Under the section of marketing, you will find different types of articles on everything related to marketing.

We offer insights into different strategies, tools and useful best practices. We also give you several tips that you can apply within your own business to get your marketing in better order.

Whether you want to build brand awareness, get more leads or improve customer loyalty, marketing is a crucial component within any organization. After all, you can't keep a business running or growing without good marketing.

A content marketing strategy is a plan to reach and engage your target audience by creating, publishing and distributing useful content. The goal is not only to gain visibility, but also to build a relationship of trust with your (potential) customers and encourage them to take action. Instead of direct sales, a content marketing strategy focuses on delivering valuable information that helps and inspires the customer, which can ultimately lead to conversion.

Whereas general marketing is usually about promoting a product or service, content marketing is about providing relevant, useful content that benefits your target audience and builds a relationship with them. This process requires strategy and continuity, with content marketing supporting not only lead generation, but also customer retention.

What are the key elements of a content marketing strategy?

A successful content marketing strategy involves several steps. First, it is important to properly define your target audience and understand their needs, challenges and interests. This forms the basis for creating relevant content that appeals to and attracts them. In addition, setting clear goals is important: For example, do you want to increase website traffic, increase conversion or build brand loyalty?

Next, content creation is a crucial part of your strategy. This includes not only content writing (for which we use the help of an AI colleague ), but also the frequency and channel on which it is published. Therefore, it is good to have a content strategy as the foundation of your content marketing.

In addition to strategy, distribution is also an important part. It's not enough to just create content, you also need to know where and how to bring it to people's attention. This can be through your own channels, such as a website or newsletter, but also through paid channels or collaborations.

Finally, you need to regularly measure the performance of your content marketing strategy and make adjustments where necessary. We do that for ourselves but also for clients with dashboarding, in which we get real-time insights, which can be used to improve the strategy.

Why is having a content marketing strategy important for businesses?

Customers' expectations have changed: they want not only products, but also valuable information and inspiration. A content marketing strategy helps companies respond to this by creating relevant content that addresses the needs of their target audience. This contributes to a position as an expert in the field and strengthens the relationship with (potential) customers.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

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For years, Google Analytics has been a popular tool used by many companies to monitor Web traffic and user behavior. With the transition from Google UA to GA4 and companies struggling to understand the data and due to privacy concerns, many companies are looking around for alternatives. In this post, we discuss several alternatives to Google Analytics, including Snowplow, HubSpot Analytics, Shopify Analytics, Adobe Analytics and SimilarWeb.

Why look for an alternative to Google Analytics?

Although Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can do an awful lot, there are several reasons why companies may be looking for Google Analytics alternatives:

Complexity

If you're not a data analyst yourself and often deal with data, it can be quite difficult to understand how best to use and set up Google Analytics. After all, there is so much possible that it can be quite overwhelming. While the tool is well put together, it's completely understandable that you want a little more ease of use and simplicity. Especially when you want to share data with other colleagues and managers as well.

Privacy issues

The way data is collected and processed can cause concern, especially with the advent of strict privacy laws such as the GDPR.

Cost

Google analytics is free to use. So that's not where the cost goes. Want to get more out of Google analytics? Then you need to upgrade to Google Analytics 360, the premium version of GA. However, the costs involved are incredibly high. In fact, the starting price is 50,000 euros and can go up to around 150,000 euros per year. For small and medium-sized companies, this is often far too expensive and not worth the cost.

What are good alternatives?

Snowplow: Flexible and scalable data analytics

Snowplow is an open-source platform that allows you as a business to set up and track your own data collection and processing, giving you a lot of flexibility and scalability.

A big advantage of this tool is its flexibility and customization. You can set up your own tracking and data in the tool, allowing you to see the data you need and want. Furthermore, the tool can handle very large amounts of data, which makes it good to use even for fast growing companies and when you have a lot of traffic on your site. Another advantage is that not only simple reports but also advanced machine learning models can be seen with this tool.

The downside of Snowplow is that it can be very tricky to set up, you need quite a lot of technical knowledge to work your way through the tool. So this is not useful and feasible for everyone if you don't have this knowledge or background. So you will probably need help implementing it and being able to maintain it. So this can add up quickly in addition to the high price of the tool which is around $800. This makes it not the most scare tool for small to medium-sized businesses.

HubSpot Analytics: Integration with marketing and sales tools

HubSpot Analytics is part of the broader HubSpot CRM and marketing suite and provides comprehensive reports and insights specifically for marketing and sales. So in addition to analyzing your website traffic, the tool is also suitable for other purposes.

One advantage of using Hubspot is that you can easily intergrate it with Hubspot's other systems, such as their CRM or marketing tools, this allows you to do everything in one place, making it more manageable. This is then also directly a disadvantage, because you are dependent on the tool, if you use all their intergrations.

Another advantage of Hubspot is that it is fairly user-friendly and easy to navigate for people without a technical background. So you can get started quickly and are not spending a long time learning exactly how the tool works. Furthermore, it is nice that the tool sees sales and marketing as its starting point, so it is also set up with that focus. This makes it a powerful tool for optimizing your customer-focused strategies.

