Original Article Posted June 10th
by Rachel Kilne

Overall, my tip is to focus on what you’re passionate about and then keep learning. If you want to attract more business, picking a niche and pushing yourself to learn all sides of the business is the fastest way to differentiate yourself and tip the scale.

Marketing trends are always changing, and it’s so important to stay relevant. What are the latest trends? How does one stay abreast of the new trends? Is it good to be an early adopter or is it best to see which trends withstand the test of time? To address these questions, in this interview series, we are talking to experienced CMOs who can share their “Top 5 New Marketing Trends That Leaders Need To Know About.” As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anna Covert.

Anna Covert (annacovert.com), author of The Covert Code: Mastering the Art of Digital Marketing, is the founder of Covert Communication, the largest digital marketing firm in Hawaii. Over the past 20 years, Covert has become recognized in the industry as an authority in digital advertising, having worked with hundreds of companies worldwide in a wide range of industries. Her team has developed API technology solutions for both SunPower and Panasonic and is featured as a preferred marketing partner for their extensive dealer networks.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thanks for having me! Even as a child, I had a head for business. At the age of 8, my best friend and I started a doggy daycare called K9 Villas. We printed flyers and went door-knocking. We only got one furry signed up, but it was the start of my love for marketing. My father was an entrepreneur and founder of Aspen Ski Tours which eventually became ski.com. On my mother’s side, the family were artists working in theater, painting, and writing. While for a bit I planned to pursue art school, I realized that I didn’t want to be the subject of the criticism and would rather help others tell their story. So, I decided to attend business school with a focus on marketing, allowing me to blend my talents and love for sharing concepts and communication.

With regard to digital marketing, that happened out of necessity. I’m often asked how I acquired the knowledge that has moved my business into a position of authority as a digital expert. It all boils down to one key choice that I made in 2010 to learn WordPress. At the time, it was out of necessity. I had herniated L4 and L5 in my back and was undergoing physical therapy when the owner of Harris Therapy asked me if I could build her a website and help her with some online ads. My first instinct was to say “no,” but an old boyfriend of mine had recently shared that he had started installing WordPress websites to increase revenue for his photography business. I was surprised because he couldn’t write a line of code. I felt confident that if he could do it, so could I. Thus, my online journey began. I went home that night and called him for some tips, which included filtering by the best sellers or most popular template themes, which helped guarantee that there was clear documentation and support should I run into any problems. Then, assuming the client’s domain was hosted on GoDaddy, they had a quick setup for the WordPress environment. After that, all you had to do was follow the documentation. I did just that and launched harristherapy.com five weeks later. Then I built another site and another and another.

It has been said that our mistakes can sometimes be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Oh boy! One that comes to mind was early in my career when I was wearing many hats (basically all of them) and didn’t have the full team of developers that I do today. I was installing a new website for Hospice Hawaii when I accidentally deleted their mySQL database. That meant that the old site was gone permanently. The result — I stayed up all night building the new template, but it taught me that no matter what the original timeline says, what the client remembers is the end result and if you’re not prepared, the right decision is to move the meeting, not rush it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

