object syndrome’ and focus on what truly moves the needle?

Lauren Petrullo

I prioritize what can work with my existing systems and tools first.

Learning a new product or tool is exhausting.

I need it to yield atypical returns with minimal additional effort.

To avoid shiny objects, ask yourself: if you adopt this new tool or tactic, are you okay with zero returns for the next 6 months?

If yes, because the return in 6 months is worth the investment, go for it!

Otherwise, focus on optimizing existing resources and avoid adopting new ones.

Monique Morrison

The growth lever canvas is key here.

Having someone empowered to say “no” when new, shiny tools and programs could derail progress is also essential.

We use the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) method, which, combined with the growth lever canvas, keeps us focused on what truly matters.

Amara Omoregie

If it doesn’t align with a growth initiative already in play or improve the customer experience, put it on the back burner for another time.

When a business has its customer acquisition engine dialed in and is hitting targets consistently, then experiment.

Not when the stakes are high and there isn’t much room for error.

Commit to being methodical and disciplined until you have the runway to be experimental with shiny objects.

Most shiny objects are just that—and not worth anything.

Digital snake oil and hype.

Dave Albano

You must have the correct STRATEGY first, and plug in the tactics INTO the strategy, not the other way around.

See #5

Scott Cunningham

Never scrap something completely if it’s working.

I think it’s ok to allocate 5-10% of your resources/focus testing new experiments to see if you could do better.

But keep most of your focus on the things that are producing.

For example, before pivoting ad budget from our VSL funnel to our low-ticket community funnel, we allocated a small fraction of our total spend to see if we could fill the community, and also to see if we could ascend the community to our core offer.

It turns out we could, so we allocated more spend to the low-ticket community funnel.

The takeaway is, don’t tackle too many ideas at once where you are spread thin on focus.

Choose one thing to test against your main thing.

Get proof of concept.

Then pivot some focus to the new thing that’s working.

Renée Boudakian

Build a Customer Journey Scorecard.

Use a simple traffic light system (red/yellow/green) to visualize each stage of your journey.

If lead generation is red but your sales conversion rate is green, you don’t need another sales tool—you need better lead generation.

Focus resources where the actual bottlenecks are.

Double Down on What’s Already Working.

Before chasing new tactics, look at your current wins.

If LinkedIn is driving real sales conversations, invest more there before testing TikTok.

Scale what works before exploring what’s new.

The key is letting your scorecard guide your priorities—turn reds to yellows, yellows to greens, one stage at a time.

Closing Thoughts: Strategy Over Tactics for 2025

If there’s one lesson to take away from our Elite coaches, it’s this: strategy always trumps tactics. While shiny new tools and tactics can grab attention, they won’t deliver sustainable growth without a solid foundation. The businesses that succeed in 2025 will be the ones that focus on their customers, leverage personalization and AI strategically, and implement systems that scale.

The insights from our Elite coaches aren’t just theories—they’re real-world strategies proven to drive results. And that’s what sets the Elite Marketing Program apart. We’re here to guide you, to help you focus on what matters, and to build a marketing engine that drives growth predictably.

Don’t just adapt to 2025. Lead the way.

Join the Elite Marketing Program today and start building your strategy for sustainable growth.

Click here to learn more and apply.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing in 2025: Predictions from Our Elite Coaches appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Are you torn between using long-form or short-form videos for your small business marketing campaign? Well, you are not alone. Despite 89% of consumers wanting to see more brand videos, there is no one-size-fits-all answer about the ideal video length.

However, this should not deter you from creating an effective video strategy. In 2023, people watched an average of 17 videos per day, highlighting the influence of video content in today’s digital landscape.

Both short-form and long-form videos offer unique advantages and come with their set of challenges. Join me as I uncover the benefits and limitations of each video format to help you make informed marketing decisions.

What are Short-Form Videos?

Short videos typically range from 30 seconds to less than 10 minutes long. They are popular on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Short-form videos deliver brief yet engaging messages that quickly capture the viewer’s attention. Here are some popular types of short-form video content.

• TikTok Challenges
• Instagram Reels
• Snapchat Stories
• YouTube Shorts
• Twitter Video Ads

Benefits of Short-Form Videos

A previously cited report shows that 39% of marketers find short-form videos, ranging from 30-60 seconds long, more successful. The same study reports that 44% of customers prefer watching a short video to learn about a brand’s offerings.

So, it is evident that short-form videos have their benefits. Let’s take a closer look at some of them.

