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In The Digital Arena, Education Never Ends

| By Reuben RInk Staff Member

Written by Amanda Marshall

For most medium and small businesses, marketing was pretty simple just 10 or 20 years ago. They’d buy an ad in the yellow pages, maybe run a few newspaper ads, send out a direct mail piece to their regular customers, and that would be it. Advertising with mass media like TV, radio, magazines and billboards was often too expensive, although a billboard might be considered if the business sold a product and the board was nearby.

Continuous Digital Education in Marketing AgencyToday it’s a different story. The explosion of digital media of all types makes it possible to do a lot more marketing for a lot less money. A small business can create a highly-targeted ad campaign online through ads or social media, and channels like YouTube give small businesses a way to utilize video without a huge TV buy. Digital billboards, requiring no print and installation costs, have made outdoor more affordable and flexible.

In fact, recently, a fellow RR staffer and I attended a “lunch ‘n learn” session hosted by our friends at Fairway Outdoor on the future trends of digital out-of-home advertising. We learned a lot, including the fact that by 2018 – not that far off – more than 50% of out-of-home advertising dollars will be spent on digital billboards. We also explored new trends in creative applications like structuring messaging to match the time of day and more frequently rotating the creative to keep it relevant to viewers. As a result of these key takeaways, we are currently making shifts in our approach to creative concept development and media planning for one of our longstanding client’s upcoming outdoor campaigns.

It was a fun and informative presentation that got me thinking in general about the importance of staying on top of digital advertising trends. We know the landscape of digital advertising is always changing and the average business owner or executive doesn’t have time to keep up with all the advances and study all the analytics needed to successfully use digital outlets for marketing. So here at Reuben Rink, everyone participates in continuous education to make ourselves aware of those trends and changes, so we can know what’s available for our clients.

For example, in September some folks from our team attended the ConvergeSouth conference here in Winston-Salem. ConvergeSouth is an annual gathering focused on “all things ‘web’ – blogging, web design, web development, e-commerce, etc.” At the latest conference, seminars were provided on topics like “SEO 2.0: How Data Will Revolutionize Your SEO Strategy,” “Marketing to Millennials Their Way,” “Influencer Marketing,” and “7 Ways to Transform Your Digital Strategy.” Attendees passed along the key information and insights they learned to the rest of our team and immediately put what they learned into use for our clients.

The continuous learning philosophy extends to our entire staff. We have a subscription to Lynda.com, an online learning resource that’s part of LinkedIn, and team members are encouraged to take training and educational courses throughout the year when they have any down time. We have completed courses on everything from Google Tag Manager Insights to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Training to Crisis Communication. By utilizing a wide-ranging educational website like Lynda.com, team members are able to stay abreast of changes in their area of expertise.

The days of simple marketing and advertising choices are long past, and at Reuben Rink we not only recognize that fact, we use it to our advantage. Continuous learning gives us the ability to contribute to our clients’ success regularly – our #1 objective.

Take advantage of our knowledge – let Reuben Rink help you developing a plan and materials that make the best use of today’s many digital marketing opportunities. Contact us today to explore how we can help your business!

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