One of my favorite early memories was when I first moved to Hawaii and was working as the Marketing Director for Paul Brown Salons & Spas. Charlie Harrington, the publisher of Hawaii Parent and Hawaii Military Guide, called to invite me to lunch at Dave and Buster’s to share his publications. At the time, I was advertising with the “official military guide” published by Marco. It was a large guide, glossy, well produced. Charlie showed me his rates and what made him different from the competition, but I wasn’t sure. I mean, I was in the official guide, and was this the best use of our small marketing budget? At the end of lunch, he said, “So have you ever been to a military base before?” No, I hadn’t. “Would you be interested in coming with me on my next visit to distribute our upcoming edition?” I happily agreed. A few weeks later, we met at the Kahala Mall, jumped into Charlie’s truck, and headed to Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam. Charlie knew everybody, from the girls at the grocery store on base to the boys at the help desks. He greeted them by name, and they always lit up when they saw him. “Oh, Charlie, I’m so glad to see you! The magazines are just flying off the rack; we need more!” was the consistent message. After the sixth location, I started to notice a pattern. I hadn’t seen one copy of the “official guide” that I was advertising anywhere. Ummm, so where exactly was this being distributed? I finally asked Charlie, and he laughed. “Actually, it’s coming up at our next stop; let’s go.” And we drove to the welcome center for new military families. That was where new service members would pick up their badges and register for all kinds of family services. And yes, I did see the publication, but the majority were in the back office, still in the crate sealed in plastic wrap. Just one or two were visible on the shelf next to a gigantic stake of Hawaii Military Guide editions. I had seen enough and learned an important lesson. Just because the rate card shows distribution numbers, or it’s marketed as “official,” didn’t mean they had the eyeballs on it. Just because the bases were listed, and it was “official” didn’t mean people used it. The same is true of all media distribution channels — especially online as there is zero third-party oversight.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

Great questions. There have been a few that come to mind but they all relate to focusing on the solar industry vertical. During COVID, as the state shut down, the agency lost several tourism-focused businesses. I was looking for ways to offset income and one of my local solar clients invited me to join the sales team and help grow their residential division. While I had been considered an “expert” in the solar marketing field for several years, learning how to build a system, and having the opportunity to sit with homeowners was transformative. In just eight months I had sold over 100 MW of solar. That also gave me the experience required to build Solar Wizard, which has grown to become the largest WordPress plugin with downloads in over 25 countries. This also gained me the trust of Panasonic USA and my team was selected as the technology partner to aid them in developing their solar + storage calculator. Overall, my tip is to focus on what you’re passionate about and then keep learning. If you want to attract more business, picking a niche and pushing yourself to learn all sides of the business is the fastest way to differentiate yourself and tip the scale.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

What makes Covert Communication different really boils down to transparency. In the traditional advertising model, media commission is expected. The problem with this model is that it doesn’t work in a digital future. Through optimization, our clients spend less not more year-over-year. As a result, we view ourselves as an extension of the business’s internal team’s marketing department and they can trust that anything we recommend is because we believe it will drive higher results, not because we’re taking a cut. We believe in screen sharing and working together with our clients no matter what. This means owning up when things don’t work out as expected and most importantly being the source of truth and fighting tooth and nail for our clients to ensure they’re protected from digital fraud, i.e., when the numbers don’t add up, we open support ticket after support ticket until they’re refunded.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes, we’re close to the official rollout of Solar Wizard 2.0 which is built in Reactium.io and will allow solar companies globally to provide the same solutions on any website framework, not just WordPress. Our tool helps the company increase leads at a fraction of the cost but also provides the end user (homeowners or business owners) with transparency and the ability to understand how much solar they need and what the cost will be. The agency is also about to launch a Roofing Calculator for WordPress which will provide similar functionality to our Solar Wizard plugin, allowing for roofers to increase leads fast. It includes the option to add building-integrated solar shingles into their quote if applicable. This then provides the customer with a quote for a roof repair, roof replacement, and how adding solar could save them BIG through incentives and additional financing, meaning they wouldn’t have to come out of pocket above their insurance premium to get the new roof.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to the main part of our interview about Marketing Trends. As a CMO, you’re at the forefront of the marketing space and leading diverse teams. What resources or tools do you use to you stay abreast of the ever-changing landscape?

This breaks down into two parts — external tools to help clients reach the right person, at the right time, with the right message and internal tools to increase the speed-to-lead and help clients control all leads along the purchase journey. Some of our trusted media solutions are Quantcast, StackAdapt, Outbrain, and Criteo. Plus, our favorite CRM tool has quickly become GoHighLevel, which has a fair pricing model and features that save clients thousands and increase productivity by offering speed-to-lead features such as texting, emails, call recordings, calendars, social media scheduling, review collection, and the like. This reduces the need for third-party plugins or services that increase operating expenses and can become bottlenecks in workflow processes. Of course, we’re also exploring A.I. solutions to increase SEO value, as well as scaling creative opportunities, such as quickly creating programmatic radio, video, CTV, and OTT commercials using A.I. generated voices and stock footage to fill in the gaps. We’re also keeping a close eye on Web 3.0 and how we can leverage social media influencers to reach Gen Z as online behaviors shift toward a more decentralized framework.