One drawback of Hubspot is the cost. Hubspot's price starts at $20 per month, but can go up to several thousand per month. especially if you use several of their tools. This can be a hindrance for smaller companies or startups, as well as if you are expanding later, as it can add up quickly.

Another drawback is the flexibility the tool gives you. The flexibility is limited compared to more technical solutions like Snowplow. This means you may not be able to perform all the custom analysis you would like.

Shopify Analytics: specifically for e-commerce


Shopify Analytics is designed with e-commerce in mind and offers highly relevant insights when you have a Shopify webshop. Shopify's analytics is completely focused on the system and on e-commerce. You can easily see data such as conversion rates, average order value and customer retention. So if you have a Shopify webshop, this can be valuable, mainly because the interface is so easy to use. Not only Shopify itself is easy to use, so is the analytics tool. You can quickly see at a glance how your website is doing.

What is a very big disadvantage of Shopify Analytics is that the flexibility you have is very limited. You can only use the dashboards they offer within the tool with the "normal" versions. In addition, it's not very useful to use if you don't have a dedicated ecommerce business. This is because it is really designed specifically for web shops. If you have a business that additionally offers some other kind of service, Shopify is usually not the best choice.

Furthermore, custom dashboarding is only possible within Shopify analytics if you have purchased a more expensive subscription, such as "Advanced Shopify." This costs $399 per month.

Adobe Analytics: advanced and robust analytics

Adobe Analytics is a powerful tool that provides advanced analytics capabilities and is often used by large companies. It is known for its powerful segmentation tools that allow you to perform detailed analysis on specific target groups.

The tool provides very high functionality and very advanced analytics capabilities, including machine learning and nowadays AI-driven insights. Furthermore, you can intergrate Adobe Analytics well with other Adobe tools such as the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Intergration of these works well, if you are in the ecosystem and have a good understanding of how the tool works.

It is difficult to learn how the tool works if you do not have a data analytics background. Furthermore, the cost can be staggering for the average company the cost will be around $25,000 per year. For large enterprises, it can go up to the $100,000 per year range.


SimilarWeb: Competitive analysis and market research


SimilarWeb gives you comprehensive insights into competitors' traffic and strategies, as well as detailed data on market trends and user behavior.

What SimilarWeb does very well is that you have comprehensive insights into competitors' traffic and strategies, which allows you to optimize your own strategies and stay competitive. In addition, the tool is great to use if you want to do market research. The platform provides detailed data on market trends and user behavior, which helps you better understand the broader context within your industry.

In addition, the tool is user-friendly and easy to use, even for people who do not have much technical knowledge.

One disadvantage of SimilarWeb is the price, especially for access to the more advanced features that are really useful. This can be a hurdle for smaller companies or startups and put them off. Another disadvantage is that you are also fairly limited in doing custom analytics or setting up dashboards. So if you have specific requirements, it is difficult to set up the tool accordingly.

Dashboarding from NXTLI

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) dashboard

Looking at all the tools we have just discussed, they all have one major drawback. Namely, it is not possible to take many different data streams together and have them in a dashboard. We saw this desire from clients in different industries, which is why we developed our own dashboard functionality with our data team.

Our tool allows you to see different data streams in 1 dashboard. Google analytics data, social media data from Facebook or Linkedin, Spotify streams and much more. The possibilities are endless. Because we can set up a dashboard in such detail, this has the advantage that it can be made exactly to your wishes, with all the data sources you would like to see.

From different data sources it is also possible to easily draw conclusions, as you can see connections between platforms and use our conversion monitor to map out exactly where improvement is needed.

In addition, we always found Google Analytics alternatives to be very high priced, hence our tool is readily accessible in terms of pricing to many different types of businesses.

What is the best choice

So, in short, there are numerous alternatives to Google Analytics, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Whether you're looking for flexibility and customization, integration with marketing and sales tools, or like to do advanced competitive analysis, one of these aforementioned tools will suit every business.

Do you want a total dashboarding solution that is easy to use? Then we would be happy to help you. Please contact us.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

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The use of native analytics tools such as Google Analytics 4(GA4) is common today for many businesses looking to gain insight into their online performance. Although GA4 offers powerful functionality and is free, there are several reasons why this tool is not always sufficient for complete insight into your business data.

In this article, we discuss the limitations of native analytics and how using dashboarding tools can improve it.

Limitations of native analytics

Limited data sources

Native analytics tools such as GA4 are primarily focused on online data. This means they don't take into account offline data such as physical store sales, phone orders or other offline transactions. This leads to an incomplete picture of the customer journey and business results because (depending on what kind of business you have) much of the interactions and transactions are left out of the picture.

In addition, a tool like Google Analytics lacks the ability to integrate data from different sources such as benchmarks from competitors, Spotify data and organic data from platforms like Facebook and Instagram. As a result, your options are limited and you're really only looking at 1 piece of data from your online presence.

Lack of in-depth analysis

Google Analytics provides standard reports and visualizations that often lack depth if you want to perform complex analysis or are looking for just a particular piece of data. While these types of tools are useful for giving you a global overview, they can fall short if you want detailed insights and make strategic decisions based on them. The customization options within native tools are often limited compared to dashboarding tools from which you can use data from different sources and make connections based on them.

