The most effective ways of doing business ebbs and flows over time. Best practices in operations, human resources, accounting and marketing come and go. Back in the day of “old school” mass marketing like print, TV and radio, change happened slowly like water carving a canyon, but with the newest and most effective form of marketing (digital marketing) change happens fast and those quick to adapt reap the benefits of supply and demand. You can catch a wave and ride it to success or watch it go by and your competition with it. So how do you stay ahead in the fast-paced world of digital marketing? Here are three effective ways to stay informed from thought leaders in the industry.

1) Subscribe to a Newsletter: It’s always exciting to learn about a new digital marketing tactic from a leading agency but it’s even more telling when more than one of them starts talking about it and starts finding success. Subscribe to a few newsletters, read them regularly and compare notes. You’ll get insights on industry trends, case studies and the most promising new tactics.

2) Set up Google Alerts: If you learn about a new trend or want to focus on a promising tactic that’s worthy of a deep dive, set up Google alerts using your Gmail account to get late breaking news and information about the topic as it comes off the presses. The cool thing about Google Alerts is it puts you in complete control, allowing you to set up specific times and days to get updates. Simply select any topic you want to receive updates about, and Google will deliver all articles they find pertaining to that subject according to your schedule.

3) Research Competitors: Of course, you want to be the company who harnesses the best new trends in digital marketing, but you never know when someone is going to beat you to the punch so keep abreast of your strongest competitors. You never know when they are going to pull and Ace out their hat. Visit their website, follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletter and set them up on Google Alerts and you’re sure to keep close tabs on their every move. There are lots of smart people out there and sometimes it’s not always your awesome team that comes up with the coolest and best new ideas. By following your competition, you kind of putting their thought leaders on your team – not bad.

The overall message here is keep on top of the latest trends in digital marketing, don’t be afraid to test promising new tactics before your competition does and remember in digital marketing it’s all about testing, testing, testing. If you’d like to keep up to date on cool new digital marketing trends from a super smart agency, here’s one place you can start, our own newsletter from the geniuses at AdEdge, the “Digital Edge”. But don’t just subscribe to ours, subscribe to several to fill your brain with lots great ideas from leaders in digital marketing and watch how fast you’ll become an expert! If you want to learn more about Digital Marketing and how we help our clients feel free to give us a call or book a meeting with one of our experts.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!