Attention-Grabbing 

Short-form videos capture attention quickly, making them ideal for the fast-scrolling nature of social media platforms. Your audience is more likely to watch them in their entirety compared to longer content.

Cost-Effective Production 

Creating short-form videos requires less time and resources compared to longer videos. As a small business owner with a limited budget, using short-form videos can be cost-effective. 

Increased Engagement

Short-form videos engage viewers due to their crisp and concise nature. This results in more likes, comments, and shares that boost your content’s visibility and increase brand awareness. 

Integrating short-form videos into your influencer marketing campaigns can further amplify your reach to new and diverse audiences. 

Highly Shareable

Short videos are highly shareable. This makes it more likely for your viewers to share them, increasing their virality. 

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There are multiple benefits of adding video to your website including increased engagement, improved SEO, and enhanced user experience.

Limitations of Short-Form Videos

While short-form videos offer many advantages in content marketing, they also present some challenges.

Limited Message Depth

Due to their brief duration, short-form videos may struggle to convey complex or detailed messages. Longer videos might be more suitable if you need to communicate intricate information.

Competition for Attention

Standing out on platforms flooded with short-form video content can be challenging. You must create content that stands out to avoid becoming lost in the sea of other videos.

Shorter Lifespan 

Short videos may lose their relevance with time. They can quickly get buried in users’ feeds, leading to a shorter visibility and engagement period than longer, evergreen content. 

This means you must consistently create short-form videos to maintain audience interest over time.

Limited SEO Impact

Short-form videos may be more challenging to optimize for search engines than longer, more keyword-rich content. This can affect the discoverability of your content outside the social media scene.

What are Long-Form Videos?

Long-form videos are typically longer, ranging from a few minutes to several hours. They extend beyond a few minutes to several hours, providing ample time for in-depth topic exploration and detailed content. 

These videos are particularly suitable for educational content, product demonstrations, and narrative-driven storytelling. Long-form videos are common on platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. Common types of long-form video content include:

• YouTube Series
• Webinars
• Educational Tutorials and Courses:
• Behind-the-Scenes Content 
• Interviews and Conversations

Advantages of Long-Form Videos

Long-form video content is the fastest-growing segment, with videos above 30 minutes experiencing tremendous growth over the years. Let’s explore some of the benefits behind this growth.

Establishes Expertise and Credibility

Long-form videos allow you to provide in-depth information about various subjects, establishing your brand as an authority. Potential customers will likely trust and rely on your insights when you consistently deliver valuable content.

Builds Strong Audience Connections 

The more your audience watches your videos, the more they become familiar with your content and brand. This consistent engagement promotes trust and loyalty, helping you create deeper connections with your audience.

Provide SEO Optimization Opportunities

Long-form videos keep your audience engaged for a longer duration than short ones. This signals search engines that your content provides value, resulting in higher rankings and increased visibility. 

Besides, these videos provide opportunities to optimize for relevant keywords. This Attrock guide offers more insights into the value of SEO for your small business. 

They Are Sustainable

Unlike short videos, well-produced and valuable long-form videos have an extended shelf life. They can continue to attract views and engagement over an extended period, contributing to a sustainable content strategy.

Instagram reels are also a part of short videos and you can get benefits from this platform by integrating it with your website. You can learn how to embed Instagram Reels on websites and get extra benefits from your Reels.

Drawbacks of Long-Form Videos

Despite their benefits, long-form videos also have certain limitations, including:

Attention Span Challenges

Between distractions, juggling tasks, and information overload, user attention span quickly diminishes. Viewers may lose interest and disengage from your long video before its conclusion.

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Complex Production Process

Creating high-quality long-form videos requires more resources, including time, equipment, and skilled personnel. This can be disadvantageous, especially for small businesses with limited budgets.

Platform Limitations

Some social media platforms and video hosting sites may limit video length, making it challenging to distribute long-form video content. You may then be forced to repurpose your content to suit various platforms. 

Short-Form or Long-Form Videos: Which Are Better?

Now that you know the benefits and limitations of each format, which one should you choose? Short-form or long-form videos?

Well, it all boils down to considering several factors, such as: 

Content Objectives

What do you want to achieve from your video marketing campaign? Short-form videos are highly effective for quick brand exposure and generating buzz. Long-form videos, on the other hand, contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the brand.

Target Audience Preferences

Audiences with short attention spans likely prefer short-form videos, while long-form videos appeal to those seeking a more immersive experience.

Similarly, short-form videos may appeal more to younger audiences, while older demographics may prefer the depth of long-form content.

