Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format. With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Marketers focus on integration and content

The proportion of UK companies now either fully or partially integrating paid search and display advertising has increased to 58% from only 34% last year.

The research also found that 59% of companies are now integrating their search engine optimisation (SEO) activity with their content strategy, while a further 12% say their SEO 'drives their content strategy'.

"One key trend identified by the research is the emergence of content marketing as a focal point for many organisations," said Amy Rodgers, research analyst for Econsultancy. "A content strategy has become an integral part of SEO, with a focus on the synergy between creative, content production, online PR and search engine marketing."

Agencies are responding to the trend toward integration of different marketing activities, with more than half of agencies (52%) now offering a full range of digital marketing services, an increase an increase from 45% in 2012 and 42% in 2011.

The study also found that Google's introduction of 'Enhanced Campaigns' for AdWords has been met with a mixed response in the world of search marketing, with confusion (and polarisation of survey respondents) around whether or not this will actually help rather than hinder marketers trying to target effectively. Enhanced Campaigns, introduced earlier this year, means that the structuring of AdWords campaigns is becoming device independent. From now on, advertisers will no longer have the ability to have specific mobile, tablet or desktop targeted campaigns.

According to the survey, 29% of client-side marketers think that Enhanced Campaigns will have a positive impact on their search marketing activity, compared to 14% who said that it will have a negative effect. But more than half (56%) of respondents said they didn't know what the impact would be, reflecting confusion in the marketplace about its implications.

The research also found that some marketers are struggling to adapt to Google algorithm updates such as Penguin and Panda. Anecdotal feedback suggested an increased demand for penalty recovery services as a result.

"While the shifting SEO sands represent an opportunity for some agencies, frustrations around constant changes to search algorithms are identified by many respondents as a main factor affecting their ROI from search engine marketing," concluded Rodgers.

The full report has been made available for purchase directly from the Econsultancy web site - click here.

Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format.

With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

You'll learn to sell yourself, sell your products, and sell your brand on the internet, writing high-conversion landing pages, social media posts, and more. You'll start attracting customers you didn’t even know existed, and learn the top trade secrets for customer retention.

You'll become a lean, mean selling machine. See how the experts do it and learn to adapt what they've done for your own profit. You'll learn to write strong, powerful, effective sales copy, whether it's for a sales script, sales letter, flyer, insert, advert or just about anything else.

You'll learn how to sell whether you're selling by telephone, by mail, or even meeting prospects face-to-face. You'll find out how to size them up, present yourself, nail down their true needs, close the sale, and learn to tackle the tricky ones.

You'll discover the biggest secrets of successful direct mail sellers, sales letter writers, and how to segment and choose the right prospects for each campaign.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)