Now that we’re two years into the AI revolution, it seems like a good time to take stock of the ways it has impacted the marketing industry. In many ways, AI technology has created a seismic shift in the way marketers do their jobs, providing robust capabilities that were never possible before. Businesses that have been quick to adopt this technology and learn how to leverage these capabilities have experienced significant benefits.

How Pervasive Is AI in Marketing?

One of the ways we can gauge AI’s impact on marketing is by looking at how widespread its adoption has been by marketing professionals. Consider the following data:

• AI use by marketers increased nearly 10 times in 2023
• 87% of marketers have used or experimented with AI tools
• 68% of marketers are using AI in their daily workflow
• 3 of the top 5 AI objectives for companies are marketing related
• 63% of marketing leaders have already invested in AI technology for their businesses or are planning to do so within the next two years
• Nearly 50% of marketing leaders have used AI for content creation in the past three years

AI Technology Has Been a Complete Game Changer for the Marketing Industry

The AI revolution has completely altered the way marketers approach their craft:

• It has fueled the shift we’ve seen in recent years from mass marketing to more personalized marketing campaigns that cater to the unique individual needs of each member of your target audience. The ability for businesses to create these personalized marketing campaigns on a large-scale level simply wasn’t possible before AI.
• It has improved our ability to synthesize and understand massive quantities of data, allowing marketers to leverage this data for actionable insights that drive better outcomes. From enhanced customer insights to improved customer service to optimizing campaign performance, these data analysis capabilities have been a true game changer.
• It provides automation capabilities that allow marketers to perform their jobs more efficiently. This gives marketing professionals the ability to shift their time and focus from repetitive tasks to creating and implementing strategies that will drive better results.

If your business isn’t integrating AI into your marketing efforts, it will become exceedingly difficult to compete on this new playing field. As more businesses leverage these capabilities over the next few years, it will be critical for you to keep up if your business is going to thrive in the new AI era.

Areas AI Has Impacted Marketing

We’re seeing the impact of AI technology in just about every aspect of marketing. Some of the areas which have experienced the greatest impact include:

• Marketing Automation – Many tasks that previously required a human to complete can now be automated with AI. Data analysis, customer segmentation, personalized content creation and social media management can now be automated, streamlining the jobs of marketing professionals so that they can focus more on the marketing strategy elements that truly drive results.
• Data-Driven Decision Making – Digital marketing has provided a wealth of data that was never available with traditional marketing tactics. However, the massive amounts of data generated by digital marketing campaigns can be difficult to process and analyze quickly and efficiently. AI technology gives marketing professionals the ability to analyze vast quantities of data faster and more effectively, delivering deeper insights into campaign performance, consumer behavior and preferences, and overall marketing trends.
• Content Creation – AI tools give you the ability to generate content that is on brand and optimized for search engines. This has sped up the content creation process and allowed marketing professionals to publish content with a greater frequency than was possible before, making it easier to address the diverse content needs of each audience segment and product/service offering more effectively.
• Customer Interaction – AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants have expanded the ability of businesses to provide real-time customer interaction that addresses their needs more effectively. These tools are used to answer customer questions, provide personalized recommendations and guide users through the purchasing product for an improved customer experience.
• Personalized Marketing Experiences – AI tools have improved the ability to deliver more highly personalized experiences to consumers by tailoring content, recommendations and ads to the unique needs and preferences of each individual.
• Predictive Analytics – AI technology offers robust predictive analytics capabilities that allow marketing professionals to more effectively identify opportunities, anticipate trends and improve the effectiveness of their efforts.
• Search Engine Optimization – Both Google and Bing have implemented AI-powered search features on their platforms, and new AI-powered search tools such as Perplexity are being used with increasing frequency. These AI-powered search results are changing the way people search for and process the information they’re looking for, and this has forced SEO professionals to adapt their techniques to these new developments in search.

Webolutions Can Help You Leverage AI Capabilities in Your Marketing Campaign

Webolutions has been Denver’s leading digital marketing agency since 1994, and we’ve witnessed the digital marketing industry evolve from its infancy into the primary way businesses reach their audience. We’re constantly monitoring the technology, trends and best practices that are impacting the marketing industry, and we’ve made it a point to be an early adopter of AI technology in our approach to digital marketing.

When you work with our team, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of these innovations to achieve superior marketing outcomes that drive the high-quality leads you need to grow your business. We regularly use some of the most cutting-edge AI tools as part of our workflows, allowing us to gain more sophisticated and actionable data insights, create more personalized marketing experiences and fine tune your strategy over time in order to address the needs of your business as you grow and evolve.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Webolutions serves clients nationwide from our offices in Denver, Colorado.

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Webolutions has been Denver’s leading digital marketing agency since 1994, when the Internet was still in its infancy. We’ve maintained our status as the go-to marketing partner for many businesses around the country because we’ve continued to keep our finger on the pulse of the digital marketing landscape. As we’ve analyzed the latest developments in the industry, we’ve determined that the following trends will be most impactful over the next year. Make sure your business understands how these trends will impact your marketing results, and as always, we’re here to chat with you about how you can leverage these best practices for optimal results.

AI’s Impact on Marketing

AI has taken the world by storm over the last couple of years, and there are new AI-powered tools being developed and released every month. While some of these may only benefit a small niche group of businesses or industries, other AI tools are playing a major role in the way all businesses implement their marketing strategies.

Here are some of the ways businesses will be implementing AI tools with their marketing efforts in 2025:

• AI-Powered Content Creation – AI content tools haven’t replaced human content creators yet, and it’s unlikely we’ll see that happen anytime soon. But AI-powered content creation tools are becoming valuable resources that help businesses save time, customize content and product recommendations, and ensure they’re producing relevant, engaging content pieces that resonate with their audience.
• AI-Powered Search Results – Google and the other major search engines have already rolled out AI-powered search results that appear at the top of the page, and AI-powered search tools such as Perplexity are rapidly gaining popularity. This will have a significant impact on the future of SEO (more on this later).
• Personalized Customer Experiences – AI is making it easier for businesses to create personalized product recommendations based on an individual’s prior browsing and purchase behavior.
• AI-Powered Chatbots – AI-powered chatbots are being used by many businesses to provide a better user experience on their websites, apps and online stores. This trend is expected to continue moving forward.
• AI-Driven Data Insights – AI tools are becoming increasingly effective at analyzing large amounts of data, helping businesses predict consumer behavior, optimize ad spending and identify which marketing channels have been most effective for achieving their goals. These data analysis tools are helping businesses refine their marketing campaigns to achieve better results.
• Automation of Marketing Tools – AI-powered tools are able to automate many complex marketing tasks, helping businesses streamline their efforts to save both time and money.

Web Design Trends for 2025

Web design becomes increasingly sophisticated each year, and this has led to some interesting new design trends for 2025:

• Increase in the Use of Visual Elements – We’re going to see more websites incorporating micro-animations that add depth and interactivity, integrating 3D graphics seamlessly with 2D elements, and choosing gradient color schemes to add depth and movement.
• Evolving Aesthetic Approaches – We’re seeing more websites designed with bold and vibrant color palates, an increased use of dark mode options for reduced eye strain and an emphasis on minimalist designs that feature clean aesthetics.
• Focus on Immersive and Interactive Experiences – An increasing number of websites are integrating virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology into their web design, allowing users to have a more interactive experience with the brands and products they follow. We’re also seeing an increase in voice-enabled interfaces and interactive multimedia elements to leverage the benefits and capabilities offered by this technology.
• Focus on a Personalized UI – Personalization is becoming a more important component to every aspect of digital marketing campaigns, and we’re seeing this in web design as well. Many websites are being built with dynamic dashboards and adjustable layouts that allow users to customize their interface to align with their needs and preferences.

SEO Trends for 2025

The incorporation of AI-powered search is going to significantly impact SEO in 2025 and beyond. While it will bring challenges that may render traditional SEO tactics less effective, it also provides opportunities to gain a competitive advantage if other businesses in your industry aren’t aware of how AI-powered search impacts their marketing efforts.