Platform Dynamics

Various platforms support different content formats. Short-form videos are well-suited for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. On the other hand, platforms like YouTube and Vimeo are better for hosting longer videos.

Industry Type

Short-form videos would be ideal if your industry thrives on trends, entertainment, and quick messages. However, long-form videos are effective for industries requiring in-depth explanations or educational content.

Bottom Line 

Ultimately, choosing short-form or long-form videos depends on your business’s specific needs and goals. Since both formats have advantages and limitations, making a choice may prove difficult. 

However, it doesn’t have to be an uphill task. The key lies in recognizing when to incorporate each video format into your marketing strategy. Understanding your audience and its needs allows you to combine both formats strategically, maximizing the benefits of each. 

Continuously analyze performance metrics and adapt your video marketing strategy accordingly to ensure optimal engagement and conversion rates.

The post Navigating the Video Marketing Maze: Short-Form vs. Long-Form appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Did you know there are about 200 Facebook Ad metrics? That’s way too much to keep your eyes on. A smarter approach is to focus on a few metrics and ignore the rest until you need them. But how do you know which ones are really worth your constant attention? Let’s find out…

Every Facebook Advertiser Struggles with Metrics

You are not the only one who is lost in the maze of Facebook ad metrics. Every day, my team at MeasurementMarketing.io answers dozens of questions from business owners and agencies about this topic.

• I read somewhere that metric X is important but is that true?
• Why would I even track metric Y?
• Can I really ignore metric Z? 

These kinds of questions are important, but they are often asked at the wrong moment. 

The key to understanding which Facebook Ad metrics matter the most to you, is to see them as possible answers to questions you have about Facebook campaigns.

Let’s dive in…

Are my Facebook Campaigns Profitable?

Paid ads are like an investment. You pour money into ads and hope that you will get more money back. 

But like any other investment, there is a difference between hope and reality. 

One metric in Facebook Ads Manager will partially answer whether your ads are performing as you had hoped.

Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)

This metric tells you how much money you get back from every dollar you spent on Facebook ads. 

It is calculated with the following formula:

Revenue / Ad spend

For example: (your revenue) $1,000 / $500 (spent on ads) = ROAS 2

That means that for every dollar you spent on Facebook ads, the platform  generated $2 revenue. 

All that sounds great, but keep the following in mind:

• Revenue and profit are different things. So, you will have to do your own calculations to find out if your Facebook ads are actually making profit for you.
• To calculate the real Return On Investment (ROI) of Facebook paid campaigns, you need to include costs for setting up and managing your ads. 
• This metric is especially useful to ecommerce stores because they sell directly and know for which price. For service providers, ROAS is harder to calculate because it is hard to assign a price for someone who, for example, signs up to a newsletter. 
• Facebook knows a lot about you, but you need to assign values to conversions. I cover that a bit further below. 

How Much do My Facebook Ads Cost?

Running ads costs money. To keep track of how much, you can use over 60 Facebook Ad metrics. Here are some interesting ones that can give you valuable insights.

Amount Spent

This metric tells you how much money you have already spent on a Facebook ad or campaign. 

Although you can set daily budgets to keep your budget under control, it is absolutely worth checking this metric regularly. If the amount is low, for example, that can mean nobody is seeing or clicking on your ads. 

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

This metric answers the question how much it costs to show your ad 1,000 times. If you run awareness campaigns, it is useful for two reasons:

• CPM is a metric that is used by other ad platforms or websites that sell advertising space. It makes it easy to compare the price to advertise on different platforms. On the other hand, it doesn’t tell anything about how profitable the ads are. 
• The CPM also lets advertisers easily compare the cost of different campaigns on the same platform. If, for example, the CPM for one Facebook campaign is $10 and $5 for another, it is worth diving deeper to understand what causes this price difference. Is it because of the timing? The copy of the ad? The audience? The frequency? Etc.

Cost Per Impression

This metric tells you how much every impression of an ad on Facebook costs you. It is not a very important one from the digital marketer’s helicopter point of view. 

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But I included it anyway to illustrate that Facebook has metrics that can give answers to more complicated questions you didn’t come up with before. 

Prices per unit also put things in a different perspective. Knowing that every bite you take from, let’s say a Philly Cheesesteak (Can you tell I’m from Philly?!?), costs you 0.25 cents, may either spoil or add more taste to your meal. 

Cost Per Click (CPC)

Facebook has two metrics for clicks. CPC links are more important than CPC All, because it tells you how much a link to your landing page costs. A click that is, for example, included in CPC All is when someone clicks to see more of your ad copy. 

