Join the celebration of Siteimprove's 21-year journey with guest Isabel, where we uncover the evolution of digital marketing from simple web maintenance to today's intricate landscape. Discover how design thinking and accessibility have become essential in our digital world, and why keeping pace with technologies like AI and MarTech is a must for today's marketers. We promise insights that will revolutionize your approach to the digital realm, addressing the data deluge, and the unwavering importance of honing your website into a powerful marketing machine.
Get ready to be inspired as we share success stories demonstrating the remarkable effects of AI-generated content and streamlined web accessibility, courtesy of Siteimprove's cutting-edge tools, AI Generate and AI Remediate. Isabel's anecdotes and our exploration of these tools shed light on how they can boost traffic and efficiency, with tangible benefits resonating through the stories of companies like Open Reach. If you're looking for strategies to stay competitive in the MarTech arms race, this episode is packed with customer-centric innovation tactics and a sneak peek into Siteimprove's presence at the Gartner Marketing Symposium, promising to fuel your next-level marketing aspirations.
Join the celebration of Siteimprove's 21-year journey with guest Isabel, where we uncover the evolution of digital marketing from simple web maintenance to today's intricate landscape. Discover how design thinking and accessibility have become essential in our digital world, and why keeping pace with technologies like AI and MarTech is a must for today's marketers. We promise insights that will revolutionize your approach to the digital realm, addressing the data deluge, and the unwavering importance of honing your website into a powerful marketing machine.
Get ready to be inspired as we share success stories demonstrating the remarkable effects of AI-generated content and streamlined web accessibility, courtesy of Siteimprove's cutting-edge tools, AI Generate and AI Remediate. Isabel's anecdotes and our exploration of these tools shed light on how they can boost traffic and efficiency, with tangible benefits resonating through the stories of companies like Open Reach. If you're looking for strategies to stay competitive in the MarTech arms race, this episode is packed with customer-centric innovation tactics and a sneak peek into Siteimprove's presence at the Gartner Marketing Symposium, promising to fuel your next-level marketing aspirations.
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel
Speaker 1:
Hey everybody, Intriguing discussion today around design thinking and accessibility on the World Wide Web with Isabel from Siteimprove. Isabella, how are you?
Speaker 2:
I'm good. Thank you so much for having me, Evan.
Speaker 1:
Well, thanks for being here. I think you're in Denmark, one of my favorite countries. You have amazing offices around the world. I noticed I have a lot of questions, but maybe, before that dive in, introduce yourself, if you would. A little bit about the genesis of Siteimprove.
Speaker 2:
Perfect, and yes, I am in Denmark, in beautiful Copenhagen, one of the happiest countries in the world, as you said. And yes, and so let me ask you a question first. Do you remember the Internet 20 years ago?
Speaker 1:
20,. I remember it well because I'm kind of getting old, and what I don't remember is that when CERN introduced the idea of the web, an interface on top of the internet, I think there was an anniversary today, I think, of the creation of the World Wide Web. But why do you ask? Are you trying to test my memory? Or what's going on?
Speaker 2:
I'm asking because 20 years ago, actually, 21 years ago exactly, was when Siteimprove was founded. And while I'm talking about it, yeah, I know right, and it's been such and I was thinking back, you know, to 2003. And if you think about it, there was no Facebook, right. I think that was the year when MySpace was also founded, was also founded.
Speaker 1:
Wow.
Speaker 2:
And Siteimprove was founded with this idea that we wanted to help level that growing digital playing field for all users. And back 20 years ago, if you think about it, that leveling of the digital playing field actually meant that there's no typos, there's no broken links, that the fonts and colors that you choose are accessible to all users. So so that's that's how we started, but you know, obviously a lot has happened in the last 20 years, right? So as this landscape grew, we also grew at at site improve and right now we really expanded our scope and we help you grow and optimize your digital presence end to end. So we are here to empower the marketing teams, the web operations teams, to optimize that presence. And it has been in our DNA since the beginning, for the last 21 years, keeping customers front and center, and I think that's that part of DNA that I share with Siteimprove that keeping our customers front and center.