Silo-ed data

Data from different sources is often stored and analyzed separately, which can lead to inconsistencies and a lack of overview. This fragmentation makes it difficult to get a complete and accurate picture of your performance. Inconsistencies between reports from different platforms, such as ad platforms (e.g., Meta Ads) and GA4, can have significant differences due to different measurement methodologies and attribution models. This makes it difficult to determine which data is accurate and what you as a business need to focus on.

Benefits of Integrated Dashboarding


Full Data Integration

One of the key benefits of integrated dashboarding solutions is the ability to combine data from various sources. By integrating GA4 data with offline sales, subscription data, competitor benchmarks, Spotify data and organic data from platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, you get a complete and coherent picture of your company's performance. This full data integration helps identify trends and patterns that might otherwise be overlooked. Moreover, an integrated dashboard provides data visualization that is unified, giving you a consistent view of your data and all key metrics and KPIs.

Profound Insights and Analysis

Integrated dashboarding tools give you advanced analysis and visualization options that go beyond the standard reports of native analytics tools. This gives you deeper insights and also allows you to make better decisions based on them. With customized reports and dashboards, you can specifically address the piece that you as a business focus on and where any depth is needed. This gives you more relevant and better insights.

Enhanced Decision Making

With a fully integrated dashboard, you have a clear view of your business data, allowing you to quickly see where problems and opportunities lie or what is going well. This makes it easier for you to make a decision or discuss / present it to other stakeholders within your organization. Furthermore, integrated dashboards can provide real-time data, giving you access to the most up-to-date information at all times. This real-time insight is crucial if you as a company want or need to react quickly to changing market conditions and customer behavior.

Consistent Data

By bringing data from different platforms together, you can minimize discrepancies between different analytics or advertising tools. This gives you a more reliable picture that you can do something with. You avoid incoherence in the data, making your reports more accurate and reliable. This increases the efficiency of data analysis and ensures that decisions are based on the best possible information.

The constraints and the solution

While native analytics tools like GA4 are powerful for basic website analysis, they fall short when it comes to providing fully integrated and in-depth insight into your business data. By using a clear and uncluttered dashboard that combines your data streams, you can combine GA4 data with offline sales, subscription data, competitor benchmarks and more giving you a more complete picture and a better grip on your business.

Would you like to start using a dashboard for your business? We offer several solutions for your business, including a social media dashboard, analytics dashboard and more.

Contact us and ask about the possibilities. We will be happy to help you.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

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At a time when digital transformation is no longer a choice but a necessity, successful organizations distinguish themselves by cleverly combining four core elements: AI, Business, Content and Data. They reinforce each other and together create a lasting competitive advantage.

The four building blocks give you the tools to create value in an increasingly dynamic digital playing field. If you use the ABCD principle strategically, you will strengthen your position and build strong relationships.

AI as a smart extension of your organization

AI offers unique opportunities for organizations to turn raw data into valuable insights. This allows you to discover and understand trends and patterns, predict customer behavior and proactively respond to market developments. This can be done by using AI to analyze data.

In addition, you can also use AI to deploy AI colleagues to support you in various tasks that you do on a daily basis, for example, such as writing captions, content and analyzing data or writing content.

In addition to its practical applicability, AI can also support the creation of insights that are important for both operational improvement and customer experience. There are many applications and by deploying AI well, it can serve as a foundation for digital growth.

Business as a catalyst for digital growth

A Business Acceleration Scan helps map out how your business is doing. By continuously evaluating and optimizing your performance, you future-proof your business model. By using the framework and focusing on goals such as customer engagement and brand loyalty, you will optimize your processes and increase your value in the digital ecosystem.

In sectors such as the dance industry, organizations are using this framework to strengthen connections with fans and build brand value through data-driven insights. This shows how the framework increases not only operational value, but also the relationships and collaborations needed for growth in the digital world.

Content as an engine of engagement and value creation

Content plays an important role in building digital power by connecting with customers and fans. You build your customer journey with it. With the Content Impact Model you can fine-tune your content strategy by formulating clear goals around reach, interaction, conversion and customer retention. Content thus becomes more than just a communication tool; it becomes a strategic instrument to strengthen relationships and create sustainable value within the ecosystem. A music label that actively communicates through social media, for example, can build a long-term relationship with fans through this model that adds economic and social value for both the brand and the broader ecosystem.

Data as a strategic resource and fuel for growth

Data provides contextual insights within with digital ecosystem. Data, within the ABCD principle, fuels collaboration and insight. By cleverly combining data with AI, you can deepen your customer relationships, uncover market opportunities and strengthen collaboration within the ecosystem. By leveraging data not only internally, but also externally, you can gain contextual insights that strengthen your digital network. This is how you strategically build a digital capability that adds both economic and relational value.

The ABCD principle as a foundation for value creation

The four pillars of the ABCD principle can help your business create value no matter what industry you are in. Check out this page, to learn more about the ABCD principle within e-commerce. However, digital value goes beyond the sum of these components; it arises from the interaction of data, relationships and collaboration. At a time when technological developments are racing, a strong digital capability is important if you want to innovate and grow. By focusing strategically on AI, Business, Content and Data, you can secure your digital future and add sustainable value for both your customers and partners.