AI-powered search will impact SEO in a variety of ways:

• Increase in Zero-Click Searches – AI-generated search results function similarly to the featured snippets that have been appearing at the top of the page on Google for years. They provide users with elaborate answers which may prevent them from needing to click through to a website for more detailed information (a phenomenon referred to as zero-click searches). This could decrease organic traffic to websites, forcing SEO professionals to lean on other strategies to achieve results.
• Increase in Conversational Search Queries – AI-powered search engines will leverage natural language processing (NLP) to make interactions more conversational and nuanced, allowing them to better understand user intent and context. SEO strategies will need to focus on creating content that aligns with these conversational search queries to rank well.
• Increased Focus on User Intent – While targeting relevant industry keywords will remain important to your SEO strategy, the incorporation of AI into search will require the creation of content that addresses user pain points and challenges, as algorithms are increasingly rewarding content providing these valuable insights.
• Increasing Importance of Technical SEO – As AI becomes more integrated in search, technical SEO will become more important than ever. Websites that prioritize an effective information architecture, fast load times and a good mobile experience will have a much easier time maintaining visibility in search results.

Paid Advertising Trends for 2025

The changing SEO landscape will mean that many businesses may need to lean on paid ads more heavily to achieve their marketing goals. We expect to see the following trends impacting paid advertising in 2025:

• AI-Supported Ad Creation and Optimization – Many paid ad platforms are now incorporating AI into their functionality. You can now use AI to optimize bids and create ads that are more relevant to your target audience, helping you improve your ROI on paid ads.
• First-Party Data for Ad Targeting – While Google announced in July 2024 that they now plan to retain third-party cookies after initially saying they would be phased out, we still expect to see an increase in the use of first-party data (information about your audience collected by your business) in the creation of paid ads. This data will help you improve bidding on your paid ads, allowing you to hone your ad targeting to drive higher quality leads achieve a better ROI on your paid ad campaigns.
• Rise of Voice and Visual Search Ads – As voice assistants and visual search capabilities improve, we expect to see a rise in the use of voice-activated ads and visual search ads that leverage image recognition.
• Increased Focus on Cross-Platform Advertising – Paid ads are being run on a wider range of platforms than ever before, and this will force marketers to prioritize creating seamless experiences for their ads on different platforms to maintain a cohesive brand messaging.
• Increase in Sustainability and Purpose-Driven Ads – As consumers increasingly value supporting businesses that prioritize sustainability and values that align with their own personal values, we’ll start seeing this messaging emphasized in paid ads. We expect to see an increase in ads highlighting the sustainability efforts and brand values of businesses in 2025.

Content Marketing Trends for 2025

Content will continue to be an important component of your marketing strategy in 2025, but the evolving digital marketing landscape means that we’ll see some changes in the way many businesses approach content marketing:

• Increasing Reliance on AI-Enhanced Content Workflows – AI-powered content platforms are proving to be an invaluable tool that can streamline your content creation efforts. Content marketers will become increasingly reliant on AI-powered tools that will help speed up their research process, generate outlines for content pieces, and perform a variety of other tasks that will simplify content creation, making it faster and more efficient.
• Rise of Short-Form Video Content – With the availability of AI-powered tools that help with every aspect of the video creation process from ideation through final production, it has never been easier to create effective video content. This will allow businesses to leverage this content format to drive user engagement, build a more powerful brand and generate more leads.
• Increasing Importance of Expertise in Content Creation – The incorporation of AI into search results and the more conversational/question-oriented nature of search queries is changing the way content must be created. Traditional SEO content targeting the same broad keywords used by other competitors in your industry will start generating diminishing results, forcing businesses to evolve their content creation efforts. Moving forward, you’ll need to emphasize creating user-focused, expert-driven content that delivers deeper insights and more innovative solutions to the questions and pain points of your audience.
• User-Generated Content Will Continue Increasing in Importance – This is a continuation of a trend we’ve been seeing for the past couple of years, but you should expect it to reach new heights in 2025. Consumers are increasingly valuing peer recommendations to build trust in the businesses they support. This means user-generated content has become a critical tool for growing your brand, engaging with your audience and establishing trust. We’re seeing more collaborative relationships between businesses and consumers, where companies will need to actively encourage the creation of high-quality user-generated content by their audience, particularly on social media platforms.

Social Media Marketing Trends for 2025

Social media will remain an important channel to leverage as part of your digital marketing strategy in 2025. Here are the trends that will dominate the social media marketing landscape:

• Use of AI-Powered Tools in Content Creation – Social media marketers will increasingly leverage AI-powered tools to generate high-quality content at scale. This will free up social media marketers to focus more of their time on crafting and implementing your strategy rather than generating all the content.
• Increased Emphasis on Short-Form Video Content – We covered this in our content marketing trends, but many of the places you’ll see this short-form video content posted will be on social media platforms. Businesses that invest in high-quality video production and strategically place their video content on platforms such as Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts will be able to generate powerful results with their social media marketing efforts.
• Increase in the Use of Advanced In-App Shopping Features – As social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok continue evolving their on-platform shopping experiences, we’ll see an increased emphasis on promoting ecommerce via social media. In particular, shoppable ads and product tags will be used to allow for seamless in-app purchasing.
• Social Media Platforms will Increasingly Function as Search Engines – Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are increasingly becoming the primary way many users search for information. In 2025, optimizing social media profiles and content for search will be critical for social media marketing success.

Webolutions Can Help Your Business Thrive in 2025

As digital marketing strategies continue to become more nuanced and sophisticated year after year, it’s critical that your business stays on top of the latest trends dominating the industry. It can take a tremendous amount of work to continuously monitor these evolving trends, and knowing how to properly implement them as part of your marketing strategy requires the expertise of seasoned marketing professionals. At Webolutions, we can help you craft a digital marketing strategy that not only incorporates the latest trends, but is also tailored to the specific needs of your business to ensure you receive the best ROI for your marketing efforts.

As Denver’s leading digital marketing agency for 30 years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with thousands of businesses of varying sizes spanning a wide range of industries. We understand how the latest digital marketing trends are being used differently in various industries to leverage maximum impact, and our team has the expertise to customize your digital marketing strategy to ensure it resonates with your audience and generates the quality leads your business needs to thrive.

We’ve developed a unique Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach focused on growing your business smarter, faster and easier. This transformational approach to digital marketing focuses on working with you to discover what makes your business unique in your market, allowing our team to develop a customized strategy that differentiates you from your competitors and establishes you as an industry leader. Our Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach has delivered superior marketing results for our clients, and it can help position your business for ongoing success.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Webolutions provides comprehensive digital marketing services to clients nationwide from our offices in Denver, Colorado.

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The linear career path refers to the traditional model where employees start out at the bottom rung of the ladder and gradually rise up the ranks within one organization, retiring at the apex of their career when they hold a much loftier title, greater responsibilities and higher salary than when they started out at their company years before. But transformations in the work world have rendered this model obsolete. It has been replaced by a paradigm where employees change companies frequently, are more open to exploring career changes in midlife, and redefine their role in the workforce in their 60s and beyond.

This collapse of traditional linear career paths represents one of the most significant trends shaping the future of work. While it’s understandable that your business may view this with trepidation, a better approach would be to view it as an opportunity to proactively craft new norms and policies that will position your business for success moving forward. Businesses that are willing and able to adapt in the face of this new work paradigm will be much more likely to thrive in the years to come.

Signs the Traditional Linear Career Path Has Collapsed

We’re seeing the collapse of the traditional linear career path in a variety of ways:

• Job hopping is on the rise – Once considered a stigma, job hopping has now become a common occurrence in the work world. Led by the new norms embraced by Gen Z and Millennial workers, 22.3% of workers now spend one year or less at their jobs, and 33% of employees leave their job in less than two years.
• Contract work is on the rise – Contract positions and freelance opportunities are growing faster than traditional employment opportunities. These workers currently represent 36% of the American workforce, and this percentage is projected to continue increasing over the next few years.
• Older workers are remaining in the workforce beyond traditional retirement age – In 2023, 19% of Americans over the age of 65 were still part of the workforce, which is almost twice as many senior workers 35 years ago.
• Career breaks are gaining popularity – A 2022 LinkedIn survey found that 62% of respondents had already taken a career break, and 35% indicated they would consider taking one in the future.
• The impact of the AI revolution – The introduction of generative AI has already created a shift in the nature of how jobs are performed and the skills required for success in many positions. This will undoubtedly impact the career trajectories of many individuals currently in the workforce.

