While all firms make PR bloopers, these days due to the digitalization, bad news travels rather swiftly. There are however, some steps if followed can recover the firm’s positioning. The negative link must not be clicked even if curiosity lingers, as more clicks will automatically trend it greater on Google. Digital press releases across search engines always provide positive PR organically. Social media profiles must always be optimized to provide positive energy from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google Plus and YouTube. Blogging has become a must-have for all big and medium scale businesses today which seek positive online response. A convergence factor must be enabled where viewers see series of pictures, videos, articles or short posts on various forums. This is critical for brand recall value. 

While increasingly more number of firms are studying marketing analytics, there exist some fresher approaches towards analyzing the same. Every aspect in analytics must not be taken too seriously as gaps exist and analytics do not explain causes for everything. Analytics must not be restricted to quantitative fields but the scope must keep expanding. Click-tracking, live chat transcripts, ratings / reviews, reports in analytics package, email click through rates and talking to customer support or sales people are other innovative practices which must be considered under broad umbrella of analytics. Donning the garb of data detective within one’s firm can save a lot of extra efforts as internal studies too are crucial. A truly successful digital analyst is like a scavenger on a hunt.

From the number of content marketing innovations that have taken place recently, eight of them stick out for being truly brilliant and originating from some of the world’s top brands. IBM has created content in the fields of software, communications, impacts and citizen rights to uphold its status as one of the premier firms providing authoritative and technical expertise. Hootsuite has carved a niche for itself as a social media aggregator, however its popularity exploded when they created a video inspired by the extremely popular TV showGame of Thrones. Buffer operates on a similar business model to Hootsuite, yet it is their blog section which has truly created rippled for some time now averaging maximum views, comments and shares for a year. Microsoft struck a chord with end users by developing stories around their software products. McDonald’s did something similar by creating stories and videos on some of its food acquiring processes to rubbish claims about the brand promoting an unhealthy diet. Disney has managed to associate its brand with the word magic to stake a claim in viewers’ imagination. Hubspot meanwhile has called its business model as the inbound methodology, the term itself pulling viewers to their products. Go-Pro has not only created content but incredible visuals which have pulled itself away from competitors. Info-graphics have helped the firm develop great content for social media.

There are certain metrics related to the field of digital marketing which experts tap into. They can similarly be used by marketers to respond positively to business changes. Overall conversion percentage tells us about the macro picture but campaign level metrics inform us better about each component of the plan, what worked or not. Cost per acquisition is similarly crucial. Conversion rates at stages of the campaign tell us about demographics and the firm’s ability to accurately forecast. Growth in the channel’s ROI breaks down data into sales figures and financials plus their links to number of leads. Digital marketing metrics provide immense data and it is crucial to identify the ones which really identify trends for the business. 

While time and space sharing has been in existence for decades now, newer trends are emerging due to the growing mobile workforce. Firms are creating talent maps to help identify employees aspiring to overseas placements and core roles where they can be assigned to. For certain roles requiring unique expertise, organizations are scouring the international talent pool. However, the legal parameters must be well understood before venturing into cross-border recruitments. Suitable incentives must be offered to workers who create value. Mobility must be expressed as career progress.

While most organizations worldwide are trying to innovate, a lot of efforts are not being implemented beyond the confines of the White Paper. There are some ways in which sincere efforts can be put to bridge the gap. The scope of the term innovation must be allowed to get broader as it does not have to be a new product but simply a newer method of executing an existing one. While the eventual outcome may be altered, the original intent must not be regarded as failure if innovation is eventually achieved. The business model here becomes key driver of innovation, not necessarily core product or service. Thus businesses are facing severe reversals. They must realize that even basic innovations are leading to alterations in operations, internal systems, channels and packaging. Whether planned or not, the change has to be incorporated by the management. The relationships between innovation, change and business models means top innovators will develop business plans difficult to replicate.

Science fiction has long grappled with the idea of computers being able to speak to or pass off as humans. In real however, this concept has not quite taken off though there are signs of a near future where some of this may happen. NASA has already successfully paired astronauts and robots together in the toughest of assignments. Now a number of digital firms have taken approaches to bridge this gap between human and machine. Job profiles are getting reorganized. The role of leadership is taking on new definition in this amalgamation. It has become much more horizontal in nature now. Further changes are impending. Hierarchies are constantly getting flattened. Firms are encouraging employees to use more of digital applications and tools. Talented employees are now being constantly pushed to add on to their skill sets. Thus the human part must not be divorced from human capital. Instead digital must seamlessly complement the human presence.