Speaker 2:
So let me quickly a little bit about myself. My name is Izabela Misiorny and I have extensive background in product marketing, which means that putting our customer needs and understanding the market has always been very close to my heart. I also grew up in post-communist Poland and then I went on to live and work in six different countries, actually across Europe and Latin America and why I'm mentioning it is because it taught me the importance of thriving on change, and I'm sure we will talk a little bit about change going forward. But you know, we are in such an unprecedented time of change with AI, with everything that is happening in MarTech space. It's so important to have that right mindset global team of very dynamic marketers who are committed to empowering other marketers, exactly to optimizing digital presence for different brands.
Speaker 1:
A wonderful story and I agree change is everywhere. A little too much change. I could deal with a little less change, but sadly I don't think that's on the radar. And of course, the web and websites are at the heart of marketing digital marketing these days, and you have a unique perspective. What are the most pressing challenges you see facing marketers from your point of view today around marketing in general and web marketing specifically?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, there are a lot of challenges, right, as you mentioned, it is connected to the change, and actually the first challenge that I see all the time, you know, talking to my team, talking to different marketing leaders is actually keeping up with that change. There was a very interesting survey from end of last year that found out that 70% 70% of marketers feel overwhelmed by AI changes a little bit like you, evan, I believe. And not only that. We actually I don't know how much you follow the MarTech, so marketing technology space, but it's one of the most aggressively growing industries. So, if you think back to 2011, there were 150 vendors and last year there were 11,000 vendors. I did a little calculation. That's over 7,000% growth, imagine.
Speaker 2:
So here we are as marketers, trying to make sense of these changes, right, and that connects actually to the second challenge that I see very often is how do you make sense of all the data that you have? So I think you know, a couple of years back, everyone was like oh, we want to be data-driven, we don't have the data. The problem right now is that we have so much data that we don't know which data to use and how to interpret it. I was talking to one of the marketing leaders in healthcare industry, because that's an industry that we have a lot of customers in and he basically started with this. He said you know, we are certainly not lacking in data, but the real challenge is consolidating it in one cohesive view. So that's the second challenge.
Speaker 2:
And finally, the third one is exactly you mentioned websites. It is optimizing the website. I've talked to industry analysts a lot and they say that website has been, is and also will be the main marketing challenge and a channel. And I think that's interesting because I think there was a period of time a couple of years back where everyone said you know, don't worry about your website. You have to be on LinkedIn, you have to be on social media, but ultimately, if you think about it, a website is still the first place people go right when you want to find out about the company. This is where you go.
Speaker 1:
Well said yes, and I think that's a much overlooked notion. So how does your solution specifically address those challenges and others? Maybe give us a tour de force of the solutions that you guys provide and how they work, for example?
Speaker 2:
Yes, so I will keep it simple. So, siteimprove we improve your site. That's the first element of what we do, however, it's not the only one. I think what's so special about Siteimprove and what has made me fall in love inside improve from the start, and what we offer is that we combine these essential digital disciplines in one.
Speaker 2:
So we you mentioned in the beginning a little bit of accessibility, uh right, and we see accessibility as this foundation for successful marketing. So we combine accessibility, making sure you have these foundations that once people come to your website, they find what they need, they understand what you are saying and ultimately, of course, for marketers, that they are engaging and converting. And even if you think about what is happening right now right with ai, with new search, generative experiences, winning that traffic is even more difficult now. So you have to make sure that your website is absolutely in top shape, and we talked about Siteimprove. Being there for 20 years, I think one of the special things that we have because we've been in the market for so long we understand that industry right, and we can offer a point of view and say, hey, this is how you make sense of the change and this is how you fix what's wrong on the website.
Speaker 1:
Well, such an important work. And you mentioned healthcare. I do a ton of work in health, it, healthcare tech with various companies and while I talk about an important area to get it right, you think about your parents or grandparents or elderly folks in general trying to navigate complex healthcare topics or provider websites. You know, checking their prescriptions, that user experience, accessibility of that is so important. Maybe talk a little bit about that because that strikes home pretty personally for me, for example.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and I love that because I think it's exactly chasing all these trends is so easy for us to say, okay, you know website, we do something else, but exactly that market is so big for people to understand right and find what they are looking for. So how we help is and one one thing is accessibility. Another thing is that quality assurance right. We help you automatically check that where everything you have on your website is on brand is, for example, in line with your legal guidelines. So that's exactly something super important in in healthcare. And then we, of course, provide you insights, not only for your seo and optimizations, but also for paid ads. So we kind of not only make sure that your website is this super well on-brand, error-free, functioning ecosystem, but we also help you drive traffic to it, and I think that's exactly the biggest selling point for me, right? It is that we provide you this holistic view.