The ABDC principle provides the foundation for sustainable growth and enables you to not only survive, but thrive in the ever-changing digital world. Want help with this? Then get in touch with us.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

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Do you ever ask yourself: Which channels deliver the most, or which changes really impact your conversions? The Conversion Monitor gives you real-time insights into your conversion performance and all the data you need to make strategic decisions. The Conversion Monitor shows you exactly which channels generate the most revenue, where visitors drop out and which adjustments have the biggest impact.

The Conversion Monitor lets you get the most out of your data. So you not only know what works, but also where there is room for improvement and how you can adjust your online strategy in a more targeted way.

Want more traffic or a higher conversion rate? With the Conversion Monitor, you'll discover exactly what it takes to achieve this.

Why choose the Conversion Monitor? Because every conversion counts

Many companies regularly make changes to their Web sites or launch new campaigns without knowing exactly what they are producing. The Conversion Monitor helps you gain insight into every detail of your marketing efforts. By means of clear graphs and conveniently arranged tables, you quickly get a complete picture of your most important KPIs (key performance indicators), such as conversion rates per channel and the behavior of your visitors on the site.

With these insights you can easily determine which adjustments actually have an effect and which still need extra attention. As a result, you no longer make decisions based on feelings, but on hard data that provide direct insight into the success of your approach.

The main functionalities of the Conversion Monitor

Understanding channel performance and revenue

Want to know which marketing channels contribute the most to your sales? The Conversion Monitor makes this crystal clear. You can immediately see which channels generate the most conversions, so you can optimize your marketing budget and focus on what really works.

See the impact of your optimizations

Have you recently made changes to your website and are you curious to see if they are actually producing results? With the Conversion Monitor you can easily see which changes have a positive effect on the conversion rate. By tracking performance over time, you will discover which changes are most successful and where further optimization is possible.

Conversion Monitor

Understanding visitor behavior and bottlenecks

By gaining insight into visitor behavior on your website, you know exactly where bumps in the conversion path lie. This allows you to make targeted improvements to remove these obstacles and optimize the user experience, which directly contributes to higher conversions.

Calculation of traffic targets per channel

The Conversion Monitor allows you to accurately calculate how much traffic you need to meet specific revenue goals. Based on the current conversion rates, you get insight into the required visitor numbers per channel. This helps you plan campaigns more efficiently and take targeted actions.

Conversion Monitor

How the Conversion Monitor helps you make strategic choices

With the insights provided by the Conversion Monitor, you can make important strategic choices. By analyzing which channels have the highest return on investment (ROI) and how much traffic is needed to reach certain goals, you can optimize your strategy and plan in a more targeted way. This dashboard not only provides insight, but also helps you measure the impact of each decision so you can continuously adjust for the best results.

You have two main points to make to get more conversions, increasing your website traffic and optimizing your conversion rates. The Conversion Monitor helps you with both by giving you data that allows you to see what is working. In both improving traffic to your website and increasing conversion rates, this tool is useful.

Stay ahead of your competitors with the right data instrumentation

One of the most valuable features of the Conversion Monitor is that it not only provides insight into performance, but also quickly reveals where data instrumentation is lacking or can be improved. After all, reliable data is the foundation of any effective marketing strategy. This dashboard helps you see immediately where optimization of tracking and measurement tools is needed.

Ready to deploy Conversion Monitor for your growth?

The Conversion Monitor is the tool for business owners and marketers who want to work data-driven and exceed their conversion goals. Whether you're looking to drive more traffic, higher conversion rates or use your marketing budget effectively, this dashboard provides the insights to make that happen effectively.

Are you interested in the Conversion Monitor? Then visit the Conversion Monitor page to read more about it and leave your details.

In March 2024, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, indicated in an interview with Lex Fridman that he was not enthusiastic about building a search engine like Google. However, he did see opportunities in combining AI with online search, something no one has yet fully realized. On Oct. 31, 2024, OpenAI looks to make that vision a reality with the launch of ChatGPT Search. The question is: Will this cause us to search in a different way?

ChatGPT Search: How does it work?

ChatGPT Search is a new feature that allows users to find information directly online, without the familiar Google ads and long lists of search results. Where Google often displays an extensive list of clickable links, ChatGPT Search provides a clear answer immediately. This ensures that you get the information you are looking for faster and without distraction, plain and simple.

ChatGPT Search's capabilities go beyond text. For example, the platform supports up-to-date information such as stock quotes, complete with interactive charts that can be viewed in detail. The new Chrome extension also allows users to enter search queries directly into the browser, after which ChatGPT Search provides immediate answers in a convenient overlay window. This seamless interaction makes search not only faster, but also more accessible for everyday use.

What does ChatGPT Search mean for SEO?

ChatGPT Search operates without ads, providing a different experience than search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, which rely largely on ad revenue. Google, for example, derives 75% of its revenue from ads. With the rise of AI-driven search methods, the demand for alternative ways of searching is growing, which can affect how companies are visible to their target audience. This requires a customized strategy to continue reaching customers effectively.

Companies that previously relied on Google traffic can use ChatGPT Search to rely on visitors who are already better informed before they arrive at the website. This change is likely to affect not only the quantity but also the quality of traffic to websites. The targeting of AI search engines like ChatGPT Search provides users with answers based on their specific questions, meaning that visitors typically have more background information about your company or services before they even reach your website.