In your experience, is it possible to forecast upcoming trends? How does this process work? Please share a story.

The evolution of the consumer towards digital has allowed the agency to understand trends faster by collecting real-time behavioral data. With the help of AI, marketers can now identify search and contextual interests at scale. For example, one trend we discovered that has proven to be successful was in changing the traditional “solar calculator form” into a full application “game” which provides real-time results and learning opportunities to the end user. The trend this was inspired by is Gamification and aligns with the consumers’ shift toward trusting companies that are transparent, authentic, and speak their language (easy to use and understand).

In marketing, would you say it’s better to be an early adopter of trends or wait to see if they stick before allocating resources? What are the pros and cons?

Just like in financial planning, marketing should set short-term and long-term goals and assess potential risks and rewards. If the company is in a tight financial situation, then jumping on trends can backfire (volatile like the stock market). Overall, I always recommend clients focus on creating an “objective task” budget, and depending on their unique situation and goals, it’s good to always try new things but never put all your eggs into one basket. Some of the pros, of course, are creating deeper connections with our audience. For example, those already investing in the Metaverse and other ways to reimagine their brand in a virtual space are experiencing a big lift in awareness, engagement, and a direct correlation to sales (such as Nike and other large retailers). I think it really boils down to scale. If your brand is already known and loved by millions, then it’s easier to have wins by adopting new trends but it can also backfire. Example: Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney. For those unestablished or with smaller niche audiences, placing an emphasis on trends isn’t the best use of funds but rather it’s recommended to use proven marketing strategies to achieve growth around your core products and services.

What are some of the past trends that you embraced? What results did you see?

The latest trend I embraced was adding programmatic advertising to our clients’ media mix. Traditionally, display ads were the focus of remarketing budgets. But as I noticed consumer behavior shifting toward adding audio remarketing (podcast sponsorships) and CTV/OTT and most importantly in-game, we’re able to reach critical mass messaging at a fraction of the cost. The results so far have been easy to spot. Our onsite conversion rates are increasing by 5% (so far) and clients of all sizes are enjoying the opportunity to share their stories through traditional ways that previously were too expensive. Programmatic advertising allows us to reach the right person, with the right message, at the right time without a big IO (insertion order) and NO contract. The opportunities are endless and this really levels the playing field for small to medium business owners.

Can you share a time when a strategy didn’t deliver the results you expected and what you learned from the experience?

Recently the agency engaged in some EDDM (every door direct mail) which has always yielded measurable results — the phone would ring. The number of calls always varies depending on the target, offer, urgency, and brand awareness but we never questioned if the mail dropped. However, this latest time was in support of hurricane preparedness for a Florida solar dealer. Out of 10,000 cards, we received no calls. As a result, we had serious concerns about whether the cards were delivered. A couple of weeks later we got a call, but it left me feeling that this medium couldn’t be trusted in the same way as before. While we had confirmation the cards had been received by the post office (from the printer), we didn’t know when the post office had distributed them (no trackable scan in or scan out). The learning here goes back to how we evaluate marketing choices and pick the right partner. If you can’t trust that the impression was delivered on time (or at all), then it’s time to switch strategies. And please note that I’m not in any way implying that I don’t trust the postal service; it’s just about the allocation of media spend. If you’re running a promotion and the cards are supposed to drop on X date and they are delivered two weeks later, then that has a direct effect on the campaign’s success.

What factors should leaders consider before jumping on a trend? Can you please explain what you mean?