Reasons for the Collapse of the Linear Career Path

These signs can all be traced back to several factors that have been changing the landscape of the modern work culture:

• Rise of remote work
• Technology advancements
• Rise of the gig economy
• Erosion of loyalty in the work world

Rise of Remote Work

We’ve seen a tremendous increase in remote working opportunities since the start of the pandemic. This has expanded job opportunities for workers beyond their geographic location, and it has also allowed businesses to tap into a larger talent pool. This phenomenon both allows workers to change jobs more easily and helps businesses adapt to higher levels of employee turnover.

Technology Advancements

Technology is changing rapidly, requiring workers to constantly adapt and learn new skills. This changes the skills and experience that employers find valuable in job candidates, and it also impacts the ability of employees to continue advancing at their current company. Workers who aren’t able to adapt and learn how to navigate new technology are getting left behind.

Rise of the Gig Economy

Project-based work is increasingly replacing the traditional model of stable, long-term employment. Many workers prefer this option since it provides them with greater career flexibility and allows them to rapidly grow their skillset. Businesses value this model because it allows them to hire individuals with the specific skills necessary for a particular project and then pivot to someone with a different skillset based on the needs of future projects.

Erosion of Loyalty in the Work World

We’ve seen this go both ways. Many businesses have increasingly come to view employees as replaceable, and largescale layoffs are becoming more frequent as companies try to adapt to their changing realities over time. Workers have increasingly embraced being career “nomads” who switch roles, industries and companies on a regular basis, both in an attempt to become more versatile and in order to adapt to the career uncertainty caused by layoffs.

As a result, employees no longer view company loyalty or ongoing dedication to their initial chosen profession as a marker of success.

6 Ways Your Business Can Adapt to the New Career Paradigm

The collapse of traditional linear career paths has created a new work paradigm, and businesses that cling to the old paradigm are in danger of being left behind. It’s important to understand the ways in which your business will need to adapt in order to continue thriving in this new environment.

Embrace Flexibility and Nonlinear Career Models

The first and most important thing your business needs to do is embrace the new work paradigm we’re seeing. In order to adapt to this changing reality, you must first recognize that the traditional linear career path where you hire entry level employees who climb the ladder is no longer a viable approach. Instead, you’ll need to adopt a flexible approach that:

• Encourages lateral moves and cross-functional experiences within your company
• Create opportunities for employees to explore different roles and departments
• Value diverse experiences and non-traditional backgrounds when hiring and promoting

This philosophy will help you to more effectively meet the needs of your employees. This provides several important benefits:

• By meeting the needs of modern employees, you’ll increase the likelihood they’ll remain at your company longer
• When employees do leave, your team will have the diverse skills to fill the void internally
• You’ll increase the likelihood that you promote the best candidates for an open position, regardless of their prior roles or job titles

Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning and Skill Development

As career paths become less predictable, it’s critical that you provide the tools necessary for your employees to thrive over time as their needs – and the needs of your business – evolve. To do this, you should:

• Invest in ongoing training and development programs that provide your team with a more varied and robust skillset
• Provide resources for employees to acquire new skills relevant to emerging technologies and industry trends
• Encourage a culture of lifelong learning and adaptability that sets your business – and your team – up for long-term success as technology, workforce dynamics, and cultural norms evolve over time

Redefine Success and Career Progression

The collapse of the linear career path means that traditional notions of success and career progression no longer apply to modern employees. Therefore, your business model, hiring practices and org charts must adapt with the times to redefine what success looks like in the modern work world. Some ways to do this include:

• Moving away from rigid job titles and hierarchies
• Implementing competency-based progression models rather than time-based promotions
• Recognizing and rewarding skills, achievements and impact rather than just tenure

This approach will provide your employees with a pathway to grow their careers on their own terms without the need to leave your company. It will also help you create a culture that values and promotes individuals who demonstrate the skills and mindset necessary to move your company forward over time, rather than simply elevating someone simply because it’s their turn to be promoted.

Embrace the Gig Economy and Alternative Work Arrangements

The gig economy is here to stay. As we stated earlier, the data shows that freelance and contract workers comprise a larger portion of the workforce each year. Rather than resist this trend, your business should embrace it by:

• Offering flexible work arrangements, including remote and hybrid positions
• Exploring the use of project-based workers and creating contract opportunities to leverage the specialized skills provided by these employees
• Create systems to effectively manage and integrate gig workers with full-time employees

While it’s understandable to prefer the stability associated with a team of full-time employees, your business can benefit significantly by embracing a model that leverages the best of what can be achieved when you supplement your full-time employees with highly skilled contract workers who can deliver the best possible work on specific projects that arise over time.

Provide Your Employees with Opportunities to Create Portfolios Showcasing their Diverse Skills and Accomplishments

In our changing work world, the traditional resume is becoming less important than an employee’s portfolio of work. Resumes are great for highlighting prior job titles and responsibilities. While there is still value in this, it fails to showcase many of the skills and accomplishments that are the most important predictors of an individual’s future success in a role your company is trying to fill.

The best way to showcase these skills and accomplishments is through a portfolio that highlights examples of the diversity and quality of work associated with an individual’s career to date. Often, a portfolio provides the most effective way for individuals to connect the dots between the skills and experiences they’ve acquired across multiple industries as their careers have pivoted midstream.

Portfolios benefit both workers and businesses. They provide workers with a more effective way to uniquely represent their skills, experiences and accomplishments. They also make it easier for businesses to determine the right individuals to address the specific needs of your company.

Develop Strong Employer Branding That Resonates with Modern Workers

To attract and retain talent in a modern job market that is more fluid and less linear, it’s important for your business to:

• Clearly communicate your values, culture and opportunities for growth
• Highlight unique learning experiences and development opportunities within the organization
• Showcase success stories of employees who have pursued nontraditional career paths within the company

Are You Adapting or Falling Behind?

We’re seeing unprecedented shifts in the way workers navigate their careers, and there’s still significant uncertainty regarding where this trend will lead us. But these moments of transition shouldn’t be feared or resisted. Rather, they provide you with an opportunity for reflection and transformation that can help you evolve with the times. Adopting a mindset that prioritizes adaptability in the face of newer, less traditional career paths will allow your business to remain a leader in your industry and thrive for years to come.

The post The Collapse of Traditional Linear Career Paths Forces Businesses to Adapt appeared first on Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency.

Although many people touted the initiative, which gained momentum during the Pandemic, the continued progress has been slow. The government sector seems to be leading the skills-based revolution, with 40% of states removing degree requirements for most state jobs – up to 98% of jobs in some states have had their degree requirement removed. Even the federal government has eliminated – or, rather, started to eliminate – degree requirements for many jobs, notably jobs in IT fields.

In the private sector, however, 61% of global companies actually raised work or education requirements, despite the fact that many companies announced that they would eliminate degree requirements. Despite the fanfare, private-sector hiring of non-degreed candidates for previously degreed roles only increased by 0.14% – about 1 in every 700 new hires.

This does not mean that skills-based hiring is a failure in the market, something that is only supportable in the inefficient bureaucracies of state and federal governments. Instead, it reflects the challenges that skills-based hiring poses for many companies, and how hard it can be to get the tactic right for your organization. We’ll talk about what makes skills-based hiring so hard to get right, and how you can fit it into your hiring practices.

The Promise of Skills-Based Hiring

The Harvard Business Review says that “The logic of skills-based hiring is unimpeachable.” Businesses that are struggling both to recruit good talent and expand their diversity should remove degree requirements from positions in favor of simply requiring the actual skills required to do the job. This offers so many benefits to employers and employees that it should become standard practice.