CPCs fluctuate and the price Facebook charges you depends on factors such as timing, audience size, the services or products you promote, and so on. 

Yet, the CPC is a powerful metric that is worth keeping your eyes on:

• It gives you a clear idea of how cheap or expensive clicks to your site or web shop are.If, for example, you pay $10 per click to sell a $3 product, it may be time to rethink your paid advertising strategy completely. 
• A high CPC may also be a sign that your landing page has an issue. I will get back to that further below. 
• CPC is also a useful metric to compare the performance of campaigns over time, or to find out which ads are repeatable or need optimization. 

Cost Per Action (CPA)

Ideally, people take action when they see your Facebook ad. That can, for instance, be a click to your landing page, watching a video, sharing your page, and so on. 

The CPA metric shows you how much these actions cost. It is also good to:

• Use the CPA as an internal benchmark. Simply put: if you can decrease it, you will get more at a lower cost. 
• Compare the CPAs of different actions. If you  take the bigger picture into account, it may turn out that you have been running ads to trigger people to take actions that don’t boost your business.

Cost Per Conversion

Another metric that is definitely worth your attention is the Cost Per Conversion. If you know, for example, that your paid ads cost you $5 for someone to add a product to the shopping cart, that will give you a good idea whether the campaign is profitable or requires fine-tuning.  

Do My Facebook Ads Actually Contribute to My Goals?

The best way to find out if your Facebook ads help you actually achieve your campaign goals is to look at conversion metrics. 

Conversions are important actions that people take, like adding a product to the basket, filling in a form, signing up for a trial account, and so on.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the percentage of people who click on your ad and do what you want them to do. Let’s assume 100 people click on your product ad and 50 of them add the product to your cart, the conversion rate will be 50%.

That may sound exciting, but if none of them actually buys your product, the conversion rate for your sales goal will be 0%.

It is therefore important to think about your goals and conversions before you dive into metrics. 

How Much Value do My Facebook Ads Generate?

In Facebook Ads, you can assign a ton of conversion values for every goal you want to achieve.

Even if you don’t sell products or courses online, you may profit from assigning a value to conversions, like the Contact conversion value or Leads Conversion Value.

Total Conversion Value

The total conversion value is self-explanatory. But it can also be misleading. If you define, for example, a Content views conversion Value or App activations conversion value, you may get a total skewed version of what your conversions actually are worth. 

Is My Facebook Target Audience Even Interested in My Ads?

Although Facebook is a great advertising platform to reach your ideal audience, your ads may not be appealing to them. The following metrics can help you find that out quickly.

CTR (Click Through Rate)

The click through rate metrics is the calculated percentage of clicks compared to how many times your ad was displayed.

If, for example, your ad was shown 1,000 times and the link to your site was clicked 10 times, your CTR is 1%. 

The toughest part is to decide whether your CTR is good or bad. One way to know this is to run several ads simultaneously and see which one has the highest CTR. 

But this approach is risky too. A higher CTR may not result in higher conversions.

Relevance Score

Facebook assigns a relevance score between 1 and 10 to your ads. The higher the score, the more relevant the ad is for your audience, according to Facebook.

Ads can break or make your campaigns. A picture, the copy, but also how many times it is shown are all details that can make or break your campaign. The following metrics help you better understand how your ads are doing.

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Ad Frequency

This metric tells you how many times the ad has been displayed on average in the Facebook feed of your target audience. 

Mind that this metric can mean many different things depending on the type of campaign you are running.

• With brand awareness campaigns, you can show your ad more before people get tired of it.
• If you are running a lead gen campaign, people usually get annoyed when they see the same ad too many times in a short period of time. 

The list of metrics will help answer the important questions you, your business or customers have about paid marketing campaigns on Facebook

Alas, these metrics cannot give all the answers you need to run successful paid campaigns… 

The 4 Biggest Mistakes Facebook Advertisers can Make

The MeasurementMarketing.io team has taught and supported hundreds of businesses with measuring and optimizing their marketing campaigns for success. 

There are 4 mistakes that keep returning and I figured it’s worth dropping them here so you won’t need to make these mistakes yourself…

Mistake 1: Misunderstanding Metrics

Like any other industry, digital marketing is filled with jargon. It’s easy to misunderstand what something is and is not.

Metrics are often confused with: 

• Business goals 
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Dimensions
• Segments

Metrics are just the numbers you add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

Dimensions, on the other hand, are how you sort those numbers.

For example, you might have a “Dimension” that is the Traffic Source and then the “Metric” might be the number of users from that traffic source.

Always remember though, you’ll always first start with a question in mind and then you jump into the data to find the answer (never the other way around!).

Mistake 2: Ignoring Data from Facebook 

Most businesses understand that data is important. But in two situations, it is tough to make data-driven decisions.

Analysis Paralysis

Facebook Ad Manager contains a lot of data, but that is often overwhelming. Not all businesses have the know-how or resources to even look at numbers, charts, graphs and therefore simply ignore them.

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Focus on just ONE THING at a time.  I like to take the advice I learned from my buddy Jeff Sauer at DataDrivenU.com…

“Assign one KPI per team member.”

This keeps it really simple.  If it’s just you, focus on the ONE metric that needs the most improvement.  As your team grows, you can expand your focus (because you’ll have more people to help!).

No Access to Real-Time Data 

This happens, for example, when an external party is running ads and reports monthly. By the time decision makers know what’s going on, the monthly Facebook marketing budget is already gone. 

Businesses that ignore, or don’t have access to Facebook data, lose a lot more than money.

The target audience may, for example, have seen a Facebook ad too many times. It will be an expensive challenge to turn that around.

Mistake 3: Focus on the Wrong or too Many Metrics

Facebook, and other ad platforms, make it very easy to set up your first campaign. They promise you will get results without having to lift a finger. 

And then reality kicks in. 

At one point, you need to understand the true value of data. 

But as I said in the beginning of this article, it can feel overwhelming, confusing or for some, not enough. 

The opposite reaction of analysis paralysis is wanting to have even more data to make complete data-driven decisions. 

Facebook Ads has a ton of them available, like 

• Photo views
• Unique achievements unlocked
• Unique ratings submitted
• Cost per unique level completed
• Etc. 

The question is…

Do you really need all that data to drive your business forward?

In other words, ask yourself, “Is this useful?”

This brings us to the last mistake (which actually might sound contradictory)…

Mistake 4: Ignoring Data from Other Sources

Customers start their journey after they have clicked on your Facebook ad. But as you know, a lot can go wrong when the user lands on a site or web shop.

Think, for example, of:

• The contact form may not be working. 
• The site might not be optimized for a specific device.
• The conversion tracking may not be set up correctly.
• The landing page may not be aligned with the message of the ad.
• Your actual revenue may differ from what Facebook or other platforms, like Google Analytics 4, shows. 

I am not claiming that Facebook Ad metrics are worthless, but you need to pick them carefully. 

Sometimes the best “source of truth” will definitely be Facebook Ads.  But sometimes (often!) it won’t be the best source for the answers you’re looking for.

To measure your actual revenue, for example, it is wiser to rely on data from your cart, or (even better!) your merchant processor (platforms, like PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, etc.).

Conclusion: 

Facebook Ad metrics are very powerful to 

• Measure the performance of your campaigns
• Get insights on how to improve your campaigns
• Control your paid ads budget on the biggest social media platform
• Reach the right audience with the right message at the right moment
• Achieve your business goals

But Facebook Ad metrics reveal only one part of the complicated customer journey. 

If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, as a business or marketing agency, then make sure you:

• Track only the most valuable Facebook Ad metrics
• Include metrics from other platforms and tools to make profound decisions
• Give your team access to the data they need to do their job
• Present everything in a shared dashboard that’s explains itself

This is the secret sauce of businesses that thrive in the complicated digital marketing landscape. 

I hope this information will help you become a better Facebook marketer or give your business a better understanding of Facebook Ad metrics and how they fit in the bigger picture of digital marketing.

The post 12 Facebook Ad Metrics Worth Your Attention appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

The digital marketing software market is valued at $60.3 billion. And it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5% over the next decade.

With a plethora of digital marketing tools in the market, choosing the right ones can be a daunting task.

However, it’s essential to invest in the best tools to enhance your digital marketing efforts and help you stand above the inevitable competition from your peers.Competition is a significant challenge for 27.1% of digital marketers today, as revealed in a survey conducted by Influencer Marketing Hub.

So which tools should you use to get an edge? 

You don’t need to spend time researching the best tools. In this article, I’ll introduce you to five digital marketing tools that can boost your efforts and give you an edge over the competition.

5 Digital Marketing Tools to Drive Better Results

Here are five digital marketing tools that address different areas of digital marketing. 

They range from tools that enhance website speed to ones for improving landing pages and enhancing overall user experience.

1. TinyImage

TinyImage is one of the digital marketing tools you need to invest in. It’s an image compression tool that reduces the size of your PNG and JPG images online by over 75%.

You don’t have to worry about the security of sensitive image files as well. TinyImage uses a secure 256-bit encrypted SSL connection. It also deletes your images within a few hours of uploading them.

How can TinyImage improve your digital marketing ROI? 

Larger-sized images take up a lot of bandwidth, which slows down loading times for your visitors.

Research by Digital.com shows 21% of online shoppers are dissatisfied by slow-loading pages. Half will abandon their shopping cart if a page fails to load fast enough.  

This app is most helpful for agencies that provide custom app development services. It helps them to compress images in a few seconds and convert apps into fast loading for their clients.

Use TinyImage to:

• Compress images without losing image quality
• Compare the file size of the compressed images to ensure you have the optimal file size
• Save time by compressing multiple images at a go

Price

• Free

2. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is one of the best social media marketing tools in the market. It helps you manage all aspects of your social presence.

You can analyze the performance of your posts and Reels to find the best Instagram Reels to embed on your website. Also, you can also monitor your competitors, manage conversations with your audience, and plenty more.

Sprout Social boosts your social media marketing efforts. And according to research, effective social media marketing results in higher sales for 55% of businesses.

What you can do with Sprout Social:

• Analyze the performance of your campaigns and get insights into areas of improvement
• Uncover current trends and opportunities to engage with your target audience through social listening
• Schedule and publish posts across multiple platforms

Price

• Standard: $249 per month
• Professional: $399 per month
• Advanced: $499 per month

Enterprise: Custom

3. Zendesk

Customer support plays a crucial role in creating a better customer experience for your e-commerce store and optimizing your digital marketing efforts.

And Zendesk is one of the best tools you can use to ensure provide personalized customer support.

It’s AI-powered AI chatbot, live chat, help desk ticketing system, and other solutions help you provide instant and right customer support.

Why is it one of the best digital marketing tools to boost your ROI? 

Zendesk has helped generate numerous leads, sales, and signups for its customers with its low-cost ownership offers.

How Zendesk can help your business achieve better marketing results:

• It offers an AI-powered chatbot and live chat that answers instantly to customers’ questions.
• It offers the right reporting and analytics software that help you get real-time insights for your business.

Price

• Free: $0
• Starting: $19 per month
• Suite Team: $55 per month
• Suite Growth: $89 per month
• Suite Professional: $115 per month

Suite Enterprise: Reach out to them

4. Ahrefs

Keyword research tools are important for any digital marketing strategy. And Ahrefs is one of the best there is. It’ll help boost your SEO strategies to improve your website’s visibility and ranking in SERPs.

It’s not just a keyword research tool, but an all-in-one SEO toolset that analyzes the ranking difficulty of keywords, simplifies backlinking, and more.

You can use it to scan your website for technical and on-page SEO problems that may be holding back your ranking.

Ahrefs also lets you keep tabs on keywords your competitors are ranking for and get insights into the SEO strategies they are implementing. 

Additionally, you can use it to get content ideas that have the potential to draw traffic to your site and find link prospects from a database of over 14 billion web pages.

Ahrefs also provides access to other free digital marketing tools like a backlink checker and AI writing tools

What you can do with Ahrefs to boost your digital marketing ROI

• Find keywords for YouTube, Amazon, and Bing and generate additional keyword ideas using AI to reach a wider audience
• Find backlink prospects to increase your SERP ranking and enhance your credibility
• Visualize your SEO progress using interactive graphs

Price

• Lite: $99 per month
• Standard: $199 per month
• Advanced: $399 per month

Enterprise: $999 per month

5. Hotjar

Google has clearly stated that it rewards content that provides a good page experience. Hotjar is one of the best digital marketing tools you can use to gain insights on ways to improve user experience and also optimize your store for conversions.

It provides heat maps that you can use to see your website visitors’ activities and identify friction points. The heatmaps show you how your visitors move, click, and scroll.

You can also compare user behavior across different devices using Hotjar to identify opportunities to increase conversions.

And if you serve video ads on your website or any other type of ad, you can conduct surveys and collect feedback from your customers to learn how they’re affecting their user experience.

What you can do with Hotjar to improve your ROI:

• Watch full recordings of your visitors’ journey on your site to find and fix user experience issues
• Access all user data from a single dashboard, including feedback, metrics, and session recordings
• Automatically generate relevant surveys using AI and get automated summary reports of the responses

Price:

• Basic: Free
• Plus: $39 per month
• Business: $99 per month
• Scale: $213 per month

Start Leveraging the Best Digital Marketing Tools Today

Leveraging digital marketing tools is crucial if you want to enhance your ROI. And these are the 5 best tools available in the market that you can use.