Before jumping on a trend, you must ask yourself if you’re doing it for the right reason. Does it really fit into your brand’s leverageable points of difference and resonate with your existing audience? In the example from Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney, the results were catastrophic and alienated the existing loyal Bud drinkers. Trends need to align with your brand’s vision, mission, and existing customer base. While the goal is to grow and attract new customers based on the trend, we mustn’t ever jeopardize or confuse our core audience (or team) by trying to be something that we’re not.

Here is the main question of our interview. We’d love for you to share your expert insight. What are the top five marketing trends leaders should know about in 2024? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Changes in how to reach Gen Z — Gen Z is growing up and is the first generation to do so with social media. What we are seeing is a significant shift in marketing’s ability to reach and influence this audience. The two main trends we’re seeing are the group that is very focused on themselves or the “ME” generation. They are attracted to authenticity and want everything to be customizable for them. They are not motivated by paid ads and as a result, we’re seeing the role of social media influencers soar. While this trend is here to stay, it has placed a burden on businesses to find and manage those relationships. For example, it’s very easy to purchase friends, followers, likes, and other engagement scores across all channels, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, etc. There are some companies that are helping to curate influencers, but none that the agency has used personally yet. The other part of this generation is Gen Z “WE”. They are motivated by social justice and want to be part of a community focused on change — human rights, climate change, etc. The agency is currently looking at potential social media influencers to help our solar clients but it’s a new initiative. We don’t have any examples yet to share.

Another big trend that we are implementing is using programmatic blended-in game displays to reach users across all devices — Xbox (other consoles), desktop, tablet, and mobile. This is highly impactful and with gaming set to reach 3 billion users this year, a big opportunity for marketers to stay top of mind. It’s like product placement, and while non-clickable, we believe that this noninvasive media is more impactful as those playing the game are not multitasking. One example of how we monetized this trend toward Gamification was in the development of the Solar Wizard Plugin. We saw a 500% or more lift in form completions when walking the homeowner through a quick “game” to learn how much solar they needed versus filling out a traditional form. The future mandates that companies provide free resources and transparency to gain and keep trust.

2. Growing distrust of content online — A noticeable trend is the growing consumer distrust online. With so many big-name brands going out of business (in solar, for instance, Sunnova declared bankruptcy and others like Titan Solar, a beast, just exited the market), paired with fake reviews, it’s becoming clear that brands have to work harder to build and keep trust. For example, over the past year, we have noticed a sharp decline in our Google and Microsoft Ads Search conversion rates. This has always been the easiest way to show ROI to clients and is considered “intent” marketing because the consumer is on a search and seeking a solution themselves. They already know what they want and are trying to find a partner. What is interesting is that while search overall is up or has remained constant, the number of those clicks that turn into real leads has dropped by almost 50% in some industries. As we manage so many solar accounts, we can report that nationwide all our paid accounts have experienced the same results.

While this can also be tied to other factors such as interest rates, inflation, and political fear, what I believe is really happening is that the consumer is not as confident as they were in the past when it comes to picking a partner online. This will also increase with the rise of more A.I. generated content which makes companies look and sound similar. If everyone looks the same, then how can a customer make the right decision? This trend is important for marketers to understand so they can focus efforts and resources on creating content that is authentic to the brand. This can include producing video testimonials, offering more transparency with free resources, ensuring that customers can speak with a real human, and demonstrating that they are honoring customer privacy. These actions are key to curating trust and increasing conversion rates.

3. Increase in bot activity — The battle of the bots is on! Marketers need to understand that they can’t blindly trust media platforms. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft all deploy bots to click on their own ads and inflate ad numbers. The same is true for SEO companies that are “spinning” traffic online. This means that they deploy robots to visit sites en masse for the purpose of then attracting ad spend or services from businesses that don’t understand the difference. Yes, we want more traffic, but it must be humans (not from Dubai) and they must be “engaged,” meaning that they stayed on the site for a period of time before exiting. To really understand the value of adding protection, I recommend business owners install ClickCease bot protection. When the agency implemented this service in 2022, I noticed an immediate savings of around 30% on all agency-managed paid accounts. It adds up to BIG results.

