The financial services industry has traditionally been a conservative one, but the industry is rapidly increasing its prioritization on digital marketing, including SEO. And even though only 7% of financial services brands consider high-quality content a top priority (compared to 15% in other industries), it speaks to the volume of SEO opportunity that exists for financial services brands if they act now.

In this industry report on financial services, BrightEdge breaks down 7 key trends that are re-shaping the way brands in the financial services industry and planning digital marketing.

Key trends

• Google search query activity in financial queries
• Channel marketing mix in the financial services industry
• Financial services benchmark SEO stats

Use this full report to understand what is changing digitally in the financial industry.

As the digital revolution has become a part of every day life, today's students expect that educational institutions are dialed in to the power of the digital ecosystem. Schools are becoming more aware of the impact of a digital-focused educational journey to increase learning, creativity, and loyalty.

In this industry report on education marketing, BrightEdge discovers how educational institutions are transforming digitally to meet the demands of today's world and better prepare their students for future success.

Key trends

• Digitization - The shift from textbook and worksheets to digital-based solutions
• Personalization - Catering to students individually to enhance their experience
• Microcredentials - Earning credentials on an as-needed basis versus traditional full-time enrollment
• Adaptive Learning - Information tailored to each student and their learning style

Use the full higher education marketing and SEO report to transform your marketing strategy for students and staff.

BrightEdge tracks topics important to the community monthly to keep customers ahead of the fast-evolving digital and SEO market. In this mid-year update we recap some of the more significant findings in mobile search. It was surprising to see that mobile-first does not mean that rank and content are the same on different devices. In fact the research showed significant differences.

Take a deep dive into the 2018 mid-year mobile report to understand where mobile search has been and where it’s headed.

AI is allowing marketers to make better decisions—the single most important output they produce for their companies. Better decisions are why marketers get ahead and why they get promoted to higher levels of responsibility. BrightEdge wants everyone around us to make better decisions--from our execs to engineers to customer service colleagues; we wish them all to make better decisions because that is how we collectively succeed as community.

In this latest report BrightEdge surveyed more than 500 search, content, and digital marketers to gain insights into how brands are using AI to deliver a more personalized customer experience.

Key findings:

• Marketers set to use AI to develop their content marketing strategies
• AI is enabling marketers to understand the customer, drive productivity, and create better performing content
• Obstacles to AI adoption provides a wake-up call for MarTech

Dive into our full report to maximize your understanding of marketing and AI together.

The Rise of Sofa Sunday and Mobile Friday BrightEdge Research Uncovers the New Holiday Shopping Journey with Sofa Sunday and Mobile (Black) Friday Overshadowing Cyber Monday 

The Christmas and holiday shopping season from November through December is a critical time to observe shoppers’ online behavior. With several holidays and the most important shopping days of the year, this eight-week period in the United States is filled with ubiquitous marketing messaging, massive discounting, and general shopping euphoria. For retailers, it is a make or break time of the year.  

Following on from BrightEdge’s Holiday Shopping Report based on 2016 data, fresh new research notes changing trends of 2016 and 2017 audience digital traffic in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving weekend, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. This new research provides clues for marketers on how to prepare for the holiday shopping season. The report confirms holiday shopping is happening sooner and consumers are more and more comfortable making purchases on their mobile phone or tablet. Additionally, data findings point to Black Friday surpassing Cyber Monday in digital importance.  

The holidays provide plenty of opportunities to create more personalized content and provide intelligent experiences both at the store and online. As online retail spending increases over the holiday season, marketers need to focus on creating smart content and shopping experiences to attract, engage, and convert customers at the right time.  

Sofa Sunday - the Sunday before Black Friday, is THE major online research day The Sunday before Thanksgiving and Black Friday was a day of high traffic, especially mobile traffic. BrightEdge dubs this Sofa Sunday because it was the highest mobile traffic day until that point, but it shows relatively modest transaction volume. This suggests that consumers use Sofa Sunday to research and prepare their holiday shopping lists ahead of Black Friday. Mobile traffic on Sofa Sunday is 21% higher than a typical Sunday in the holiday season. 

Black Friday mobile traffic outperformed Desktop by 75% Brands are aware that Mobile traffic exceeds Desktop traffic by 10% to 40% most days, but may be surprised to find Mobile exceeds Desktop by 75% on Mobile Black Friday but only 5% on Cyber Monday. Mobile is dominant and simply a way of life for consumers. 

Mobile Black Friday sales exceeded Mobile Cyber Monday sales by 9% Black Friday mobile purchase activity was so strong that BrightEdge has dubbed it Mobile Black Friday. Mobile purchase revenue on Black Friday exceeded mobile purchase revenue on Cyber Monday by 9%. Deals that were previously available only in stores are now available anywhere and on any device. BrightEdge research suggests that Mobile Black Friday will continue to gain momentum as shoppers replace store visits with mobile visits and purchases. 

Download the full report for all of 2017’s holiday shopping trends.