Matt Bailey [00:00:00]:
Well, hey there. Welcome to another edition of the endless coffee cup and a single shot episode. I hope that you're having a great summer so far. In this episode, I'm going to answer a question that I get a lot both from people looking to get into digital marketing, but Also, I get this request every year at the beginning of the year. I get it from businesses. I get it from conferences. Here's the question. what are the digital trends for the next year that we need to know? Every January, the content calendars tell us that it's time for predictive trends articles.

Matt Bailey [00:00:40]:
We are then inundated with the industry Sears prognosticators and general content fluff of trends that will rise in the next year. I have yet to see any article series that explores if any of these trend predictions actually come true or if they simply go away to be forgotten, and like most trends do over time. It's why they're called trends. In fact, I think everyone missed how AI would hit this year. I didn't hear anything about it in January. But what makes me question this entire genre of predicting trends? generation changing fashions or anything like that. It's always surrounded by tactics. tactics.

Matt Bailey [00:01:26]:
The activities and the fashions that change with the win or at least the next algorithm change. You see, but these tactics have to be based in something. Some strategy that drives the goal or purpose, and that's what made me develop this. Over the past 3 years, I've trained more than 5000 marketers from over 100 different organizations. hearing the feedback, it seems like we are so focused on peering into the future and guessing about what could possibly come next that we never stop to think and then ask, what hasn't changed? Of course, this is helped by the combination of clickbait headlines, the 24 hour news cycle, and we're constantly redefining engagement And, also, in doing so, we're devaluing the value of real human experience. What's next? We're constantly asking that. It's driven by a passion to stay relevant and, of course, I think a fear of missing out Job postings everywhere list proficiency, not just with social media, but also the latest channels, like TikTok, Telegram, keep going. But what is the skill that's required to be proficient.

Matt Bailey [00:02:49]:
Is the core skill knowing how to make a post, or is it knowing how to build an audience? because those are 2 completely different things. The knowledge of how to post is a tactic specific to a channel. Building an audience requires a knowledge of organizational objectives, strategy, audience targeting, messaging, and measurement. In fact, building an audience is not just a skill that's restricted to a particular channel or a singular activity. If you want to jump on the latest to social channels as they happen, then you'll also want someone who is flexible adaptable, able to create new tactics based on your organizational strategy. It's someone who can create without having to ask questions the entire way, because they're able to synthesize each new challenge, apply their experience into the new channel. Do you hear how I'm explaining this A tactic is something that can be taught learned and acquired in a very short amount of time. A skill is something that people acquire and refine over time, and it enables them to adapt across situations by observing analyzing researching and applying what they've learned as they synthesize previous information into new understanding.

Matt Bailey [00:04:19]:
It won't matter what the tactics within a few minutes to a few days. What enables people to do this is the skill of learning. but somehow these job postings and the emphasis on tactics, it's not only in the employment listings. It's in the it's in the media. It's all over. It's the popular news. It's what gets the clicks. It's what gets the webinars at the beginning of every year.

Matt Bailey [00:04:47]:
People always wanna know what's next. yet isn't the skill and the competency that never changes that gains experience that increases wisdom and and because of that, it has an amazing foresight, which would be more valuable to an organization rather than simply knowing the next trend that may not last past the next quarter. Recent surveys in industry studies have shown the exact opposite of this trend chasing. What they show is that there is a widening gap between what employers and the companies need and the skills that people have. I also see this gap in our education system. Digital and media literacy is only starting to become part of the basic curriculum. I recently completed a master's degree in educational technology and instructional design. I was shocked at how many lectures and texts still refer to web 2.0.

Matt Bailey [00:05:48]:
And these are educators teaching educators. but the digital focused content was already outdated. Now here's the thing. This wasn't all bad. It wasn't a bad experience. you see the most valuable courses I took were on learning models, learning theories, and how to create structured instructional design and learning experiences. And for those, I had to study texts and research that Some were decades old. Some were a few years old, but they were proven strategies with significant research and a of knowledge behind them.

Matt Bailey [00:06:27]:
They were valuable because they taught how to think, how to approach plan and measure and ultimately create a sustainable learning objective. For my observation, it just seems like we get too technical. as soon as we get too technical, we very quickly put an expiration date on ourselves. We become outdated. but developing skills that last. These are the same skills that create a sustainable business. that develop profitable campaigns and create resilient teams. Learning the fundamentals and practical applications of learning was the most valuable content I gained from that program.