AIO: The key to visibility in AI search engines

The rise of AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini presents new opportunities and challenges for content marketing and SEO. Whereas traditional SEO focuses primarily on findability within Google, AIO (AI-optimized) content specifically targets AI platforms. AIO goes beyond keyword optimization; it is all about context and relevance so that companies are not only visible, but also maintain their visibility within the AI search environment.

At NXTLI, we are exploring the potential of AIO strategies to better align content with AI search engines. In addition to focusing on Google, we are working on ways to develop content strategies that can also be effective within emerging AI search channels. Want to learn more about AIO? Then read our article on it.

Google's position in an AI-driven world

Google has some significant advantages with its vast dataset and market dominance, but the company faces the challenge of staying competitive. Google is likely to increase its focus on AI-driven and personalized search results to strengthen their current position. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain whether this will be enough to surpass the success of alternatives such as ChatGPT Search.

Google has a strong position, and many people will continue to use Google out of habit. Yet the demand for ad-free and user-friendly search options continues to grow, increasing the pressure on Google to innovate its technology. Meanwhile, OpenAI, with its alternative approach, could potentially gain a stronger market position and become a serious competitor to Google.

What does ChatGPT Search mean for businesses?

It is more important than ever to write content that truly connects with what the searcher wants to know or find. The rise of new AI search engines such as ChatGPT Search requires an approach in which content is clear, relevant and valuable. While Google still plays an important role, strong content strengthens your position on all platforms and ensures that you are providing the right answers to your target audience's questions wherever they search. Need help with that and want to spar with us to hone your content strategy? Then get in touch with us.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

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You've probably heard of the term "content," but what exactly does it mean? Content includes all forms of information you share with your target audience as a business. This can range from written articles and videos to social media posts and emails. It is an important part of marketing because it is how you effectively communicate your message to your (potential) customers and the outside world.

Content is the foundation of your online presence. It is how you become visible and build relationships with potential customers. So for entrepreneurs, it is not just another part of your business, it is the way to communicate and provide value to your audience.

The value of content for your business

Entrepreneurs who understand how to use content effectively often see their businesses grow faster. That's because content helps you increase both your visibility and credibility. When you share valuable information, people are more likely to see your brand as a trusted source. You attract people who are looking for knowledge or solutions to their problems, and that gives you a chance to show them how your product or service can help them.

With content, you demonstrate your expertise. By sharing what you know, you not only build rapport with your audience, but you also show that you are knowledgeable. More and more people value sincerity and reliability. The right content can therefore make the difference between being noticed or not.

Want to know how to use content to make real impact? Developing a Next Level content strategy can help you not only be visible, but also appeal to the right people and measurably improve your results.

Content in different forms

There are many ways to create content, depending on what suits your business. An article like this can help you answer certain questions and improve your search engine findability (with SEO). A video allows you to show what your business does in a more visual way, while social media like Facebook or Instagram allows you to stay connected with your followers in an informal way.

For business owners, it's important to choose which form of content best suits their purpose and target audience. Whether you're writing, filming or posting on Instagram, it's all about providing value. Content isn't about your business, it's about what your audience needs. That's where your focus should be.

When you want to gain insight into which forms of content work best for your business, a content impact scan can help point you in the right direction. It will give you quick clarity on which channels and strategies will give you the most return on investment.

Why consistency in content is important

Content creation is more than just the occasional article or post. Consistency plays an important role in building a recognizable brand and building trust with your audience. Sharing relevant content regularly ensures that you remain visible to your target audience. This strengthens the relationship you build with potential customers. Consistency in content also shows that you are a reliable source of information and this can ultimately lead to more engagement and conversion.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

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Google Consent Mode V2 is an important update for advertisers, aimed at respecting users' privacy. This new mode allows you to more easily manage visitors' consents and integrate them with advertising and analytics tools. AVG (General Data Protection Regulation) and privacy laws are being tightened all the time and people are going to consider this more and more important, so this is an important step for Google. Read everything you need to know about it in this article.

Google Consent Mode V2 uses several parameters to satisfy users' privacy preferences. For example, the 'ad_user_data' parameter allows data to capture user identification, such as unique IDs used for ads.

In addition, "ad_personalization" allows permission for personalized ads to be managed so that ads can be tailored to the user's interests and behavior.

The 'ad_storage' parameter manages the storage of ad-related cookies essential for tracking ad performance, while 'analytics_storage' manages the storage of analytics cookies used to measure and analyze website performance.

These aforementioned parameters are designed to help you meet users' privacy preferences while still providing access to the data needed for data-driven marketing.

Why this update is important

The update to Consent Mode V2 is essential because of increasingly stringent data protection regulations. Companies are required by law to obtain consent from users before collecting and using data.

If you don't have this data then you can't make the best use of important measurement and advertising tools when running ads, which will make your marketing much less effective.

Consent Mode V2 offers a solution by enabling companies to collect data in a compliant manner. This allows them to comply with the AVG and other privacy laws without sacrificing your data or marketing.

Consent Mode V2 offers several benefits that benefit both businesses and users. Through strict compliance with privacy laws such as the AVG, Consent Mode V2 reduces legal risks for companies. In addition, it helps strengthen user trust because data collection becomes much more transparent.