Easier to Fill Positions

Proponents of skills-based hiring point out that although college degrees have become more common in recent years, only 38% of people have them. Maintaining a college degree requirement on a position therefore removes nearly two-thirds of applicants from consideration. In a labor market where talent is scarce, this could significantly handicap a business’ hiring capability.

Finding People Who Fit Your Needs

Another argument in favor of skills-based hiring is that people with degrees don’t have the skills that businesses need in their employees. The truth is that 54% of college graduates don’t work in the area they studied, which does make one wonder whether their degree adds any value for the employer.

A skills-based hire, on the other hand, already has the skills necessary to perform the job. These skills are on their resume or otherwise demonstrated to show that the new hires are ready to start work with little or no training.

Improving Diversity

Another challenge of degree-based hiring is that it reduces diversity in the hiring pool. Although about 42% of the non-Hispanic White population and 59% of the Asian population has a bachelor’s degree, only 28% of the Black population and 21% of the Hispanic population does. By keeping degree requirements in place, companies are reducing the accessibility of jobs to minorities and perpetuating a cycle of un- or underemployment.

The Perils of Skills-Based Hiring

Although skills-based hiring has unimpeachable logic, we do not necessarily live in a logical world. Skills-based hiring seems like a winning scenario on the face of it, but in practice, the execution often reveals problems for companies that try to roll it out. Here are some of the challenges that companies face when they try to adopt skills-based hiring.

Confirming That People Have the Skills

One of the biggest challenges companies face when trying to adopt skills-based hiring is how to determine that an employee has the skills they claim. There are three primary strategies for this:

• Employers can test potential employees’ skills, but this adds a significant burden for employers, who need to create and administer skill tests, making hiring more expensive.
• Accept workplace experience as evidence. This does expand the hiring pool, but it also strands many people with the paradox that they need experience to get a job, but they can’t get a job without experience.
• Companies can accept credentials (and micro-credentials) that instructional organizations give potential hires. This works, but it depends on the credibility of the credentialing institutions.

Skills-Based Hires Don’t Necessarily Fit Your Organization

Although skills-based hires come in with many of the skills to perform a job, they don’t necessarily have the skills to fill the position. This is because many skills-based hires may lack the types of “soft skills” that students had to master to get through college, including communication, teamwork, time management, and adaptability. As a result, most hiring managers believe that college degrees are still a more valuable asset than many skills certifications, such as micro-credentials.

Degree-Based Hiring Is an Ingrained Culture

Although many companies dropped degree requirements from jobs, they continue to hire candidates with degrees rather than candidates without degrees. This is in part because of the self-reinforcing perception we talked about above, which is based on decades of degree-based hiring.

Before companies can approach skills-based hiring fairly, they will need to take a close look at their hiring practices and the biases of their hiring managers to really improve hiring prospects for skills-based candidates.

How to Succeed with Skills-Based Hiring

Although there are potential drawbacks to skills-based hiring, the demonstrated benefits make it worthwhile. In addition to the above-stated benefits, non-degree hires often see a 25% increase in pay stepping into a previously degree-limited role. Employers benefit, too, because the two-year retention rate is 20% higher for non-degreed hires, making skills-based hiring a potential win for both employees and employers.

Here are some tips that can help your company get the most out of skills-based hiring.

Stick to Areas Where There Is Good Credentialing

Not all jobs are equally adaptable to skills-based hiring. The easiest ones to transition in your business are those with good credentialing institutions that you trust. Then you can include requirements for work experience or credentials from your trusted institutions.

That way, you will have some assurance that potential hires really have the skills they claim without having to set up a testing regimen. Plus, you’ll be making your entry-level positions truly entry-level: people won’t necessarily need work experience to get hired.

Support New Hires

Another key to success with skills-based hiring is to revamp your onboarding process. Recognize that although your skills-based hires will enter with some skills, they might lack others. Provide them with the right training to help them succeed in your company.

It might not be immediately clear what training process will be most successful for your new hires. You might have to start by figuring out what skills your new hire needs help with, then taking steps to help them achieve those benchmarks. This might require different training techniques, such as mentoring, but will provide good returns.

Learn from Your Successes

When you have successful skills-based hires – those that perform admirably in their positions and may even have earned promotions – consider what characteristics made them good hires. This might be aspects of the candidate’s background, such as their personal or work histories. However, it might be characteristics of their job at your company, such as the role they were hired to fill, the path they traveled to success, and whatever support or professional development that you provided or they secured on their own. Then utilize these insights to improve your hiring and onboarding practices so that each new hire has a greater chance of success.

Apply Skills-Based Hiring in Your Organization

With the potential benefits of skills-based hiring, it would seem foolish not to try it. Making it work for your company may take some concerted effort and changes to your hiring process. However, if you take the time to invest in the practice, you will find that it pays off with a greater pool of candidates to choose from, more diversity, and skilled employees that hit the ground running to add significant value through their work.

The post Navigating the Promise and Perils of Skills-Based Hiring to Improve the Success of New Hires appeared first on Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency.

Today’s workforce is more sophisticated than ever, and many individuals are no longer willing to accept a subpar work environment when they can easily move on and find a more positive atmosphere to spend their time 40 hours a week. A recent survey found that 34% of employees would leave their job if they felt they were in a toxic work environment, while 48% of workers would move on if their job prevented them from enjoying their life. Dealing with conflicts on a regular basis places a strain on worker morale that can easily trigger the decision to leave.

This heightened level of employee empowerment and mobility makes it more important than ever for your managers to have strong conflict resolution skills. In fact, the success of your business depends on it.

What Is Conflict Resolution?

Conflict resolution refers to the ability to effectively manage conflicts or disagreements that develop between two or more individuals. Strong conflict resolution skills help managers defuse issues between employees in a respectful and constructive manner, allowing the coworkers involved to move forward with a more collaborative and positive relationship in the future.

Why Are Conflict Resolution Skills Important for Managers?

Conflict resolution skills are critical for a manager’s ability to cultivate a positive work atmosphere that maintains high levels of employee morale. When your managers have strong conflict resolution skills, your company will experience a variety of benefits, including:

• Higher levels of productivity
• A more positive work environment
• Improved team dynamics
• Lower employee turnover
• Greater innovation

Higher Levels of Productivity

Unresolved conflicts create tension and distractions that can negatively impact the progress of projects and tasks. This can threaten to derail your company’s productivity. Effective employee conflict resolution helps maintain higher levels of productivity in a variety of ways:

• Issues are addressed more quickly before they escalate to a level where work is disrupted
• Positive working relationships between team members are restored, fostering better collaboration and preventing ongoing resentments which can negatively impact work on important projects
• Team members will be able to focus on their daily tasks rather than spend their time dealing with interpersonal conflicts

A More Positive Work Environment

Managers with strong conflict resolution skills are able to cultivate a more positive work environment by:

• Creating a culture where conflicts are handled promptly and in a constructive manner
• Building trust and respect among team members
• Promoting open communication and collaboration among employees
• Creating a safe space where employees feel comfortable expressing their concerns and opinions

This results in greater levels of employee satisfaction and engagement.

Improved Team Dynamics

Strong conflict management helps promote healthier relationships between your team members. Addressing conflicts in an open and honest manner can help build trust and respect, while strengthening bonds between employees. This can result in better collaboration between team members that improves the results they achieve on projects.

Lower Employee Turnover

As we discussed earlier, poor conflict resolution is a key contributing factor in employee turnover, as a large percentage of employees will quit their job rather than be subjected to a toxic work environment. Between the costs associated with hiring and onboarding replacement employees and the lost productivity experienced when your team is shorthanded, high employee turnover can have a significant impact on your bottom line.

Conversely, employees who feel that their conflicts are not only acknowledged, but resolved effectively are much more likely to experience satisfaction in their job. When your managers are able to address conflicts, it shows your team that they are valued and that their concerns are being heard. This can play a critical role in improving your employee morale and retention.

