Start off your week strong with our curated list of tips and inspiration around every aspect of the digital marketing world. This is the Mad Fish Catch of the Week.

SEO

It’s a whole new ballgame for SEO. We’ll be talking more about AI and AR as the trend takes over, but understanding what you need to do now to stay ahead is imperative. Prioritizing User Experience and machine learning will rule SEO, and analyzing users search intent will take precedent over the classic keyword building strategy. Digging into not just what the user will be looking for, but answering subsequent questions on the page will become the way to engage with your audience and ensure that they do not navigate away. A few things to keep in mind around search intent… Why is the user searching for you? What are the different things users would search when looking for your product or service? Here are a few pointers to help you pinpoint more information about your audience:

  • Timing: When do they search? Time and date could have an impact on what kinds of searches and what kinds of decisions are being made.
  • Location: Is this a local product or service? How does location factor into your users search intent?
  • Device: Is the search likely to be mobile, desktop, or voice? Where and why will the user search for your service or product?

Learn more here.

PPC

If you’re just starting out with PPC, or have been trying to do it yourself and haven’t seen the results you need, it might help to identify the possible pitfalls. Often, being too general with your keywords selection (or too specific) may hurt your results. Flawed ad copy or sending users to a more general page may also impact performance and quality score. Find out more optimization tips for small business here.

Design

Sometimes, you just get stuck in a design rut. Whether it’s with content, social strategy, or design, seeing what the new trends are and innovating off them can be a great way to break out and get started. Especially with more traditional marketing methods like email, it’s important to show a fresh approach and look to catch the audience’s eye and ensure they are captivated. Check out these email design trends to see what’s been working in this infographic.

Social Media

When you’re executing a social media strategy it’s easy to get distracted by volume and quantity, instead of being a stickler for quality and creativity. While putting out informative content and sharing more about your brand is important, it’s also integral to provide timely and exciting content that will surprise and please your audience. Remember – differentiating yourself from the competition and delighting your audience will go a long way towards building brand affinity and a loyal customer. Here are a few more tips to get you started.

Content Marketing

While we’re all familiar with the phrase “know your audience” truly knowing and embodying who your audience is a little different. Seeing your content through your audience’s eyes is one of the integral ways you can optimize and innovate. This lies in persona development and personalization, utilizing demographics and psychographics, and more to ensure you have dialed in with your ideal customer and are able to reach them in a fresh way. Want more questions to help optimize your content for success? Use these examples.

Culture

We’re fired up about female leaders, and this piece on SoulCycle’s kickass empowered work culture is exactly what we needed today. From a premium on retention and a rigorous interview process to their charity focus (employees are given two paid business days to volunteer per year), to the natural focus on health (free classes!) their culture is enviable – and one we can all aspire to creating. Currently, at Mad Fish, we’re coming in at 80 percent female management but there’s always room for growth… After all, at SoulCycle 86 percent of their management is female. Who run the world?

Productivity

When we talk about productivity, we’re often focused on effectiveness and efficiency. While these are important measures, here’s another point: if you want to be successful, you need to be prolific. Now, that doesn’t mean you need to turn into a content farm or develop 10 apps a month, but you should be spending a lot of your time doing what you want to be good at, whether it’s gardening, writing, or coding. Figure out what makes you tick and jump in with both feet. Want to be a designer? Start spending time designing. Every. Day. Interested in picking up a new language? Download DuoLingo, start practicing, take a class. You can crush it at whatever you’re interested in. The first step is spending time doing it, and not being afraid to suck at the beginning. Get going and get inspired.