Speaker 1:
Wow, wonderful approach. That wouldn't be a tech chat if we didn't talk about Gen AI. But specifically, what's your big picture view on how it's affecting MarTech in general and maybe how are you incorporating Gen AI into your tools and various solutions?
Speaker 2:
Gen AI is my favorite topic because I'm in marketing, evan, and I do want to preface it with saying that, honestly, I don't think we've seen a shift as significant as now previously. Right, it's actually unprecedented time, and it is extremely important, I think, for us as professionals to make sure we understand what is happening right and how to use it. And it's equally important for the companies, and for my company, to understand how we use what is happening and support our customers. So AI is changing the way we operate, right and the pace. What's even more mind-boggling is that the pace is operate right and the pace. What's even more mind-boggling is that the pace is accelerating right. We thought, oh, gen AI, okay, it started, and now it's, like you know, 10 paces further than we thought it would be. So, on a personal level, I do think it can really unlock more time in your day and help you more efficient. But also, from more from marketing perspective, it is definitely a creation and production revolution. Right, we talked about the internet 20 years ago. Internet was that distribution revolution. Everybody could reach everyone else, and now, with AI, you don't have to know how to code, you don't have to know how to make videos. You can use AI to help with that, and this is amazing, of course. But it also means that because everyone can create, it means we are also, I think, all suffering from this content fatigue, and this is extremely important for us at Siteimprove to not only say, hey, you can produce more content, but you have to make sure that it's the right quality content. There was actually another survey done last year where they found out that 66% of consumers want fewer marketing messages so that's almost two thirds right. Fewer marketing messages so that's almost two thirds right. And not only that 27% of the respondents said that they feel bombarded by marketing messages, so that's a negative impact, right. So for us at Sign Improve, it's also providing guidance to our customers how to create quality content and not just content and how we do it.
Speaker 2:
We actually have been working with AI and machine learning for a very long time at Siteimprove. Before the whole topic was super trendy, but we did release two features, actually two capabilities directly connected to generative AI, end of last year and beginning of this year. One is very specific it's called AI Generate and it helps you create on-brand, seo optimized content within your workspace. So we provide you, we take these capabilities of Gen AI and help you exactly be more efficient, right and make sure that the content is already optimized for your SEO and is on brand, and that's directly addressing the needs of marketers.
Speaker 2:
And then we also released AI Remediate and that goes back to web operations, to our website, which actually helps you fix accessibility issues. So AI Remediate helps you, gives you specific recommendations on how to fix accessibility issues and that's exactly linking back to what we talked about healthcare and making sure that your website is accessible for all the users. We already tested, actually, ai Remediate with web operations team and there is a potential of 25 reduction in accessibility team workload with this tool. So we are extremely proud of it and I'm extremely happy to have it out in the market because I think it's not only impacting marketing teams and the companies that are using it, but it's actually having a very tangible impact for users and visitors to the websites.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Amazing work Sounds like rocket fuel for those marketing teams. Well done. You have so many customers around the world it's almost difficult to ask to name your favorite children there, but any success stories top of mind. Who you might shout out or mention that have used Siteimprove and seen amazing results?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, actually, I will mention two. One of my favorite customer stories is actually Open Reach, which is a that runs the UK's digital network. Why I love it? Because we they we've been measuring how they are performing with Siteimprove and first they managed to double the traffic to their website thanks to Siteimprove, which I think is absolutely exceptional these days. But why I am also a little bit obsessed with this customer story is that they also said that they increased the team efficiency by over 20%. And right, 20%. We all would like to have 20% more efficient work, right.
Speaker 2:
And why I mentioned that it's my favorite is because I think you know, with Siteimprove, we not only want to provide you with a tool to optimize your work, but that uniting of the team thanks to having one tool with the same metrics and kind of looking at the same data, is so valuable. I have a global marketing team right, we are 33 people and my team also uses Siteimprove. So I have my SEO manager, eric, right, like, looking at SEO. I have Gina who is doing our paid ads looking in the same spot. I have Gina who is doing our paid ads looking in the same spot, and they have this one place where they can look at the metrics and actually talk about the strategy together.
Speaker 1:
Fantastic. Well, that's also in my wheelhouse telecom and there's nothing more frustrating looking to buy a mobile and service with a telco. I don't care where you are, it's always challenging, so I know that's another win for those consumers. You've been around this space for a while. Any advice for marketers looking to up their game and their digital strategy when it comes to their website? Obviously, beyond working with you guys, how do you get started on this journey? Where do you start and what are the key first baby steps to take?
Speaker 2:
Well, I think that one of the most important things is exactly to think about it holistically, right? So make sure you you know it's so easy, especially actually in accessibility space, to say, hey, I will be optimizing this one piece and without taking into account how the rest works, especially actually in accessibility space, to say, hey, I will be optimizing this one piece and without taking into account how the rest works. It's very easy to break something else further down the line. So I think, before starting to do something, it's good to take a step back and say, hey, like, what are my goals? Right, like, how do I do it?
Speaker 2:
And, very specifically on Gen AI, I am a big proponent of experimenting with Gen AI. Right, making sure it's ethical. Right, like, don't upload your customer data to the internet, right, but you have to get on that, you have to get on the train, right, like, you don't want to miss it. So it is important for us to see, okay, how can we in our organization, in our marketing team, use it ethically to help us get ahead of the game?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, well said. Maybe talk about the competitive landscape. You mentioned that MarTech landscape, that market map with 11,000 companies, probably more now with Gen AI, everyone's kind of saying a lot of the same things. How do you continue to innovate and differentiate and compete as well as you have big tech now coming into this space allegedly Google looking to buy HubSpot, for example. Who knows what will happen, but how do you stay ahead of the innovation curve and the competition?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think you are spot on when you say that a lot of players in the space say the same thing. Right, it's very difficult to stand out with an innovative message, and so I do think it comes back really to listening to your customers right To seeing, okay, how do they approach it. And I think what's special about Siteimprove is that we are our own target audience.
Speaker 2:
Right, we talk to our marketers, so I'm also intimately familiar with the challenges of marketing leaders, and these challenges are exactly like how do I make sense of data? How do I decide? How do I decide, do I invest my budget now in SEO or do I invest in analytics? Do I invest in paid ads? So it's truly the more we can help provide point of view and a specific recommendation to our users, the more differentiation we provide. And you know, having customers in mind is 100% number one tip for all the vendors to differentiate and win in the market. And again, you know you have to make sure you're also looking at what is happening in the market and addressing the trends, but in this very conscious how does this relate to my customer way?
Speaker 1:
Fantastic, well said. So we're just kind of at the bottom of the hour here. What's exciting for you over the next few months? Any plans for events or campaigns or meetups, travel what do you have going on with you and the team?
Speaker 2:
Yes, we are actually going to the Gartner Marketing Symposium in June. I have a speaker session there, so I'm very excited about this because we will be talking about being resilient, being anti-fragile, dealing with change and how it is expressed in the marketing context. So very excited about that and, of course, some travels between Seattle, where I have a big part of marketing team, london making sure I'm gathering the team and kind of aligning with everyone. So very exciting, definitely, season coming up.
Speaker 1:
Wow, you have offices in amazing places. I see here Oslo, Tokyo, Sydney, Stockholm, Singapore, Zurich, Munich. I think I may need an on-site visit to all these locations just to interview your thought leaders. You have offices in the best places.
Speaker 2:
Definitely. I actually visited our location in Sydney. I went last year to visit our customers in Australia and it was fantastic and you know, speaking about talking to customers, it's just such a great experience to hear from your customers how they are using our tool and our offering. And my favorite story is that I went to visit one of our customers which is one of the biggest universities in Australia and I came in and I came into this and they said, hey, go into this room. And there were like 20 people in there and I'm like I don't think that's the right room. But it turned out it was right Because we had all these people were using Siteimprove as a team to improve their website presence, so it was such an incredible experience.
Speaker 1:
Oh, it sounds so fun. Well, thank you so much for spending time here and the advice and insight is really fantastic. And thanks everyone for watching Reach out to follow Siteimprove. That's where I came across them on social media. They put out some very educational, informative content. So not just marketing speak, but really good stuff around accessibility and more. Thanks everyone. Thanks Isabella.