Greater Innovation

When not handled properly, employee conflicts can stifle creativity and prevent your team from developing the innovative solutions your business needs to thrive. But constructive handling of these conflicts can have the reverse effect, providing a catalyst for the innovation you need to remain an industry leader. This is due to the fact that effective conflict resolution can help employees explore ideas, perspectives and solutions that are different from their own. This allows your managers to harness these different viewpoints to develop solutions that may not be possible when individual team members refuse to look beyond their own world view.

Key Conflict Resolution Skills Your Managers Should Possess

Whether you’re hiring someone from outside your organization for a management role or promoting from within, it’s important to make sure the candidate you choose possesses the skills necessary to effectively handle employee conflicts. In addition, conducting conflict resolution training with your management team on a regular basis will help them refine these skills so that they become more effective at this important aspect of their job.

The following skills will set your managers up for success in conflict resolution situations:

• Active listening – Active listening skills form the foundation for effective conflict resolution. To be a good active listener, you must give the speaker your full attention and allow them to express their concerns fully before responding. This will help you understand their perspective more clearly and help you gain important insights into the causes of the conflict. It will also show the team members involved that their concerns are acknowledged and valued, which will help alleviate some of the tension in the situation.
• Emotional intelligence – Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to understand and manage both your emotions and the emotions of others. These skills play a critical role in conflict resolution. It will help you remain calm and empathetic throughout the process, allowing you to respond in a thoughtful and constructive manner that considers the feelings of everyone involved.
• Problem solving – At its core, conflict resolution involves solving a problem between two or more people. Therefore, good problem-solving skills are essential. Your managers must be able to identify the underlying issues driving the conflict and work with everyone involved to explore creative solutions that are beneficial to all parties.
• Communication – As the person tasked with resolving the conflict, your managers must be skilled communicators. After listening carefully to understand the issue and the needs of all parties involved in the conflict, they must be able to clearly articulate their thoughts and solutions in a way that will make their employees feel valued and heard. Nonverbal communication skills play an important role in the process as well, since body language can impact whether employees feel safe expressing their true feelings.
• Empathy – Empathy refers to the ability to understand the feelings of others and is a critical skill for effective conflict resolution. When you show genuine concern for the feelings and perspectives of the employees involved in conflict, it will be easier to cultivate trust and foster a collaborative process that helps resolve the issue at hand.
• Patience – Handling disagreements between employees can be a frustrating process, especially when disagreements are emotionally charged. It’s important for your managers to remain patient and allow the process time to play out in a way that provides a solution that is acceptable for everyone.
• Cultural sensitivity – Workplaces are more diverse than ever. While diversity is a strength for a business, it can also create situations where conflicts develop due to cultural differences and misunderstandings. Managers must develop cultural sensitivity so that they are aware of and respect these different cultural norms and values when seeking to resolve conflicts. This can help bridge cultural gaps, making a solution possible.
• Impartiality – To effectively resolve conflicts, your managers must be objective and unbiased throughout the process. This will build trust and make all employees involved feel like their concerns are being heard and valued. Failing to remain impartial will often escalate the problem and make the environment more toxic.

How Your Managers Can Utilize Conflict Resolution Skills to Promote a Positive Work Environment

While the skills discussed above are critical to successfully resolving conflicts between employees, your managers must also have an effective process to facilitate the resolution of disputes. The following framework will help your management team handle this important task properly.

Address the Conflict Directly

Once a conflict has been brought to your management team’s attention, the first step should be to prevent escalation. Ignoring a conflict is a surefire way to make it worse and if that happens, it will be more difficult to resolve the issue. To avoid this, it’s critical for your managers to address the conflict directly in a composed manner that avoids personal attacks or assigning blame.

This is where strong active listening skills will be important. Your managers will need to listen to both parties to uncover their concerns and perspectives, show empathy and ask the proper questions to understand their desired resolution.

Pinpoint the Cause of the Conflict

After speaking with each party individually to understand their side of the issue, your managers should use their critical thinking skills to determine the cause of the problem. This step is essential for identifying solutions that will be considered fair to all sides.

Facilitate Open Communication

At this point, it’s time to bring everyone involved in the conflict together to talk through the issues. During this conversation, your managers should:

• Act as a neutral mediator
• Encourage open and honest dialogue
• Allow each side to express their views
• Promote active listening between parties
• Identify shared goals, values or interests that can serve as a foundation for resolving the conflict

Collaborate on Solutions

Imposing a solution generated by your managers should be the last resort, as this is less likely to get the people involved in the conflict to buy in. A more effective way to resolve the conflict is for your managers to facilitate a collaborative problem-solving process where all parties are actively involved in brainstorming potential solutions.

During this process, your managers should make sure the pros and cons of every solution are discussed so that everyone involved can evaluate each option objectively. You should strive for win-win outcomes that address the needs of all parties to the best extent possible. It’s important to keep brainstorming until this is achieved.

Once a solution is chosen, make sure everyone is in agreement. Consensus is important to the resolution of the conflict, and it will reduce the chances that a similar issue will cause the conflict to recur in the future. After consensus is reached, clearly define roles and responsibilities for implementing it. This creates accountability and ownership of the resolution process among all parties involved.

Follow Up and Monitor

After a solution has been agreed upon, it’s important for your managers to check in with each employee regularly to ensure the solution is working. If any new issues arise, these check-ins will allow your managers to deal with them in their early stages before the conflict escalates again.

The post Employee Conflict Resolution Skills Are Now Critical for Manager Success appeared first on Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency.

The secret to attracting interest that turns into sales is identifying what your customers value. You can then use that value to create a business marketing strategy that gives potential customers exactly what they are looking for. This uniquely targeted advertising works because it links what you are uniquely positioned to provide with customers who are looking for exactly that. Even if this is a small audience at first, it gives you a position of strength that you can build on to expand your market reach.

Value Is Why Customers Buy from You

Customers are looking for good value for their money. Whenever they consider making any purchase, they will compare the cost of that purchase against its perceived value. They will only buy something if they think its value exceeds the value of the money they will spend. Not only that, but in a crowded marketplace, people will only buy your products if they perceive that the value you offer is better than the value your competitors offer.

Note that in all these cases, it is the perceived value that matters. In other words, it’s what your customers think is valuable, not what is actually valuable in any objective measure. It might not even have anything to do with what you think is most valuable about your offerings. Though we naturally want to start marketing to our perceived strengths, it’s more important to identify the parts of our offerings that successfully connect with our customers. Leveraging Digital Business Cards can help highlight these connections.

Different Types of Value

Value is a complex concept, and many people perceive different aspects of a product as being more valuable than others. To really target the things that matter to your customers, you have to figure out what types of value matter to them and emphasize them in your business marketing. You want to show how you offer more of this type of value than your competitors do. Here are several different types of value that customers often consider important.

Technical

Technical value relates to the function of your product. For example, the 0-60 time for a car is a technical value. With cars, other types of technical value include the cornering ability, the feel of the suspension, and maybe even the engine’s compression ratio. As you can see, technical value can be very specific, and marketing on this basis can be very effective if your product is technically superior in a way that matters to some customers. However, technical value in business marketing can be challenging because the people who appreciate these technical specifications are a small group and may not even be the final decision-makers.

Economic

Economic value is related to price, but it goes beyond simple pricing. Aspects of pricing like financing, volume discounts, and even customer loyalty discounts can make a big difference for some customers. In B2B marketing, economic aspects can also come in the form of pass-through value if a customer can use your brand name to increase their profitability. A similar value in B2C marketing is resale value, an economic value that is very important to some customers.

Service

Many customers value service as much as they value your product itself. They want convenient delivery, billing that fits their accounting system, and simple returns. Above all, some customers want you to be responsive to concerns and complaints. In fact, customers are often happier if they had a problem that you resolved for them than they would be if they never had a problem in the first place.

Social

Social value relates to how your people interact with their people to make an effective functional relationship. If people feel that they can talk to your salespeople, have a sense that you know and value them personally and they experience positive interpersonal relations, you are delivering good social value. Social media can offer genuine social value by allowing your company to interact with people in noncommercial interactions.