4. Changes to search results — The subject of an ongoing lawsuit, Google has essentially a monopoly on search. One of the most common concerns for a business owner is SEO and how to get to the top of the page. The challenge is that with so many changes behind the curtain, achieving a high rank today for a search phrase can be expensive and time-consuming. For me, the biggest element in any paid marketing is trust in the outcome. As a result, we advise our clients not to invest in off-site SEO strategies with limited resources. Why? Well because we can’t control it. What worked today may not work tomorrow. A good example of this is a change Google made on backlinks. One proven SEO strategy is to use distribution services like EIN Presswire, and press release distribution, to build rank by providing links to a company’s site on hundreds of trusted news sites. In the past, we saw this have a trackable impact on backlink building in third parties like spyfu.com. But that changed in 2019 as Google rolled out new ways to measure link value. Essentially that stripped away some of the SEO value by defaulting Google News Publishers to use “no follow” links in releases. While there still is proven SEO value in distribution, changes like this happen ALL THE TIME, and advertisers need to be aware that all parts of search are controlled by the browser and can change at any time. In fact, it’s common for users with similar geographic locations to have completely different search results while searching for the exact same keyword phrases. That paired, with no third-party oversight, it is risky to place focus on achieving the top organic placement, and is easier to get to the top time and time again with paid ads that we can control (at least to some extent).

5. Privacy and protection — The movement toward consumer protection is rising. This means that states, including California, have implemented stricter policies on how user data is collected, stored, and shared. I was recently invited to be a guest on a webinar hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals titled “Universal Consent: Building Beyond Cookie Consent.” The invitation came during a call discussing Arlo Gilbert’s new book, The Privacy Insider: How to Embrace Data Privacy and Join the Next Wave of Trusted Brands.

This book opened my eyes to the challenges in developing next-level privacy programs to respond to data protection regulations, and to the opportunities that compliance has in attracting new customers and communicating with existing users.

It’s important to fully understand the risk in identifying a user’s online interest and sharing something they might be surprised and delighted by, such as a new pair of boots, a trendy purse, or those perfect ski goggles for their upcoming trip to Tahoe. The problem is all of the other ways data is being used. For example, location data could be used to identify that someone was at an abortion clinic or a cancer treatment center.

That’s why consent is so important. Users must be able to decide whether personal information is identifiable or shared with a third party, and that decision must be just as easy to retract as to give. The good news for advertisers is that practicing universal consent and adhering to these new guidelines can make your marketing more effective. Too much spam on your domain can result in all company emails being flagged as malicious. Once a domain is so marked, it’s almost impossible to get it unmarked. That means you’ll need to change your company’s email addresses, which can lead to brand confusion and missed opportunities.

The same is true with texting or calling customers. If they keep opting out or asking to be removed, the result is not more business but less at a higher cost in labor, fees, and time. The cost of storing inefficient or inaccurate data matters, too. I recently discussed this in a Forbes article: https://annacovert.com/consumer-privacy-how-universal-is-universal-consent/

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My hope is that with my book The Covert Code — Mastering The Art Of Digital Marketing, I can help spark a movement toward creating clear rules on how ads are bought and sold online. Just like when we had to clean up the broadcasting and publishing industries, there needs to be an unbiased third party that can oversee the ad exchange. Creating fair rules is critical to protect businesses by enforcing clear data and monitoring invalid traffic. For example, third-party networks such as Facebook or Yelp that report data on ad performance, i.e., clicks, and impressions, should be verified with a third-party service to prove that they did in fact run those ads and that the clicks are real (and match G4 analytics). This is also important for consumer privacy and, if done correctly, could contain a way to manage cookie consent or universal opt-in standards, meaning that if a customer opts out of a campaign or list, that their information is purged system-wide from all third-party audiences.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-covert/

Personal Website: Annacovert.com

The Covert Code Website: Thecovertcode.com

Covert Communication Website: Covertcommunication.com

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.