By respecting users' privacy preferences, you as an advertiser can still run effective and targeted ads. Furthermore, the data collected is more reliable, allowing you to make better decisions based on data for your business.

Implementation and challenges

If you want to start applying this that you need to set up your cookie management properly to support the new parameters of Consent Mode V2. This is because users should be able to easily adjust their preferences on the website.

Next, you need to use Google Tag Manager to set the various parameters required for Consent Mode V2.

Finally, you need to ensure that data tools such as Google Analytics are set up correctly to receive the data collected by Consent Mode V2. This may require you to adjust the configuration of your analytics tools to ensure that it matches your Consent Mode.

So if you want to apply Google Consent Mode V2 to your website, it definitely requires some technical knowledge. This includes configuring the cookie banner to clearly display user options and using Google Tag Manager to set the relevant parameters. While you need quite a bit of knowledge and time to set this up properly, it is a positive change for both you as a website administrator and the visitor.

Would you like help with this process? Then check out our page on outsourcing Consent Mode.

Implementing Consent Mode V2 can seem very complicated, but with the right steps and tools, it doesn't have to be difficult. We share with you a roadmap on how to make this as smooth as possible.

1. Preparation

Start with good preparation. Analyze the current status of your website and research which parts of your site and which tools such as plugins, for example, will be affected by the new privacy regulations. Make sure that all stakeholders within your company are aware of the changes.

2. Update your cookie policy

Before you begin technical implementation, it is important to update your cookie policy. This policy should clearly explain what types of cookies you use, why you use them and how users can give or withdraw their consent. Transparency is key here.

3. Configure your cookie banner

One of the first steps in technical implementation is to configure your cookie banner. This banner should allow users to set their privacy preferences. Make sure the banner is clear and user-friendly so users can easily make their choices.

4. Use Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a powerful tool for managing tags on your website. Use this tool to set the various parameters of Consent Mode V2. Set the permission statuses for ad and analytics tools and make sure this is set properly on your website.

5. Integration with Analysis tools.

It is critical to ensure that your analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, are correctly set up to receive the data managed by Consent Mode V2. This may require you to adjust the configuration of your data tools such as Google Analytics to be compatible with the new Consent Mode. Make sure your tools are up-to-date and compliant with the latest privacy legislation.

6. Testing and Validation

Before going live with the new configuration, it is important to test thoroughly. Run tests to ensure that the cookie banner works correctly and that permission states are applied correctly. Also validate that data is being sent correctly to your tools and that user privacy preferences are being used as indicated.

7. Monitoring and Optimization.

After implementation, it is essential to continue monitoring the performance of your Web site and the effectiveness of your ad campaigns. Use the data collected to analyze how well the new permission mode is working and identify any optimization opportunities. Stay abreast of changes in privacy laws and adjust your configuration as needed to remain compliant.

Not only a requirement but also many advantages

Google Consent Mode V2 is not only a legal requirement, but thus also offers benefits for companies that are serious about privacy and data protection. Applying this new feature allows businesses to accurately collect data. As a business, it is important to make sure your website and advertising systems are updated in time to comply with this new standard.

By investing in Consent Mode V2, companies can stay compliant while effectively managing their marketing campaigns, leading to sustainable growth and success. Would you like help implementing this? Then check out our page on how to outsource Consent Mode.

ChatGPT is one of the most widely used AI chatbots worldwide. Because there are many different versions, it can be difficult to determine which one best suits your specific needs. Should you go for the standard version or a more advanced one? In this article, we will take a look at the different versions of ChatGPT and help you choose the right one for your purpose.

1. ChatGPT-4o

ChatGPT-4o is the standard version suitable for most tasks. It is ideal for everyday use, such as writing texts, translations, summarizing information and even simple programming tasks. This version also supports the ability to upload files and has access to the Internet, which makes it extra versatile. If you are looking for a reliable version of ChatGPT, ChatGPT-4o is a good choice.

Ideal for:

  • Writing blogs and articles
  • Translation of texts
  • Coding and debugging
  • General Q&A

ChatGPT-4o has been available since May 13, 2024.

Read more about ChatGPT-4o here.

2. ChatGPT-4o Canvas

Are you working on a project that requires frequent changes to code or text? Then the version with Canvas is perfect for you. With features like version control and a handy work screen, you can easily edit text and code without losing previous versions. This makes working with ChatGPT much more efficient, especially if you're doing a lot of writing or code.

Ideal for:

  • Version control in complex projects
  • Real-time collaboration on documents and code
  • Quick adjustments and enhancements without losing previous versions

ChatGPT-4o Canvas has been available since Oct. 3, 2024.

Read more about ChatGPT-4o with Canvas here.

3. o1

Are you working on projects that require in-depth analysis and creativity? Then o1 is a great tool. This version is optimized for incremental reasoning and understands complex instructions.

Ideal for:

  • Advanced analytical tasks
  • Creative brainstorming sessions
  • Projects requiring complex problem solving

o1 has been available since December 5, 2024.

Read more about o1 here.

4. o1-mini: Quick answers to simple questions

If you are looking for speed and efficiency for simple tasks, o1-mini is the right choice. This lightweight version offers faster responses without sacrificing quality. Perfect for those who need quick answers to simple questions or tasks without a lot of computing power.