Style

One important value that matters to many customers is the style of your offering. This may be something visible in the product, such as a unique or trendsetting design. However, brands can often build a style reputation that means the brand itself is stylish, independent of the products. The presence of a brand mark can make even a mundane object into a stylish accessory. Style is typically more important in B2C marketing, but in some cases strong styling can offer significant pass-through value for B2B

Philosophical

Philosophical value isn’t necessarily anything related directly to your product or your interaction with your customers. Instead, it’s about a perception that the way your company does business aligns with their values. For example, if you follow eco-friendly practices, customers might be prepared to pay more for your products if that is a philosophical position they share. Social media is a great way to build philosophical value for your company.

How Value Contributes to Your Brand

Your brand is more than just your company’s name and its logo. Your brand is a value promise. You build a brand reputation by promising value and delivering it. Once built, a successful brand carries significant value with it, and people are prepared to pay extra for that value. It’s not unusual for a leading brand to be able to charge 50% more for a comparable item than weak or unknown brands.

In traditional terms, this is what’s often described as your “unique value proposition,” (or “unique selling proposition”). You are attempting to build a brand that differentiates you from your competitors by offering value to your customers that your competitors can’t match. This value is typically a blend of the different types we’ve talked about above: technical, economic, service, social, style, and philosophical.

Although you can start a brand with any type of unique value proposition, you will only successfully build it if you are able to deliver on the promise you made. Your brand builds its reputation one interaction at a time. Every interaction that meets or exceeds your customer’s value expectations helps to build the promise that your brand delivers value.

Value Case Histories

One way to understand and communicate your value to potential customers is using value case histories. You might call these testimonials or customer stories, but the concept is the same: giving a detailed narrative of how your product delivers value to companies and individuals. Whatever you call these in customer-facing sections of your website, it’s important to remember that the central focus of these stories is “value.” You want to demonstrate that customers are getting value from your products and services that they feel is worth the price.

Building Your Business Marketing Strategy Around Value

As you come to understand your value, it can help you identify what customers you should be targeting. You want to target the customers who truly value (and are willing to pay for) the type of value your brand delivers.

For example, if your company offers a significant technical value, you might build a content marketing strategy around highly technical information. You might start with a detailed analysis of the performance aspects of your offering and provide data showing the ways in which your offering achieves better results than similar products on the market.

Building a strategy around a style value these days would likely involve the use of influencers. Philosophical value might benefit from influencers, but it might not be necessary if your social media campaign is well-run.

Analyze Data to Confirm You Know What Your Customers Value

As with any marketing approach, your success depends on constantly reevaluating and adjusting your strategy based on data. As you collect data from your site visitors and customers, you will understand how your customers really think about your brand.

• Sales Data –This is the basic representation of what customers are really buying from you. If you clearly understand what your customers value about your brand, you will be able to explain why some items are selling much better than others. Pay attention to items that don’t fit your understanding of what your customers value – you might not have the full picture yet.
• Search Data – Search data shows you what searches brought people to your site, which includes considerable data about their values. This data is a lot harder to utilize than it used to be, due to privacy changes on the Internet. Often, paid search advertising gives more complete data, but it’s all still more fragmentary than it used to be. Combining search data with navigational data can help you home in on the thought processes of your customers.
• Navigational Data – Watching how customers navigate their way through your website can give you critical information about what matters to them. Technically minded customers will spend a lot of time looking at spec sheets, whitepapers, and studies. Economically minded customers will follow tags like “bargain” and “sale,” and they will look more at your financing options. Philosophically minded customers will gravitate toward your “About Us” page and browse mission statements or your core values. Reinforce the paths that lead to sales and expand their reach with social media and search campaigns.
• Personalized Experiences – Offering personalized experiences to your customers is another way to check if a particular sale was a fluke or representative of a value pattern. When customers can log in to your site, you can offer them products and services that you think reflect their values. If they take advantage of those opportunities, you know you really understand them.

By constantly reevaluating this data, you will be better able to connect with customers who are drawn to the value your business provides.

Start Marketing to Your Strengths

If your marketing efforts aren’t reaching the customers you hope to win, Webolutions can help. Our transformational Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach to digital marketing has been crafted to help you grow your business smarter, faster and easier.

With this unique approach, we work closely with your company leaders to clarify the elements of your business and your offering that make you truly unique and special. We’ll use this discovery process to craft effective brand messaging that clearly conveys the value you provide to your customers in ways that will connect with them on an emotional level. This process drives more effective communications and more connected user journeys, improving your marketing results.

Contact us today to learn how Webolutions can elevate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and help you grow your business. We serve clients nationwide from our offices in Denver, Colorado.

The post Identifying What Customers Value Is Critical to Your Business Marketing Strategy appeared first on Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency.

This means that if you want to attract and retain some of the best talent, you will need to offer competitive vacation packages and flexible work arrangements.

The Pandemic Changed Everything

For years, Americans had been putting more emphasis on establishing a more positive work-life balance. However, the pandemic completely changed the conversation.

With COVID-19 claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, including some relatively young and healthy individuals, people started to re-evaluate their priorities. They decided that work was no longer their top priority in life, and that they wanted to put more emphasis on living their life to the fullest in case life wasn’t as long as they expected.

At the same time, COVID-19 shutdowns closed offices and caused people to work from home. After the initial chaos of figuring out how people could actually do their work (possibly while assisting their kids with schooling) from home, people settled into a comfortable routine. They figured out how to work efficiently from home and put the extra time they saved by not having to commute toward family, hobbies, household chores, and even earning a little extra on the side.

These new attitudes and expectations continue to shape how Americans look at vacation time and the work week.

Most People Feel Vacation-Deprived

Since 2000, Expedia has been asking people how they feel about travel, and their 2023 report makes it clear: workers want more vacation. The proportion of people reporting that they felt vacation-deprived was the highest level seen in a decade (62%), a big increase from 2016, when less than half of people reported feeling vacation-deprived.

Americans report being slightly more vacation-deprived than the global average (63%), which seems a little low given that Americans have only an average of 12.5 vacation days per year, and they only take 11 of them – the fewest of any country surveyed.

But They’re Vacation-Dedicated

People aren’t just accepting that they don’t have enough vacation time. They are dedicated to getting their vacation days this year. When asked how they were handling their vacation time this year, the majority responded that they intended to travel, “no matter what.”

What does that mean? It means that even when feeling the pinch of inflation, twice as many people are planning to cut back on groceries or eating out as plan on cancelling a trip. It might even mean changing jobs. More than two-thirds of vacation-deprived respondents said they would switch jobs if they could get more time off.

Daily Time Demands Have Also Shifted

The vacation angle is only part of the picture when it comes to understanding how workers’ expectations have changed. Another important issue is their attitude toward their day-to-day work schedules.

When people worked from home, they discovered that they had more time to spend because they weren’t wasting hours commuting every week. They found profitable ways to spend this time, with family, friends, hobbies, and chores. Many people even put this extra time toward their side-hustle which could represent a significant chunk of income. Now they don’t want to give these up.

In addition, people found themselves forced to work at odd hours. Remote teams sometimes demanded working on the schedule of a distant time zone and helping kids with their daily schoolwork forced parents to work late nights or on the weekends to keep up. Some struggled, some coped, and some thrived. This last group found that they loved doing their work when it suited them and found that their productivity and dedication increased tremendously.

The 40-Hour, 5-Day Work Week Is Dead

As a result of these changes to workers’ daily routines, there is a growing consensus that the 40-hour 5-day work week is dead. People may have accepted that they might have to go back into the office, but they don’t want to lose the time they’ve gotten accustomed to spending on other activities.

Alongside this, people’s annoyance is growing toward work expectations that they don’t perceive as valuable. Meaningless tasks, unproductive meetings, even unnecessary emails are sources of frustration. People want the ability to cut out these time-wasting tasks so that they can get their core responsibilities completed in a shorter time, then spend their time more productively and more freely.

