Whether you are promoting content, a product or a service, there is a need to be at your very best. Digital marketing strategies continue to evolve and adapt to changing conditions – many of the older, tried and true marketing concepts have been replaced by 21^st century solutions that are designed to take advantage of a world infatuated with online entertainment, social media and digital communications. With a new year upon us, now is the best time to sit down, evaluate existing marketing techniques, and make changes where necessary. We’ll discuss today how you can improve your marketing efforts for 2016, increase engagement and improve return on investment.

Improve Your Data Solutions

Every year that passes is another year that you should have more information about your customers, visitors, subscribers and readers. Many people collect data along these lines, but do not know how to handle it. As brands collect more and more data, fewer and fewer brands are confident in their ability to use it appropriately. A variety of analytical solutions exist that allow users to begin pinging networks for more meaningful descriptors with the data being collected, including ROI, KPIs, CTRs and more. An abundance of data isn’t really useful if you do not understand which data-sets are the most important. This year, make a pledge to learn more about your data and to determine which specific data-sets are truly relevant.

Invest in Your Audience

Proper marketing employs a wide variety of tactics, but one often forgotten tactic revolves around giving back to your customers, subscribers and visitors. Loyal followers can be treated in a variety of ways in order to further cement brand recognition and loyalty. The use of any and all behavioural data collected in the first step above, combined with many different efforts such as contests, sweepstakes, random drawings and prizes, can motivate customers and visitors to engage with the brand in a variety of ways. The combination of these investments with well-designed marketing campaigns online can make a world of difference in 2016, so re-evaluate your existing campaigns and see where these improvements can be made.

Analyze Your Competitors

Many brands make the mistake of not pinging networks often enough in order to learn more about their competitors. In the new era of online marketing and brand management, it has never been easier to collect a plethora of information about your competitors’ habits, targets and visitors. Because of this, it is very easy to learn about competitor tactics and methods. From traffic analysis to paid keyword targets, you can glean much information about why your competitors are engaging in a variety of areas. You may also discover some new ideas for your own campaigns and content. This methods of analysis is something that will become increasingly common in the future, so make good use of it.

Through analysis of your competitors, investment in your audience via tried and true marketing techniques and improvement of existing data research, any brand can improve its marketing efforts in 2016. A new year brings plenty of new opportunities – be sure to seize them!