They all serve different aspects of digital marketing but with similar goals—improving audience engagement, driving conversions, and maximizing your marketing efforts.

Go ahead and give them a shot to take your digital marketing efforts to the next level and boost your ROI.

The post 5 Must-Have Digital Marketing Tools for 2024 to Skyrocket Your ROI appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Classic copywriting books are needed now more than ever. With the explosion of marketing technology, AI-generated content, and companies worldwide competing for the same customers, timeless principles are priceless. 

Because although AI can generate content, understanding human emotions and psychology, as taught in these books, is essential for creating an engaging and persuasive copywriting piece.

With all our new technology, it’s easy to get pulled away from the fundamentals of copywriting. However, when you combine the fundamentals with modern technology, you become unstoppable.

Breakthrough Advertising By Eugene Schwartz

Breakthrough Advertising is a favorite among copywriters. Eugene Schwartz, a direct-response copywriter who was prolific in the mid-20th century, is a legend.

Breakthrough Advertising is a dense book, and most reviews will only cite the Schwartz lessons from the first half. For example, almost every review will cite Schwartz’s advice that demand for a product cannot be created—only channeled.

(I guess I just did it too.)

That advice about customer demand is indeed sage wisdom to write down and remember forever. But it’s in the second half of the Breakthrough Advertising, which gets little attention, where I find the most gems. 

One of those gems is Schwartz writing about the topic of belief.

Belief is the goal, Schwartz states.

If you can channel the tremendous force of his belief—either in content or direction—behind only one claim, no matter how small, then that one fully-believed claim will sell more goods than all the half-questioned promises your competitors can write for all the rest of their days.

A prospect can’t fully accept and value your offer unless you build the necessary beliefs. Your coupons and bonuses will bounce right off your prospects unless they believe your product is right for them.

As an example, Schwartz describes a challenge he had in selling a TV repair manual. Back in the 1950’s, TVs were complex, intimidating machines that broke down constantly, leading to expensive repair bills.

The homeowner could save a ton of money doing TV repairs themselves. The problem was that nobody believed they could actually repair a TV.

Schwartz persuaded prospects they could repair the TV using nothing but his words. He did it through the way he structured his sales letter, strategically targeting belief after belief. You can find the full sales letter in Breakthrough Advertising—it’s incredible.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK TODAY:

These days, the marketing world is filled with hype and over-the-top promises. Schwartz advises us to dial down those big promises. Instead, focus on building belief. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and ask, “What does my prospect need to believe in order to say “yes” to my offer?

If you want more on this topic of belief building in your prospect’s mind, I teach a step-by-step process in my own, Simple Marketing for Smart People.

The Robert Collier Letter Book

Robert Collier built a successful direct-response marketing business by sending simple letters in the mail. 

He used letters to sell all sorts of products, from coal (Collier was a mining engineer) to women’s dresses. But he mainly sold books. 

The books were typically stories from history, such as H.G. Wells’s The Outline of History, or personal development books around achievement and success. Collier sold over 300,000 copies of his personal development book called The Secret of the Ages.

His letters were clear, compelling, and most importantly—human.

Collier has a way of writing that makes you feel like he’s writing you a personal letter even though has was mailing these letters to thousands of people.

One notable letter was written to mothers and sold a home study course. It has the headline: “There is No University Like a Mother’s Reading to Her Child.”

Really tugs on the heartstrings, doesn’t it? That’s classic Collier.

Now, these letters were not merely for entertainment. He calls the letters he writes “Resultful Letters,” meaning the letters had to lead to results. That is, a purchase.

But it’s Collier’s way of getting the reader to take action (i.e., to purchase the product) that sets him apart.

His approach centers on knowing your reader. Collier states:

Familiarity with the thing you are selling is an advantage, but the one essential without which success is impossible in selling, by mail or selling in person, is a thorough understanding of human reactions. Study your reader first—your product second. If you understand his reactions and present those phases of your product that relate to his needs, then you cannot help but write a good letter.

Wise words for today’s copywriter.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK TODAY:

Use The Robert Collier Letter to add a human element to your writing. This book is different in that it’s learn by example. There’s not as much teaching as other copywriting books, but rather, you learn from Collier’s example letters, of which there are dozens.

Read Collier’s letters, his commentary, and his approach will sink in. The next time you sit down to write copy, you’ll naturally harness your inner Collier.

Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

Claude Hopkins is a pioneering figure in advertising. His most famous book, Scientific Advertising, is short at just 87 pages. Yet, it’s still constantly referenced for its timeless principles.

In Scientific Adveritsing, Hopkins writes:

The lack of fundamentals has been the main trouble with advertising in the past . . . it was like a man trying to build a modern locomotive without first asserting what others had done.

Hopkins laments that advertising success has felt like too much of a gamble, too much too much like speculation, like betting at the race track.

Do you see how even today, we’re wrestling with the same problem? We roll out a new product launch, ad campaign, or VSL, and it feels like we’re rolling the dice.

Hopkins believed advertising could be a safe and sure venture. But in order to do so, we must learn the fundamentals.

Hopkins then walks through his nearly 20 laws of advertising. He covers everything from headlines to distribution to giving samples. That last law, giving samples, was one of Hopkin’s favorite techniques. He sold a mountain of products by giving away samples. Hopkins believed the product should be its own best salesman. 

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK TODAY:

Each of Hopkin’s laws can be applied today. For example, his law of giving samples is easier than ever thanks to shipping across the world being easier than ever. 

His law on individuality and adding personality to your copy is critical given the massive amount of content on the internet and the difficulty of standing out.

Weave Hopkin’s laws into your next copywriting project and enjoy the results.

Your Turn

The benefit of learning copywriting from history’s greats is that they weren’t distracted by the internet and modern technology. That meant they put all their effort into the only tool they had—their words.

Study these great books to learn the timeless principles that lead to high-converting copy. Then, combine those principles with modern technology and watch your results soar.

The post 3 Classic Copywriting Books You Need Now More than Ever appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

In the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is like a siren’s song – captivating but potentially treacherous. As we sail into 2024, it’s increasingly clear that an over-reliance on AI could be the very thing that undermines your career as a marketer.

This isn’t just a cautionary tale; it’s a looming reality. AI is changing the game, yes, but it’s also setting a trap for marketers who lean on it too heavily without mastering the true essence of their craft.

The allure of AI in marketing is undeniable. It’s like stumbling upon a magic pill that promises to solve all our challenges with efficiency and insight. But here’s the crucial twist: as we immerse ourselves more in AI, there’s a risk we’re losing touch with the heart and soul of marketing – the human connection.

Marketing, in its purest form, is about knowing, liking, and trusting. If AI is doing all the talking, are we truly connecting with our audience, or just creating an algorithmic façade?

This is where the danger lies. AI, while brilliant at crunching numbers and spotting patterns, cannot replicate the intuition, creativity, and emotional intelligence inherent in a seasoned marketer. There are a lot of essential human behavior principles underlying all good marketing that might get completely neglected if we over-rely on AI. It’s not just about using tools; it’s about understanding why and how to use them effectively.

The real peril for marketers in 2024 is becoming mere operators of AI tools rather than remaining as creatives and strategists. AI can suggest moves, but without understanding the strategy, you’re playing a losing game. Marketing and sales have this problem all the time, that sales is promising X and marketing is delivering Y. There is a misalignment of messaging and it breaks trusts. Without trust, you have no brand.

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Marketers must not lose their grip on creativity and critical thinking, the very skills that define great marketing and develop limitless brands. AI is adept at following instructions, but it lacks the ability to think outside the box or understand the emotional triggers behind consumer behavior.

The challenge for marketers is to strike a balance. Use AI effectively, but don’t let it overshadow the human marketing skills that are crucial for success. The essentials of marketing – understanding your audience, speaking in their language, building relationships, and telling stories that resonate – cannot be automated. These skills are the lifeblood of effective marketing and are what will differentiate you in an AI-dominated world.

Looking to the future, don’t just be a useless operator, be a creative. Learn marketing, take courses, seek feedback, understand your audience, tell stories that speak to them, build relationships, and develop skills in leadership, sales, and communication. These are the attributes that will secure your career for life, not just your proficiency in handling AI tools.

To wrap up, while AI will continue to play a significant role in marketing, it should not and cannot replace the fundamental human elements that make marketing so effective. The key to thriving in 2024 and beyond is to evolve with AI, using it to enhance your skills, not replace them.

By striking this balance, you can ensure that you’re not just good in the eyes of AI, but excellent in the eyes of your audience, maintaining the human touch that has always been the cornerstone of successful marketing.

Remember, in this new era, the most creative marketers will always be in high demand, and operators will be disposable. Be more than just an operator; be the marketer who blends AI’s efficiency with the irreplaceable power of human connection.

Don’t be a vanilla marketer. Stand out, connect, and make a difference.

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