The Digital Marketing Podcast
Episode: 9 Useful Tools And A GDPR Email Marketing Update
Hosts: Daniel Rowles & Ciaran Rogers
Date: July 9, 2017
Episode Overview
In this practical and fast-paced episode, Daniel and Ciaran share their top nine digital marketing tools, complete with recent discoveries, firsthand experiences, and tips for integration. The episode opens with a timely update on GDPR and the implications for email marketing, then dives into eight more tools or features to increase productivity, monitor website health, create reports, and facilitate communication. The hosts keep things lively with playful banter and keep the recommendations actionable for busy marketers.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. GDPR Email Marketing Update
[00:35 – 03:31]
- Daniel kicks off with an essential update on the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) coming into effect in 2018, which transforms email consent best practices for both B2C and B2B marketing.
- Key takeaways:
- All EU countries now require active (explicit) opt-in for email communications, removing ambiguity around pre-ticked boxes or passive consents.
- Applies to anyone marketing to EU residents, not just businesses based in the EU.
- Even B2B emails now require clearly demonstrated consent—no more grey area for “existing relationships.”
- Strongly encourages implementing double opt-in for “absolute evidence” of consent.
- Notable quote:
“Now, absolute best practice says double opt-in… because what that gets rid of is the fact that I could go off and subscribe you to any number of newsletters…”
– Daniel Rowles [02:50]
2. New Relic – Application Performance Monitoring
[03:31 – 05:57]
- Daniel shares how New Relic helped diagnose slow loading times for Target Internet’s platform, counter to what his developers or hosting company believed.
- New Relic performs real-time application performance monitoring, pinpointing bottlenecks in code or server response.
- Offers a powerful free tier and proves invaluable in distinguishing code-level issues from server or infrastructure limitations.
- Notable quote:
“What it basically does is it will look at your code running and it will work out the bits that are slow and it will flag them up and any errors on your server…”
– Daniel Rowles [04:37]
3. Autodraw – Turning Sketches into Useful Graphics
[05:57 – 07:23]
- Ciaran introduces Autodraw, a free Google experiment that interprets rough doodles with AI and suggests polished clip-art alternatives.
- Great for creating quick icons or playful interactivity, especially when working on a touchscreen.
- Both presenters see it as fun currently but with future potential for communication and creative ideation.
- Notable quote:
“If you send [your creative department] a link… they’ll be suitably disgusted with you. But it’s a lot of fun.”
– Ciaran Rogers [07:11]
4. Chrome Experiments – Browser-Based Creative Tools
[07:23 – 07:45]
- Daniel quickly points listeners to Chrome Experiments, Google’s hub for innovative browser-based tools exploring what’s possible creatively within Chrome.
- No in-depth discussion, but a strong recommendation for inspiration.
5. Uptime Robot – Website Monitoring
[07:45 – 09:40]
- Ciaran highlights Uptime Robot, a free tool that monitors up to 50 web services or sites every 5 minutes, alerting you if a site goes down and reporting the length of outages.
- Especially useful for anyone relying on multiple services or whose brand reputation depends on availability.
- Daniel adds perspective on other options:
- Premium Uptime Robot offers 1-minute checks and SMS notifications.
- Siteuptime.com offers even more frequent (30-second) monitoring, which might be necessary for mission-critical services.
- Notable quote:
“Any website being down for any period of time is not a good thing at all. It reflects your brand very poorly.”
– Daniel Rowles [09:35]
6. Google Data Studio – Free Dashboard and Visualization
[09:40 – 12:19]
- Ciaran shares excitement for Google Data Studio, which at the time just lifted its previous 3-report limit.
- It creates custom dashboards across sources like Google Analytics, MySQL, CSVs, and more.
- Standout features include advanced customization, filtering, and brilliant visualizations—well beyond what the standard Google Analytics dashboards allow.
- Not just for analytics: The ability to upload CSVs allows marketers to visualize any data, including blog post graphics.
- Notable quote:
“To be able to do that and have a beautiful visualising tool that’s not Microsoft Excel, that’s quite exciting.”
– Ciaran Rogers [11:36]
7. Awesome Screenshot & Video – Chrome Screenshot Extension
[12:34 – 14:38]
- Ciaran nominates Awesome Screenshot, a Chrome extension allowing area-specific screenshots, simple annotations, and—with a recent update—a video screencast mode (30 seconds cap on the free version).
- Invaluable for reporting, how-to documentation, and internal communication.
- Notable quote:
“This actually enables you to select specific areas. And also… you can annotate on it, which is particularly useful.”
– Ciaran Rogers [13:28] - Paid version is about $20/year with longer recordings and better organization.
8. Skitch – Annotated Screenshots for Evernote Users
[14:38 – 15:36]
- Daniel recommends Skitch (from Evernote) as a robust annotated screenshot tool, especially if you’re organizing output or using multiple formats.
- Also suggests ScreenFlow for advanced screen recording and basic video editing—ideal for tutorial or demonstration content.
- Notable quote:
“If you want to get into screen recordings in more depth… Screenflow is lovely for creating screen recordings… you can add effects, zooms, highlight the things you’re typing…”
– Daniel Rowles [14:45]
9. Screen Recordings as Content
[15:56 – 16:14]
- A brief but valuable reminder: create voiceover screen recordings as content for customers or teams; they are easy to produce and audiences find them helpful if audio is clear.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On GDPR:
“At the very least, make sure that you’ve got explicit opt in.”
– Daniel Rowles [02:44] -
On Awesome Screenshot:
“…for years I’ve been using the free plan and that’s very good too. So yeah, check it out.”
– Ciaran Rogers [14:30] -
On Website Monitoring:
“Any website being down for any period of time is not a good thing at all. It reflects your brand very poorly.”
– Daniel Rowles [09:35] -
On Data Visualization:
“To be able to do that and have a beautiful visualising tool that’s not Microsoft Excel, that’s quite exciting.”
– Ciaran Rogers [11:36] -
On Content via Screen Recordings:
“Don’t underestimate the value of screen recordings as content as well.”
– Daniel Rowles [15:56]
Timestamps for Tool Highlights
- GDPR Update: [00:35 – 03:31]
- New Relic: [03:31 – 05:57]
- Autodraw: [05:57 – 07:23]
- Chrome Experiments: [07:23 – 07:45]
- Uptime Robot: [07:45 – 09:40]
- Google Data Studio: [09:40 – 12:19]
- Awesome Screenshot: [12:34 – 14:38]
- Skitch & ScreenFlow: [14:38 – 15:36]
- Screen Recording Content: [15:56 – 16:14]
Episode Tone & Style
Ciaran and Daniel balance practical, hands-on recommendations with friendly humor and a touch of rivalry as they swap tool ideas. They keep explanations concise but actionable, focusing on features that genuinely make a marketer’s work better or easier.
Resources & Next Steps
- All tools discussed are listed in the episode show notes at targetinternet.com/podcast
- The hosts encourage listener contributions and suggestions for future tips & tool episodes.