Category: Industry

5-Minute Whiteboards Industry Marketing Predictions

Unpopular Opinion: Public Relations is the Future of Marketing

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Public relations is a dying trade. Mainstream media has less influence than ever. Pitching for coverage is a thankless, fruitless task. Yeah, well, I think PR is poised for a massive comeback. Here’s why: Traditional media may have less influence, but diverse, distributed sources of influence have never, NEVER held more sway over opinions and buying behavior. The 2.5 hours…
5-Minute Whiteboards Industry Marketing Zero Click

Traffic Is Down; Revenue Is… Up?

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
It’s weird times in the digital marketing universe. For decades, traffic and sales went together like peanut butter and jelly, cacio and pepe, palak and paneer. But, in the last few years, we’ve seen a deeply strange trend where the two have become unbound. In example after example, traffic can fall while revenue rises. Why is this happening? And is…
Agencies Industry Research

The State of Digital Agencies in 2024: Client Referrals Drive Agency New Business, But Is It Enough? And Are Sales Pipelines a Cause For Concern?

Paddy MooganBy Paddy Moogan
Introductory note from Rand: In case you missed Paddy’s December post about this extraordinary research, let me give him a brief intro: Paddy’s had a long career in marketing agencies, and now coaches other agency owners and runs The New Leader newsletter (I’m a happy subscriber). Paddy’s contribution here cannot be overstated – he’s assembled a vast array of survey data from 612…
5-Minute Whiteboards Content Marketing Industry Marketing Zero Click

Why Do We Need Zero Click Marketing?

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
You’ve heard of zero click marketing — and yes, you definitely heard it here first. We’re talking about creating standalone value in the platforms where people hang out, instead of dropping teasers and links in hopes that people will be compelled to click over to your site. It’s marketing where people already are and speaking to them in a way…
Agencies Hiring Industry Research

The State of Digital Agencies in 2024: Big Challenges, Bigger Optimism, and Is Remote Work Here to Stay?

Paddy MooganBy Paddy Moogan
Introductory note from Rand: This extraordinary research was put together by the brilliant Paddy Moogan, who’s had a long career in marketing agencies, and now coaches other agency owners and runs The New Leader newsletter (to which I’m a subscriber). Paddy’s contribution here cannot be overstated – he’s assembled a mountain of survey data from 612 agency owners and consultants…
Data Industry Marketing Research SEO

New Research: We analyzed 332 million queries over 21 months to uncover never-before-published data on how people use Google

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Google is a massive presence on the modern web. They’ve held 90%+ of the global search market share for 15 years. Even the rise of AI tools has been unable to budge that number (so far). They get <9% of all web visits, but send more than 60% of all referring traffic to other sites. Google is certainly one of…
Advertising Content Marketing Industry Marketing Psychology Tactics

If your audience’s sources of influence and your marketing budget don’t align, you’re gonna have a bad time

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Yes, this is a rant. It’s a rant about where leadership teams allocate their marketing budget vs. where their potential customers actually pay attention. For most, that’s heavily in digital performance ads (Meta, Google, Apple, and if you’re in e-commerce, Amazon/Pinterest), a healthy amount in social media/brand ads (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, maybe Reddit), and then a bit of “content marketing,”…
5-Minute Whiteboards Advertising Data Industry Marketing Predictions

Is Google Losing Search Market Share?

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
A recent Wall Street Journal made the top of feeds in the digital marketing world, claiming that Google is on the precipice of losing the lead in the search advertising wars. Supposedly, in 2025, for the first time, Google may fall under 50% of market share in search advertising (according to an eMarketer report the WSJ cites). The WSJ points…
Advertising Agencies Industry Marketing Tactics

How Paid Media Buyers Can Get an Edge in 2024

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
(The following post was written by Sam Tomlinson, EVP of Warschawski and one of the smartest marketing strategists operating today, and published on his blog. He’s kindly given us permission to reprint it here. Once you start reading, you’ll see why I believe everyone who subscribes to SparkToro should check it out. -Rand) The past three months have been jam-packed…

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