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Apr 2021
According to Pew, 78% of internet users conduct product research online, so there are some key facts to remember when it comes to avoiding some of the most common digital marketing mistakes.
A digital revolution is in motion right now and companies that utilise this are getting more traffic, acquiring new customers faster and in larger numbers. According to Pew, 78% of internet users conduct product research online, so there are some key facts to remember when it comes to avoiding some of the most common digital marketing mistakes.
As a business expands, it can be easy to forget that a personal touch can be a key selling point for a company. Especially when it is likely to be that personalisation that enabled it to grow in the first instance.
The digital revolution in marketing provides the possibility for a personal and tailored approach to individual customers that more traditional forms of marketing was not able to cater to. When a customer contacts you, whether it is with a positive review, a complaint, or a question, be sure to respond as quickly as possible. The customer will feel significantly more valued and it is possible that they will share their experience on their own social media pages. There is nothing quite like user-generated brand advocacy to help improve a company’s image. User-generated content is free and readily available – all you need to do is to ask your network to support you!
Promoting your content to your digital community is essential, avoid making the mistake of thinking that a deluge of social media posts, blogs or podcasts will increase your traffic and by proxy, your profit margins. It’s better to focus on high-quality content, because not only will that bring customers to you, it will help to retain them. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. Instead, focus on a niche part of the market and become known as an authority within that niche. Expanding out with complimentary niches only when you have fully outgrown the first niche.
One of the most fundamental digital marketing misconceptions is for smaller businesses to believe that digital marketing is only beneficial for larger companies. However, small companies can promote themselves and their products in digital marketing, often at a lower cost than ever before.
The main barrier is the perception of cost, with many companies believing that it is cost prohibitive. Additionally, many smaller businesses may have attempted digital marketing previously and found that it did not work for them at the time. Often, it can be the case that companies try to accomplish too much at once, running on many platforms and neglecting to calculate required ROI, believing that they can run at a loss initially and recoup losses later, unfortunately, in most cases, this is simply not a possibility. Instead, businesses need to understand their figures in detail and start small, reinvesting with growth, in profitable way.
Firstly, know your audience. You need to identify their key selling points to address them. However, it is a digital marketing misconception that when your target demographic consists of older people, they are less likely to have an online presence. Remember that by 2019, according to Statista, almost 60 per cent of over 55s had their own social network profile, meaning that there’s a potentially extensive untapped demographic ripe for inclusion in the digital marketing transformation, particularly with finances being more readily available in many cases.
Another of the most common digital marketing transformation mistakes is to lack cohesive long and short-term goals. These goals need to signify what you wish to achieve from your digital marketing transformation and state what success looks like. Ensuring good communication is in place between all departments in your company and your service providers, making sure that you have a strategy for where you would like to take your online marketing. Try usings SMART goals to achieve this.
Digital marketing is not only a case of getting clients / customers to buy from you in the short term, but it is also about optimising company financial performance in the long-term. Ensure that your digital content accelerates future business transformation. By accruing large quantities of data it is possible to make intelligent and well-informed decisions that help improve your bottom line. Having a holistic view on your digital marketing transformation not only creates a vision for goals and objectives but allows for you to focus in on optimising what you can do now to benefit your business in the future.
With more than ten million blog posts online daily, there is a wealth of inane content online, much of this being rapidly outdated by the time it is published. By using appropriate keywords for your target audience, tailored to specific market segments, you are more likely to improve your search performance. by obtaining backlinks from authority domains gives more weight to your content. With this said, good SEO is not just about links and content, it is about user experience, optimising for mobile user journeys and ensuring ease of purchase, as well as providing unique and beneficial insight to website visitors that they cannot find elsewhere.
Achieving promotion of your site/products by respected influencers can boost your traffic, increase sales and get your company brand name recognised. It is often the case that people underestimate the power of well-known names when it comes to attracting business for your products. People buy from people and as many celebrities feel like acquaintances, the degree to which consumers trust celebrities means that any ambassador showing advocacy can really help to boost sales. Just be careful to ensure that you choose the right sort of ambassador to represent your company, as the wrong person can impact your brand in a negative way.
One of the most effective ways to avoid some of the most common digital marketing mistakes is to employ specialists to handle your digital strategy. Whilst the cost may be more than doing so yourself, it is how you value your time that matters here, as well as the value gained by using experts with years of knowledge and experience. When you pay for 1-hour at £100, you are paying for one hour, what might take you 3-hours, as well as the benefit of being able to focus your time on what matters most for your business.
Avoid using a full- service agency to save yourself time and money. Not everyone can do everything well and with this in mind, surround yourself with a carefully orchestrated collective of knowledge experts that you can trust to help to grow your business.
Making the digital marketing mistake of failing to optimise your content for mobile devices can impact your conversion rates in a big way. By 2025, almost three-quarters of people worldwide will only use their smartphone to access the internet, according to a study by CNBC. Optimising your site for mobile traffic will allow easier viewing for a sizeable proportion of your audience, make it easier for them to read and navigate the site, and ultimately ensure that they are more likely to become regular consumers of your product or service. The proportion of mobile visits has been growing for the past decade and is only set to rise even more.
In closing, to ensure effective digital marketing transformation, you need a cohesive holistic strategy that focuses on quality over quantity and starts small.
Aaron Crewe is Managing Director at novi.digital. As GO! Network members they help brands manage data-driven and psychology focused SEO and PPC management. If you’d like to learn more about our agency network or get advice on specific challenges, get in touch here.
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