It appears everybody is exploring the digital side of marketing these days because of its immediacy, effectiveness and measurability. If you are just joining the digital marketing party, there are a few major faux pas you’ll want to learn to avoid.
1. You Have no Clear Digital Marketing Goals
The late great New York Yankee Yogi Berra once said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
A truer statement couldn’t have been said about goal setting. A strong roadmap is the foundation of every successful marketing campaign.
The Solution
Before getting started with social media marketing or search engine optimization, sit down to plan out what you would like to achieve and how you are going to accomplish it.
Good inbound marketing goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.
2. You Haven’t Defined a Target Audience
A common marketing mistake is failing to target specific audiences. Digital marketing is effective, because it attracts niche audiences through tailored messaging.
The Solution
- Examine Current Customer Base
- Check out the Competition
- Analyze your Product or Service
- Build Buyer Personas
3. You Don’t Have a Content Distribution Plan
With the growing popularity of social media, there are more content distribution options at your fingertips than ever before. But to achieve success, you need a solid strategy. What is effective on Facebook may not work on LinkedIn and vice versa.
The Solution
Create content calendars that lay out what messages will be posted on each platform and when they will be posted. Then, tailor each message to reach your intended target audience.
4. Your Content Isn’t Educational
Marketing is different today. It has become much more buyer-centric. Sales pitches are now secondary to informative, educational content that builds captive audiences for a brand.
The Solution
Instead of crafting clever taglines, the goal of digital marketing is to attract new leads by educating them as they search for way solve a problem they are experiencing.
5. You are not Optimizing Content
Content attracts customers, but without optimization, you will not have the best chance to reach your target audience.
The Solution
SEO is a proven method for driving traffic to websites. If you optimize your webpages with relevant keywords, your site can quickly become more visible on search engine results pages.
6. You do not Have a Mobile-Friendly Website
Successful marketers adapt to the current climate. Today, two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone. If your website is not mobile-friendly, you are missing out on a large segment of the population.
The Solution
Responsive web design formats your site to appear as perfectly on mobile devices as it would on a desktop.
7. You are not Measuring Results
There’s only one way to know the effectiveness of your marketing: measurement. Without it, you will never know if your campaign was impactful or cost-effective.
The Solution
Tools like HubSpot and Google Analytics offer the ability to track the results of marketing campaigns in real time.
If you can learn to avoid these seven pitfalls, digital marketing success is right around the corner!
