Get 2019 started on the right foot: Tips from the experts

Security clean sweep

Zach Peer, Director of Managed Hosting, suggests taking the time in December to ensure your security protocols are in check.

• Review who has access to your content management, marketing automation, social media and email marketing systems. Do they all still work for your company? Do they all still need access?
• Enable two-factor authentication on your social accounts.

Get your digital brand assets in shape

Creative Director Jessica DeJong recommends making sure your brand assets are ready for prime time.

• Ensure your logo is responsive.
• Create a digital style guide to help govern all touchpoints for your brand.
• Make sure your social media properties have the most recent brand look and feel.

Double check your user experience

Zach Schloss, UX Strategy Lead, recommends clients take advantage of downtime by tightening up key digital user experiences and overall usability.

• Conduct a day-long usability testing program of key pages/flows. With as few as 5 users, you can unearth virtually all of the UX problems within these key pages.
• Give your website a thorough UX check-up. Run diagnostics to review your current site and diagnose performance across a set of standards like architecture, copy clarity and interface consistency.

Get organized and optimized

Ryan Horner, Managing Director of Technology, and Vinu Krishnaswamy, Director of Solutions Architecture, suggest using time in December and January to “clean up shop.”

• Create a detailed plan for content development and deployment, so that you can hit the ground running.
• Review of all your data integrations between systems—including your CRM, website, marketing automation and email marketing systems – to ensure you are making the most of your targeted marketing programs.

Put a “fitness” program in place

Cathy Lynk, Senior Digital Strategist, and Ben Magnuson, Senior Data Strategist, recommend fine-tuning your analytics and measurement programs

• Ensure your digital marketing programs are aligned with the personas your firm has created and are also delivering the information your teams need to make critical decisions in 2019.
• Improve your conversion rates. Now is the perfect time to start a testing and optimization program to improve email marketing, calls-to-action and landing pages.
• Revamp your reporting by using tools such as Google Data Studio and PowerBI to design more attractive and professional reports and dashboards that can easily plug into your existing analytics data.

Digital investments require ongoing maintenance and adjustments. Setting some time aside in January and February to make necessary updates and revisit past efforts can help you ensure your digital programs in 2019 get started on the right foot.