What Employees Want from You

So, what can you do to make sure your employees are more satisfied in their work? There are a few key findings that come up repeatedly.

A Culture That Values Their Personal Time

One thing that employees want is an understanding from their employer that work may not be their top priority. They’re prepared to do the job you hired them for, but they want to do it in a way that doesn’t interfere with their other priorities.

If you are asking for their extra time, they want you to really appreciate how much of a sacrifice that represents. They need you to honor that sacrifice by making sure that you’re not wasting their regular working hours with meaningless work.

Clear, Reasonable Expectations

As we mentioned, people still want to do their jobs, and they want to do them well. However, they are asking that you establish very clear expectations about what their job truly is. Define their core job responsibilities and make sure your workplace metrics match up with those responsibilities.

Freedom to Work When, Where, and How They Want

There are many people clamoring for changes to the modern workweek. The most popular request is a 4-day workweek, favored by 87% of Americans. Many say they’re prepared to sacrifice things to get the shorter work week, though they generally don’t want to give up vacation time, pay, or career advancement.

However, there’s also a general sense that people want work to be more flexible. With their core responsibilities defined, people want the freedom to achieve those responsibilities in ways that they see as most efficient. This may be working in the office with meeting-free days, or it might involve working at home for part of the time with less emphasis on being available at certain hours. It may even involve process innovations that can help your organization improve efficiency overall.

You’ll See the Benefits

Although these changes to your workplace routines will make some demands on your organization, it’s probably worth it to make them. If you do, you’re likely to see some significant benefits, including:

• Recruitment and Retention of Skilled Workers
• High Employee Engagement and Productivity
• Lower Overhead

Policies that favor a healthier work/life balance can help you recruit and retain highly skilled workers. The workers that are most in demand have their pick of positions, and they’re likely to favor the ones that come with the best benefits. Allowing for remote work lets you recruit from an even larger talent pool, which helps you find the best candidates.  In addition, remote work and favorable vacation policies help with retention. Remember: 67% of vacation-deprived workers would switch jobs for better vacation benefits.

You’ll also get better work out of the employees you have. Over 80% of workers say that vacations make them more engaged and more productive. The same is true of flexible work arrangements, which are highly praised for helping productivity, including a four-day work week, which may reduce the number of hours worked, but doesn’t reduce the amount of work accomplished.

When all of this is managed properly, your business might see significant reductions in your overhead thanks to these flexible work arrangements. You’ll be able to right-size your office space. Rather than giving everyone a desk and a computer, focus on shared workstations, while people who work from home don’t need any workstation at all.

With all these benefits, it makes sense for employers to embrace this change in attitudes about work and vacation. The results can be good for your business and great for your employees.

The post The Changing Attitudes Towards Vacation Time and the Traditional Work Week in America appeared first on Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency.

However, the marketing model that we’ve used in the past is changing because the modern marketplace is not what it once was. If you want to maximize your ROI (return on investment) or ROAS (return on ad spending) with digital marketing, you must understand how the marketing funnel is evolving in the digital world we now live in.

Understanding the Traditional Linear Marketing Funnel

First, it’s important to make sure we’re on the same page when it comes to the traditional linear marketing funnel. The traditional marketing funnel divides the sales process into a series of stages. These stages can go by different names, but the most common breakdown is:

• Awareness: You make customers aware of your product or service through wide-reaching marketing campaigns.
• Consideration: Customers are considering purchasing your product or service. You engage them with marketing information that addresses their pain points and promotes the advantages of your offerings.
• Decision: Customers are ready to decide on your product or service, but might need additional inducement with final reassurance, special offers, or other coup-de-grâce techniques.

Note that these stages aren’t synonymous with customer “touches.” These are simply stages of the process of indeterminate length. For some products or services, customers might go through all the stages in a single contact with your business. For others, it might take dozens of contacts with a potential customer over a year or more to create a sale. Nonetheless, in both cases, the traditional funnel assumes that potential customers go through the same basic process.

In addition, some versions of the marketing funnel include additional stages:

• Engagement: (Between Awareness and Consideration) Customers begin to understand how your product or service might solve their problems or pain points.
• Validation: (After Decision) Customers decide if they’re happy with their purchase or not, including whether they’d recommend the product to friends and family.

The traditional linear marketing funnel still has some value. It helps you build marketing materials targeting customers at all stages of the funnel to improve your overall sales. However, there are increasing signs that the traditional funnel is not sufficiently rigorous to serve as the foundation for a digital marketing strategy anymore.

Evolution 1: Multidirectional Engagement

One of the biggest challenges to the traditional marketing funnel is that prospect engagement is not unidirectional or even bidirectional as in the past. Instead, prospects will engage with your brand in many ways. In the past, the majority of your product awareness might have come from ad campaigns targeting the largest audiences, such as TV commercials or billboards. Now, though, awareness can come from many different channels.

People might find your product in a Google search, either organically through your SEO efforts or via paid ads. They might see your product on social media. Word-of-mouth has always been important to sales, but the impact has expanded. Instead of one person speaking to dozens of friends and family members, even the least engaged social media user touches hundreds of accounts. Enthusiastic amateurs can reach thousands, and professional influencers sway millions. We’ll talk more about this in a moment.

When it comes to engagement or consideration, you used to have greater control over the information people saw about your product – they had to get it from you or a relatively small number of review sources. Now, though, people are more likely to seek out information from other sources. Social media is big here, too, with sites like Reddit and Pinterest being important decision-making resources. People will also look at independent review sites and other sources of research to get information about your product or service.

Even the decision-making process is complicated by the fact that you want to reach customers where they are. You can’t count on them to come to your store (physical or online). You may need to reach out to them, either on social media or via email to close a sale.

This transforms the sales funnel from a single directional flow into a web of interactions.

Evolution 2: Significance of Social Proof

We’ve already mentioned how important social media is, but it’s important to stress what this does to the marketing funnel. As we noted, in the traditional marketing funnel, the validation stage is often an afterthought. It’s rarely even included in the strategies associated with your funnel.

However, the importance of social proof in sales means that businesses need to invest significantly into this stage of the sales process. They want customers to engage with their product after purchasing in order to help generate future sales from other leads.

This turns the linear marketing funnel into a kind of wheel, where the results of each purchase generate a plurality of leads for the new funnel. Depending on the type of product or service you’re offering, you might see the best ROI from marketing to people who are already customers.

Evolution 3: A Fragmented Audience

Perhaps the biggest challenge to the traditional linear funnel is that the modern audience is more fragmented than ever. It used to be that marketers could count on reaching millions of viewers who tuned in for “must-see TV” every week. This wasn’t just a way to reach those customers in the awareness phase, it created a conceptual framework that marketers and advertisers could latch onto to reach customers. People’s identities were mirrored and reinforced by the characters they watched on screen, so when targeting the audience of The Golden Girls, for example, you just had to decide if you were targeting a Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia, or Rose. Top 40 radio gave a similar benefit. You knew that everyone had heard “Macarena,” giving you a set of not just sounds, but also moods and styles to play with that you knew your audience would recognize and respond to.

Now, though, there’s little in the way of common cultural touchstones. The last of those went away with Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones. While there are still popular movies and shows, they have a fraction of the viewership, as theater audiences have shrunk and shows are scattered between streaming platforms. Music is even more fragmented, with so many people enjoying separate custom streaming channels rather than a few monolithic radio broadcasts.

In order to reach this fragmented audience, you can’t rely on just one marketing funnel. You need an array of marketing funnels that target the different mindsets of each segment of your audience.

Webolutions Can Help You Address the Evolving Nature of the Marketing Funnel

At Webolutions, we are constantly evolving our marketing tactics to match changes in the marketing landscape. Instead of a traditional funnel, expect something much more complex, like a multidimensional spiral array.

How do we decide on the best way to reach your target audience? We utilize our exclusive Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach. This helps us discover, define, and deliver a custom marketing plan designed to achieve success for your company. We’ll start with a Market Positioning Action Plan™, a guided discovery journey that reveals your true marketplace differentiation – the thing that sets you apart from your competitors and will make customers or clients want to choose you.

