9 Powerful Tips to

Help You Stay Ahead

of Marketing Trends

The obvious riddle today’s marketers are trying to solve is – how to keep up with marketing trends?

From the unstoppable revolution of content marketing, which is set to generate $300 billion by 2019, to the rapid emergence

of digital video.

What steps can you take to make sure you are getting the most out of your inbound marketing campaigns?

The following blogs should be on every marketing professional’s reading list:

Search Engine Land – Covers news with a focus on the latest updates in SEO, SEM and mobile search.

Marketing Nation – An inbound marketing blog for business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers who want to learn, grow and crush it.

1. Read the Professional Blogs that Have Their Finger on the Pulse

Search Engine Journal – An SEO news blog that includes great tutorials and tips on social media marketing and paid search.

Marketing Land – A comprehensive digital marketing blog with everything from SEO and SEM to analytics and strategy tips for CMOs.

Backlinko – One of the best blogs out there for in-depth overviews and actionable tips on the latest SEO techniques.

2. Leverage Facebook Industry Resources

With 1.86 billion monthly active users, Facebook continues to be the juggernaut of social media marketing. Which means it pays as a marketer to stay on top of the latest insights for

developers.

Register as a Facebook developer and subscribe to Facebook’s Ads News blog.

This is where you’ll find out what updates and features are in the works as well as what has just been released. If you want to be

in-the-know, definitely pay attention to this site.

Want to dig even deeper with Facebook?

Join a Facebook Group where you can connect with other like-minded marketers, as well as marketing savvy business owners and see what other professionals are saying about current trends. Take a peek at what’s being talked about on the Social Media Today Group.

3. Listen to Top Marketing Podcasts

The GarVee Audio Experience, is a rich source of insights you won’t find anywhere else, including interviews and fireside chats where you’ll hear some great pearls of wisdom in marketing.

Today, there are some exceptional marketing blogs out there that you should be taking advantage of to help stay on top of

the marketing trends – and ahead of your competition.

Another top choice for getting

in-depth information is Marketing

Over Coffee.For instance, where else

can you learn about AI for academic

search, eBooks, and Google Data Studio

all in one, engaging podcast!

4. Research on Twitter

Twitter is excellent for engaging with your customers but you can also create a Twitter stream to help learn about what’s

trending in digital marketing.

Want to know what’s being discussed in social media marketing right now?

Search for keywords like #socialmedia and see what you find.

Twitter is also an influencer gold mine. You can easily find out

who the major voices are in digital marketing, as well as the

influencers for the niche-industries of the brands you are

marketing for. Add them to your Twitter feed to help you

keep your eye on what’s going on now.

5. Connect with Marketing Leaders with LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups is a hot spot for professionals of any industry who like to stay in the know – and stay connected with one another. It has become a hub for marketers who want to discuss what’s going

on in marketing.

Holger Schulze’s B2B Technology Marketing Community is the group to join. It’s loaded with group discussions so you’ll be able to see

what other marketers are talking about and have your own questions answered by B2B specialists.

6. Engage in Industry Forums

A great place to dig for your treasure is on online marketing forums like Warrior Forum, a beginner to mid-level internet

marketing forum, and SEO Chat Forum, which covers the world of search engine optimisation from end to end.

Pick one or two that you feel are the most relevant to your marketing efforts, become a member, and post your questions. You’ll be amazed at all the great free advice that you will get.

7. Track Trends in Your Own Business

Use what you learn to help fine-tune your own marketing. You

can infuse recent business news within next month’s social media

campaign or partner with influencers you discover to one-up

your competitors' marketing.

Want to learn more about what’s going on:

Read trade journals – you’ll uncover invaluable information about evolving trends, who matters, and concerns within your

brand’s business.

Subscribe to consumer magazines – this will help to give you a better view of your audience’s perspective.

Read the newspaper – The best marketers know what is going on in marketing, their brand’s industry, and related industries.

8. Organise All Your Subscriptions

The best way to keep up with marketing trends is to manage your subscriptions so you can ingest all this great info

seamlessly.

Don’t waste time digging for that article you meant to bookmark – organise with a tool like Use Panda. You can access the information you want, streamline your workflow, and keep tabs on the sites you want to read, when you want

to visit them.

Opt for Pocket Casts to help keep your podcasts in order and to find the shows you want with a simple swipe of your

smartphone or tablet.

Bloglovin’ is useful if you want a separate app just to manage your marketing blogs.

It will let you follow your favourite blogs, save posts, and organise by subject.

9. Put Your Research into Action

Use the information and insights, tips and tutorials that you get from all of these marketing resources and implement

them into your own strategies.

What you should do is keep track of the trends that you believe are useful and apply them, one or two at a time.

Next, look at your data and determine if what you have learned is working for your brand or not. Then, master and refine

what works, discard what doesn’t.

Over time, as you develop your rhythm and identify your most

useful resources, you’ll notice a huge difference in your

marketing – and you’ll never feel like you’re trying to catch

up with the trends again!

Want to learn more about how to improve your marketing? Download our free guide, “Building Brand Awareness: The

Ultimate Guide for 2017.”