8 Exceptional Essays to Improve Your Digital Innovation: E-Commerce Link Digest

It’s going to be a frosty, freezing, breezy weekend here on the East Coast, folks. Hope you’re safe, warm, and dry wherever you might be. Me? I plan to curl up in front of a fire, crack open a bottle of Malbec, and hunker down with this list of 8 exceptional essays to improve your digital innovation in 2016. Enjoy:

1. Chief Marketer collects a must-read list of the 4 things marketers must do better in 2016.
2. Not to be outdone, the fine folks at Direct Marketing News ask “what should marketers do differently in 2016?” Both are excellent reads, well-worth your time.
3. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon will release a portable version of its Echo Speaker in coming weeks (copy the headline and paste into a Google search if the Journal’s paywall blocks you from the whole article). Really interesting stuff that demonstrates how members of the AGFAM group (Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) continue to work on driving seamless experiences in 2016, one of the key trends for the year ahead.
4. Speaking of seamless experiences, Quartz says that for the first time, you can take an Uber to the Super Bowl. This illustrates something PSFK just wrote about Uber and developing complementary partnerships that enhance your brand. Smart stuff all around.
5. Shifting gears just a bit, Search Engine Land highlights a study that reveals quality backlinks & comprehensive content are still biggest factors in driving Google rankings. Not a huge shock. Just goes to show how important and effective content marketing remains to driving traffic and business.
6. Speaking of content marketing, many of your fellow Big Thinkers liked and linked to this list of 9 tremendous posts about 2016’s top digital trends, part of our ongoing E-commerce Link Digest series.
7. On the mobile front, ClickZ offers a terrific look at how to assess the feasibility of your mobile project.
8. And, finally, if there’s one thing that connects all the links this week it’s the strong focus on execution. Which is why I believe that execution as the new innovation remains among the top trends for 2016.

If you’re interested in learning more about making the social, mobile web work for your customers, be sure to check out these “9 Tremendous Posts About 2016’s Top Digital Trends: E-commerce Link Digest”, this collection of “8 Digital Strategy Posts to Start Your Week Right,” this set of “10 Must-Read Posts About Mobile Commerce and Content Marketing” a fun collection of posts featuring “Google, Mobile, E-commerce. What More Could You Want?” and all the rest of the entries from our E-commerce Link Digest series.

And if you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”: