Today I'm joined by someone who’s been a digital strategist since 1997 - he’s author of 5 best-selling books and recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 worldwide gurus who have shaped the future of marketing - Dr Dave Chaffey. You can find Dave over at smartinsights.com.

In this episode of Digital Marketing Radio we discuss  digital marketing strategy through the years, with topics including:

You've been a digital strategist since 1997 - so that means that you've seen lots of changes. But what stays the same? Can you think of one strategy or technique that you’ve been teaching since the very beginning that hasn't changed at-all?

Are you generally in favour of as many digital marketing activities as possible being carried out in-house, or are there activities that agencies generally do better than in-house?

In your book, “Digital Marketing - Strategy, Implementation and Practice” you talk about B2B digital marketing and B2C digital marketing - how would you summarise the main differences between the activities involved in B2B digital marketing versus B2C digital marketing?

You also changed the name of your book from Internet Marketing to Digital Marketing - and I also changed the name of my own training program from the 26-Week Internet Marketing Plan to the 26-Week Digital Marketing Plan - what were YOUR reasons for changing from “Internet marketing” to “Digital marketing”?

You wrote a book on email marketing - Do you think email marketing is more important now than it’s ever been?

What are some of the major digital marketing trends to be aware of at the moment?

[Tweet ""I don't get why businesses don't seem to invest in CRO." @DaveChaffey"]

Software I couldn't live without

What software do you currently use in your business that if someone took away from you, it would significantly impact your marketing success?

Google Analytics [Analytics software]

Kiss Metrics [Analytics software]

WordPress [CMS]

Hootsuite [Social media management]

Buffer [Social media management]

What software don't you use, but you've heard good things about, and you've intended to try at some point in the near future?

Infusionsoft [Marketing automation]

My number 1 takeaway

What's the single most important step from our discussion that our listeners need to take away and implement in their businesses?

I don't get why businesses don't seem to invest in CRO. You need to be running tests across the whole website, the whole customer journey.