Ideal for:

  • Quick answers to simple questions
  • Simple prompts and commands
  • Tasks that require little processing power

o1-mini has been available since December 5, 2024.

Read more about o1-mini here.

5. ChatGPT Pro: most advanced subscription

This subscription, of $200 per month, gives unlimited access to o1, o1-mini, GPT-4o and advanced voice features.

The o1 Pro version uses more computing power for complex questions and consistently scores better in tests on data science, programming and legal analysis. In particular, the reliability of answers is a lot better than the standard version on complex mathematical, technical and scientific questions.

Ideal for:

  • Professionals who must solve complex problems on a daily basis, such as researchers and engineers.
  • Really challenging technical or analytical issues
  • Tasks that require a lot of computing power

ChatGPT Pro has been available since December 5, 2024.

Read more about ChatGPT Pro here.

Which version best suits your needs?

Briefly:

  • Most standard tasks: ChatGPT-4o
  • Extended elaboration of text or code: ChatGPT 4o Canvas
  • Quick answers to simple questions: o1-mini
  • Complex tasks requiring advanced step-by-step "reasoning": o1

By choosing the right version of ChatGPT, you can take full advantage of AI technology and make your work more efficient and effective. Which version best suits your needs?

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

What impact is AI going to have on content marketing and your marketing team in 2025? We get this question often and we are happy to share our expectations with you.

Over the past year, we have seen a tentative shift in the way content marketing teams function. Where teams now consist mostly of specialists who perform most tasks themselves, supported by AI, we expect to see more and more hybrid teams in which humans collaborate with full-fledged AI colleagues.

This transformation allows marketing teams to work faster, smarter and more efficiently. As marketing becomes increasingly competitive, it is important to keep evolving with it. In addition, AI offers countless new opportunities not previously available. AI colleagues are playing a big role in this, and we are experimenting a lot with it ourselves.

We discuss what such a hybrid collaboration might look like.

Hybrid teams and the exponential growth of AI intelligence

We expect hybrid teams, in which humans and AI work together, to become the next phase in marketing. AI offers speed, availability, continuity, a rapid infinite learning curve and processing of huge amounts of data. This will increasingly be beyond the reach of humans. 

The knowledge level of the best performing AI right now, ChatGPTo1 preview, is rated at the IQ level 120 (a PhD graduate) in several areas. Most AI researchers expect this level to improve exponentially in the coming years and to be smarter than the smartest humans in all knowledge areas before 2030. Exactly what this will look like and to what extent this will actually be achieved are the subject of divided opinions. This is therefore difficult to predict.

The new role of AI: working smarter and creating space for creativity

What we can say with certainty is that most of the current marketing work is going to largely change in the next year and the years after, and that knowledge and intelligence will become more and more accessible to everyone. At a high speed, improvements in AI are being made and new applications introduced. Virtually all content production such as text, images, audio and video can increasingly be created by AI and reused in other formats. 

For example, think of a written text that you can also record as an audio podcast and vice versa (as we do with our marketing AI Friday newsletter ). You can convert images to videos, and videos, such as webinars, can be converted to written articles and social media posts.

People will therefore have to shift to what we are (still) best at, such as creativity, intuition and strategic thinking skills. But also figuring out how best to use AI and then implementing and optimizing it. 

Collaboration with AI allows marketing teams to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, freeing up time for a variety of new initiatives and roles.

Let's look at some of the specific roles of AI within a marketing team and how it can work with human marketers.

The roles of AI within the marketing team

In a hybrid team, AI plays a supporting and (increasingly independent) executive role in various marketing tasks. The better the AI gets, the greater this role also becomes. At NXTLI, we have a team of AI colleagues trained in specific aspects of content marketing, making them increasingly supportive of human colleagues. We have also chosen to "humanize" these AI tools by calling them AI colleagues and giving them a name, picture, function and clear role on the team. Our team page lists our current colleagues.

Let's look at some of the roles of AI colleagues on a marketing team.

Customer service and chatbots

One application of AI in a hybrid marketing team is customer service support via chatbots. Instead of one or more people answering all kinds of, often the same questions, a smart AI chatbot can be deployed. At NXTLI, for example, AI chatbot Ian is active on various channels such as our website (you can start a conversation with Ian by clicking on his picture at the bottom right), Instagram DM, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Ian helps customers answer all kinds of questions, is available 24/7 and has no wait times. This ensures that human customer service representatives have more time for more complex issues, while Ian efficiently handles frequently asked questions and basic information.

Smart content planning

Creating a content schedule can be time-consuming, especially if it takes into account important dates, your content strategy, goals and outcomes. People usually don't get around to taking all of these into account. This is where an AI colleague who specializes in creating smart content planning comes in. At NXTLI, AI colleague Pia supports the development of content planning, taking into account, among other things, performance of previous content and key moments of our company and in the market. As a result, we work with a clear plan and create and share the right content at the right time.