Matt Bailey [00:07:09]:
It wasn't the web 2.0 tactics that were outdated before the course was even published. The OMCP online marketing certified professional is a digital skills certification organization. launched in 2010, and currently, there's over 900 universities that teach to OMCP competency standards. Procter And Gamble, Microsoft, Dell, Home Depot, and many other organizations look to OMCP certified digital marketers in their hiring process. The OMCP recently conducted a digital marketing role delineation study asking professionals How do you spend your time? Now, this cover digital marketing professionals across all major disciplines. analytics, social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, digital advertising, conversion optimization, email, and mobile marketing. Across all of these disciplines, how do people spend their time? This, to me, may not be surprising to you if you're in it. 1 4th of people's time.

Matt Bailey [00:08:21]:
25%. spend their time presenting and communicating strategy, practice, and results. 25% of their time. The next 20% is spent in traditional marketing activities. such as audience targeting, persona development, market research, content planning, scheduling, and analysis. The next 15% of the time is spent on content development and copywriting. tactical discipline related tasks make up 10% or less of the actual time spent on marketing. Let's review that again quickly.

Matt Bailey [00:09:06]:
Of the digital marketing professionals surveyed across hundreds of companies, Most of their time, 25% is spent presenting and communicating. 20% of the time is spent on traditional activities, 15% on content development, 10% or less on tactical discipline related tasks. OMCP summarize the findings, quote, managers will be hiring for soft skills testing for hard skills and training for emerging practices, unquote, and the OMCP identified skills gaps from the study. and here they are. Number 1, identified skills gap customer experience. Number 2, marketing and sales collaboration. I could do a whole show on that. Number 3, understanding the entire campaign stack team management.

Matt Bailey [00:10:07]:
Wow. Number 4, analysis, the ability to turn data into action. Let me tell you, dear listener. This is probably one of the most identified skills gaps in our industry. and we see this. Also, LinkedIn, they identified the top soft skills in demand. And it's interesting that both the OMCP and the LinkedIn global talent trends report list very similar. The top 5 emphasis our soft skills are human skills that are in demand.

Matt Bailey [00:10:41]:
According to LinkedIn, number 1 soft skill in demand. the ability to persuade. Number 2, the ability to take data into decisions. Number 3, writing skills Number 4, traditional marketing. Number 5, creating tactics from strategy get this without guidance. Oof. That requires experience. That requires knowledge.

Matt Bailey [00:11:08]:
See, I look at these 5 things, and these are these are human skills. These are analysis. These are critical and creative thinking skills that develop a team and an organization. None of this is an emphasis on the next trend that you need to know in order to jump on it. none of them are. These are skills that develop a sustainable marketing focus for an organization. According to LinkedIn, quote, 91% of talent professionals agree that soft skills are the most important for the future of recruiting in HR. Unquote, The top 3 most critical skills listed by employers on LinkedIn.

Matt Bailey [00:11:48]:
Number 1, think critically and creatively. Number 2, collaborate effectively, and 3, adapt quickly. These are amazing. Those have probably been the top skill gap for the past 500 years. When you start pulling back and looking at what hasn't changed rather than what's going to change? I think you find a more solid foundation of the skills that are necessary for an organization to grow. And also for anyone looking to get into the job market, it doesn't matter whether you want to get into marketing or any other type of profession, these skills are gonna take you a long way. Over the next few episodes, I'm going to examine 7 of the trends that were valuable decades ago when digital marketing started and some that have been around even longer than that. And I'm going to explain why they will never go out of style.

Matt Bailey [00:12:46]:
The first trend I'm going to cover is digital and media literacy. Understanding how to read beyond the headlines, rather than being swayed by every different headline that's being pushed on us I understand how to read deeper into articles and find the true information. Number 2, writing not only writing to persuade, but how to write for humans in a digital format. Number 3, analytics. As I said, this is probably one of the biggest skills gaps in our industry. It's also my number one most requested training. It's the biggest demand of companies for their marketing teams to understand. Number 4 is user experience and customer experience.

Matt Bailey [00:13:28]:
that gets to conversion optimization asking, how do we create a better experience for the visitor? And in doing so, you're asking how to increase task completion? Number 5. It's just the advantage of experience. People who have experience in analytics and how you can develop that experience within your organization they develop better teams. They know what to do with the data. Number 6 is presentation skills. This goes back to the role delineation study. 25 percent of a digital marketing professional's time is spent presenting and communicating and we have got to get better at communicating clearly, concisely, and persuasively as marketers But, also, we need to use the same language as stakeholders, c level executives, managers, by presenting not just what's going on or what's happening or how busy we are, showing people the economic impact of the efforts. Finally, the culture of asking questions.

Matt Bailey [00:14:36]:
If you're a listener of endless coffee cup, this won't be a surprise to you. We've done a lot of episodes about asking questions. We're gonna dive in a lot deeper. So thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed your cup of coffee with me today. Don't forget, go to the show page. Let me know what you think about my list of skills that will never change. I'd love to know what you think.

Matt Bailey [00:14:58]:
So, thanks again, dear listener. I look forward to talking with you again soon.