We’ll build this into a Brand Platform™ that outlines your unique brand messaging to ensure consistency throughout all your marketing efforts. We’ll then design a website that projects your unique value and contains content that targets each segment of your audience in ways that will turn them into paying customers or clients.

This is just the beginning. We use powerful tools like our TruAttribution ROI System™ to determine which aspects of your marketing strategy are yielding the best results so we can continuously improve. We also provide you with Real-Time Performance Intelligence Dashboards™ so you can see the results for yourself in an easy to view format.

Is your current marketing company stuck in the past? At Webolutions, we’re always evolving, and we want to help you grow your business smarter, faster and easier. Don’t keep throwing money into outdated methods. Our Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach to marketing will help you achieve your success goals for years to come.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Webolutions serves clients nationwide from our offices in Denver, Colorado.

The post How the Traditional Linear Marketing Funnel is Evolving appeared first on Webolutions Digital Marketing Agency.

While many people focus their energy on increasing their website traffic, this isn’t necessarily the most important success metric to drive new business. While you certainly need to attract visitors to your website, simply driving traffic won’t necessarily equate to new customers. It’s important to convert these visitors. For this reason, the more important metric to focus on is your conversion rate.

What Is Website Conversion Rate?

Website conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors who take your desired action. This can involve just about any action that you determine will help grow your business, including:

• Making a purchase
• Filling out a form
• Signing up for a newsletter
• Downloading your gated content
• Requesting a demo
• Scheduling a consultation

Your website conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions (desired actions taken) by the total number of visitors, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. While the specific number varies by industry, the average website conversion rate is approximately 2%. This means that for every 100 visitors, you can expect to convert two customers. By improving your conversion rate, you can increase the number of customers you generate with the same traffic you already have. This allows you to get a better ROI on your digital marketing efforts.

Conversion rate is one of the most important success metrics to track since it helps you measure your website performance, identify areas for improvement, and potentially increase sales or leads without having to increase website traffic.

The following strategies will help you increase your conversion rate so that you can steadily grow your business.

Optimize Your Website’s User Experience and Design

A poor user experience or an unattractive website design can cause visitors to leave your website prematurely, reducing the likelihood that you’ll get them to take your desired action. Taking steps to optimize your website design and website usability will help you provide the best possible experience. This will keep visitors on your website longer and play a significant role in your ability to improve your conversion rate.

The following steps will help you improve your website design and user experience:

• Remove distractions and unnecessary elements
• Ensure clear and intuitive navigation
• Make the website mobile friendly
• Improve page load speed

Remove Distractions and Unnecessary Elements

A cluttered web page can make it hard for visitors to know where to focus their attention. In these situations, they may not be able to determine what you want them to do. Therefore, it’s important to remove any elements from your web pages that can potentially cause distractions and make it more challenging for visitors to take your desired action.

Keep the organization of your pages as simple as possible and create a visual hierarchy that helps guide the attention of your visitors. In addition, remove any unnecessary links, pop-ups or navigation options that can potentially divert people’s attention away from your intended goal for the page. Finally, make sure all your calls to action (CTAs) on the page are prominent, clear and a primary focus of the page.

A busy or cluttered page can negatively impact your conversion rate. Taking the steps to remove these distractions can significantly improve your ability to achieve your desired outcomes.

Ensure Clear and Intuitive Navigation

Another step you can take to improve website usability is to streamline your navigation. Visitors come to your website looking to access specific information, and it’s important to make it as easy as possible for them to find it. Having a clear and intuitive navigation will help users find the information they’re seeking or to purchase the products they came to your website to buy. When users are able to find what they need as easily as possible, it will increase your conversion rate.

You can also add a search feature to your website. This will allow people who know exactly what they are looking for to go directly to the page providing this information. When you reduce the challenges users experience finding what they need, they’re more likely to stay on your website until they convert.

Make the Website Mobile Friendly

More than 60% of website traffic now comes from mobile devices. If you aren’t providing a good experience for these mobile users, they’ll leave your website much faster, and this will significantly reduce your conversion rate. It’s critical to have a mobile friendly responsive website. When you build your website with responsive design, it ensures all the elements of the page will be correctly formatted for the specific device it’s being viewed on. This provides the best possible user experience on all devices and will help you improve conversions from mobile users.

Improve Page Load Speed

Your page load speed plays a critical role in the user experience your website provides. More than 40% of people will leave websites that take more than 3 seconds to load. This will drive close to half of your traffic away before they even engage with your website. By improving your page load speed, you’ll be able to prevent this issue, and you’ll also keep people on your website much longer. This will help significantly improve your conversion rate.

Write Compelling and Persuasive Content

Your website content plays an important role in your ability to improve conversions. When your content provides value to your visitors, it will help you increase conversions by:

• Building trust with your audience
• Establishing yourself as an industry thought leader
• Providing a better experience for users
• Allowing you to educate your audience on the value your products and services will provide to them

You can further optimize your high-quality content by writing it in a compelling and persuasive manner:

• Create strong headlines
• Highlight key benefits and unique value propositions
• Use action-oriented language that creates compelling CTAs

Add Social Proof

The Internet has revolutionized the way people evaluate the products and services they purchase. More than ever, people rely on the insights of others to evaluate a company’s offerings. Your online reputation plays a critical role in your ability to improve your conversion rate, as 89% of consumers look at online reviews before making a purchase.

For this reason, it’s important to include social proof on your website:

• Include links to Yelp, Google, Trustpilot, or any other sites where customers have left reviews
• Add testimonials and reviews to every critical page on your website so that visitors can see this social proof while they’re evaluating your offering
• Display trust badges and security seals on your website
• Showcase the logos of well-known clients and partners on your website

Without this social proof on your website, your conversion rate will most likely suffer.

Simplify Forms and Checkout Processes

Forms are an important conversion element to add to your website. However, the way you structure your forms will play a critical role in how often users fill them out. No one likes to fill out long, complicated forms that have a lot of required fields. Often, asking for more information than is necessary for your sales team to close the lead will make people hesitant to fill out your forms, decreasing their effectiveness.

You can improve the conversion rate on your forms by simplifying them. Make sure you only ask for the essential information needed to accomplish your goal. Shortening your forms will reduce hesitation among your website visitors. In addition, the less time it takes people to fill out your form, the more likely they are to complete the process.

The same logic applies to the online checkout process with eCommerce websites. You should always keep your checkout form as short and simple as possible to encourage people to complete the purchase. Limiting your form to the customer’s name, address and payment information will provide the best user experience. In addition, you can implement the following best practices to increase the likelihood that people will complete the purchase process:

• Add a progress bar to the checkout so users know where they are in the process
• Enable autocomplete for any fields where it’s applicable
• Offer a guest checkout option

Offer Live Chat Support

Often, a website visitor may not convert because they had a question or concern that they couldn’t have answered while they were on your website. You can often nudge these individuals off the fence by adding live chat support to your website.

If you have the resources, you can have live chat support manned by your team, providing website visitors direct access to live customer service agents. However, this often isn’t realistic. You can also use automated chatbots to address many of the questions and concerns of your website visitors, providing a much more cost-effective solution. This live chat support can alleviate many of the concerns of your visitors, helping you push them over the finish line and get them to convert.

Webolutions Can Help Improve Your Conversion Rate

As Denver’s leading digital marketing agency since 1994, Webolutions has the experience and expertise necessary to help you improve your conversion rate. Our transformational Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach has been constructed to help you grow your business smarter, faster and easier. As part of this approach, we’ll work closely with your team to learn about your target audience and the unique benefits your customers/clients experience. This information will be used to help improve your conversion rates.

At Webolutions, we take a data-driven approach to conversion rate optimization. Our team will gather comprehensive performance intelligence data that will help us understand which aspects of your website marketing are generating the most conversions and which are struggling to achieve your goals. Based on this data, we’ll make customized recommendations that will help fine-tune your website’s performance and increase conversion rates.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Webolutions provides comprehensive digital marketing services to clients nationwide from our offices in Denver, Colorado.

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