Effective captions for social media

Social media is a dynamic and fast-changing channel that often requires new content. An AI colleague specializing in writing social media captions in the right tone-of-voice can help you be that little bit extra when you create a caption. A caption that appeals and is relevant to your target audience. At NXTLI, AI colleague Liza helps write social media captions. Among other things, she takes into account our content strategy, the best practices of the various social media channels and which posts have done well and not so well. Because Liza picks up part of the operational process, we can spend more time optimizing content and working out creative concepts.

Writing website content

Consistently creating quality content for a website can be challenging, especially if it needs to be done on a large scale and meet a variety of guidelines such as SEO, AIO (AI Optimization), tone-of-voice, content strategy and goals. An AI copywriter can take on much of this task. For example, we have Kai who can write blogs, landing pages and other content quickly and efficiently, always aligned with SEO best practices and our tone of voice. This gives us more room to be involved in the creative and strategic side of content development, while Kai takes on much of executive copywriting. We always do apply human checking and, where necessary, we make optimizations to the text.

In addition to further expanding and optimizing our own AI team, we also develop these AI colleagues for our customers. If you are interested in this, we would be happy to work for you as well.

How is the role of human team members changing?

With the advent of AI, the way human team members do their jobs is changing. Where marketers generally still spend a lot of time on recurring tasks such as content creation, plan development, reporting or data analysis, they are going to focus more and more on creative and strategic work and optimizing collaboration with AI colleagues.

The difference for a content manager

An example of this is the role of the content manager. Until now, this role has mainly focused on managing the entire content production process, but in this there is more and more room for creative and strategic thinking. While AI colleagues such as Ian and Pia take care of the executive tasks, content managers can focus on developing new ideas, ensuring brand consistency and responding to changing market conditions.

The difference for a social media manager

In addition, the role of the social media manager in a hybrid team is changing. Tasks such as scheduling content and writing posts can now be largely performed by AI. AI colleagues like Liza help analyze trends, create captions and hashtags and recommend post schedules based on data. 

By using AI, a social media manager can save 30-60% time on tasks such as writing posts, monitoring responses and analyzing results. This allows the social media manager to focus more on strategic growth, building communities and developing unique experiences. AI colleagues, meanwhile, take care of operational execution and continuous monitoring of content programs.

Tip: It is important to identify which roles and tasks within your marketing team will be affected by AI. Make an overview of your team members' current responsibilities and determine how and when AI can support or possibly take over their work. By anticipating this in a timely manner, you can ensure that your team transitions smoothly to a hybrid work environment where AI and human expertise work seamlessly together.

We would be happy to help you with this by developing a Marketing AI Impact Scan.

Working together in a hybrid team: practical examples

What does this collaboration look like in practice?

Suppose your marketing team works together in Slack, Teams or another collaboration platform. On this platform, there are also several AI colleagues with whom you can collaborate, just like with a regular colleague. You can put the AI colleagues to work directly for a specific task, respond immediately, and the AI colleague's responses are also visible to other colleagues who can also engage in the chat (a big difference from all current AI tools where each chat is visible only to the user). 

In addition, you can put several AI colleagues to work one after the other. For example, you first have a content planning made and when it is ready you can immediately have an AI colleague start writing social media captions or blog posts based on that content planning.  

Thus, AI colleagues and human marketers work together optimally to plan and create content, with the human colleagues taking on more of a directing and controlling role rather than doing a lot of this executive work themselves.

See below an example of how we collaborate with Pia and Liza in our Slack environment, for which we fully customized this integration and way of working together.

Additional roles where AI will play a role

In addition to the roles of AI described above in customer service, content planning, content creation and social media, there are numerous other areas where well-trained AI colleagues will play an increasingly important role in the near future. Consider, for example:

  • Review and advice on expressions: An AI colleague who reviews a landing page, social post or ad and provides advice to optimize it, based on best practices, content strategy and data from previous expressions that have performed well.  
  • Email marketing automation: AI can automate personalized email campaigns, customizing text based on recipients' behavior and preferences. This increases email relevance and engagement.
  • A/B testing and optimization: AI can automatically run A/B tests on different marketing programs and make real-time adjustments to get the best results. This significantly speeds up the process of optimization.
  • Predictive analytics for customer behavior: AI can predict customer behavior based on historical data and market trends, allowing marketers to respond more proactively to changes in consumer behavior.

In addition, AI is increasingly being used for various operational processes. Think of capturing and summarizing consultations, and writing and responding to emails. Zoom is even going to allow an AI clone of yourself to participate in online consultations.

We see an extremely powerful combination emerging by combining data, content and AI.

Prepare to develop a hybrid marketing team

The transition to hybrid teams in which AI and human colleagues work intensively together is, in our opinion, an important step for content marketing teams in the final months of this year and 2025. NXTLI's AI colleagues like Ian, Pia, Liza and Kai demonstrate how this collaboration is already working in practice. By leveraging the strengths of AI, human marketers can focus on what they do best. These include creative thinking, strategic planning and creating relevant unique content.

These hybrid teams will not only be more efficient, but also better able to respond to rapidly changing market needs. Are you ready for the future of content marketing? We are curious to see how you will approach this and of course we would be happy to help you with this.

In our next webinar "Marketing AI in Practice" on Friday, November 1 at noon, we'll go into more detail about developing a hybrid marketing team. In it, you will see our AI team live in action and we will tell you how you can use these AI colleagues for your marketing team as well.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday