Digital marketing technology evolves at a rapid pace and as an entrepreneur, keeping up with the changes can be a challenging task. While digital marketing offers great chances of enhancing your brand value, it also needs more initial investments in terms of time and money. On one hand you need to stay innovative in order to attract the customers. On the other, it is necessary to get the right amount of return on the investments that you make. This is the main reason that you need to avoid mistakes that can have an adverse effect on the growth of your business.
But the fact is, when you try out new strategies and technologies, there is a high chance of making mistakes. While mistakes can happen at any point, the important thing is to derive the right lessons from them so that they do not happen again. So the first step that you can take to enhance your digital marketing goals, is to learn about some of the most common mistakes that businesses make in this terrain. In this article we will take a look at a few of the common ones.
Failure to set goals
Goals are an important aspect to propel your business in the right direction. However, it is necessary to base them on realistic foundations. Some of the key areas of digital marketing in which goal-setting is essential are, sale targets, budget and better click-to-conversion rates along with website traffic. For each of these areas, you need to keep the overall market scenario and your own business limitations in mind before you determine the goals for the current year.
Many businesses expect to convert more visitors to buyers than what is practically possible. When you set up the right expectations, choosing and implementing the right strategies are easier. The best way to do this is by observing the online performance of similar businesses and learning from past digital marketing trends.
Not prioritizing the customer
The fact is that there are plenty of brands that offer the same product in the market. So the age-old tactics of focusing on the special features of your product may not work in the digital sphere. Here, you need to form a customer-centric approach that highlights on the differences that your product can bring about in the customer’s life. A product that can bring about a positive transformation in the customer’s life will surely attract eyeballs.
Customers are actually attracted by the change your product or service can bring in their life than the technical or visual details of a product or service. So the strategies of digital marketing that you adopt need to be aligned with this concept of keeping the focus on the customer’s needs.
Not identifying your TG
The best digital marketing strategies are based on facts and figures interpreted from data and not based on assumptions. Any business that does not identify its target range of customers is making a mistake. Every product is best suited for a specific range of buyers and identifying them is necessary to make the best use of digital marketing tools. So it is important to learn about the visitors on your website in order to make the maximum impact with the various marketing communications.
For this, you need to find out the type of products the customers are most interested to buy, their location, age-group and interests. This data will help you to connect with your target audience in a more effective way through digital platforms. There are a variety of tools that can help you to do this in an effective manner. In addition, you can also seek professional help from Media Masters to guide you in this path.
Ignoring mobile users
It is a fact that digital marketing strategies do not depend on your website alone but it is certainly an important base of your total digital presence. It is important to take into account the vast number of mobile users making purchases through smartphones. Research suggests that the total number of mobile users in the world is over 4 billion currently and most of them will not interact with a brand that does not have a mobile-friendly website.
While making a mobile app for your business is a good idea, this may not be possible for every start-up. The least you can do is to ensure that your website remains mobile-friendly at all times. Make sure that you advertise your sales and discounts clearly through messages and emails. This will not only attract new customers but will also help the old ones to stay loyal to your brand.
Wrong use of social media
It is impossible to ignore social media when it comes to digital marketing. But note that it is a place that is primarily for meaningful social interactions. In fact, Facebook is changing its goals to make sure that this becomes its priority so that users view lesser content from irrelevant business sites. So posting content on social media without adding any value to your customer base is not going to make a difference for your business. Any post should be able to connect with the customers and encourage them to take a specific action.
In addition, social media posts will need to have the right blend of a correct theme and design to entertain or inspire the customer. You can also try to educate the customer in order to add more value to the interaction. Since videos are the most popular form of content at present, you can make the best use of them to leverage customer engagement. At the same time, keep an eye on the comments so that you can deliver the right form of response to develop a more effective interaction.
Not giving your strategy enough time
No digital marketing strategy will deliver instant success. Many businesses aim for a quick boost to their sales figures and get disheartened when that does not happen. The fact is, for any strategy to work, hard work and dedication is a must. Since there are no shortcuts to success, patience is a key element that can take you ahead of your competitors. At the same time, you need to follow safe marketing strategies and not get carried away by the desire to secure a top spot in Google
There are plenty of businesses that engage in black hat marketing techniques that can be extremely damaging in the long run. Ethical methods will not only deliver the best results but will also enhance your brand reputation. One such incident occurred in 2010 with JC Penney, a brand that engaged in black hat SEO tactics. This was first reported in the New York Times and once it was verified, Google took strict actions against the brand for violating the terms and conditions.
These are the six major mistakes that a brand needs to avoid in digital marketing. Even if you have already committed some of these mistakes, there is nothing to get worried. The advantage of the digital space is that you can correct your mistakes quickly and bounce back with more clarity on the subject. In case you need guidance for developing the right digital marketing strategy for your brand, you can always get in touch with Media Masters for the best support.