Digital marketing proves to be a solid solution for small business growth everywhere as more and more small businesses connect with niche audiences. Social media, email marketing, and several other digital marketing strategies help small businesses stack up to the Fortune 500s – but the competition is high, leaving a very small window for innocuous error.
Common mistakes – that cost time and money – can easily disrupt the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts and cause the next brand to step in and position as a better option.
You’re not in business to waste time or lose money.
Here’s 3 common mistakes to avoid in digital marketing:
1.) Not Adding Value.
It is easy to lose focus on providing value if your digital marketing strategy includes content saturation or maximizing conversions - strategy that focus on the numbers, not the people. You’re in business to serve people! Forget about the page authority, revenue, or leads for just a second (albeit hard, it’s possible).
People want value for their time and money, not to join a 30-minute webinar that doesn’t provide a solution, or a full-page sign up pop-up in their face after 0.2 seconds of visiting your website. There are ways to keep value and quality at the head of your digital marketing strategy and convert leads.
Simple ways to add value in your digital marketing strategy include:
1. Remembering the problem your product or service solves;
2. Clearly defining it in copy and design; and
3. Providing access to a solution on the frontend without too many gates.
Providing real value does more good than a multi-step capture tool or sponsored pre-roll ad ever could. A satisfied customer is a repeat customer. Add value and the rest takes care of itself.
2.) Not Telling A Story.
Telling a relatable story is the easiest way to build customer trust and realize ROI.
Adding value builds customer trust. Telling a clear and consistent story keeps them engaged, which is especially important in a multi-channel online campaign. Digital marketing output has even less time to capture buyer attention now than it did just 2 years ago. The 8-second rule is no more.
If your digital strategy merely promotes content it will miss the mark every time. Telling a story is more than simply having consistency in messaging (though this is important). It is creating a journey with a clear start and end for your audience.
How to tell a story with digital marketing:
1. Identify messaging that speaks to your audience;
2. Create a clear pathway from one channel to the next;
3. Maintain a consistent call-to-action for your overarching message; and
4. Integrate narrative that emphasizes value at every step of the journey.
Give people something to look forward to when interacting with your content. Telling a relatable story is the easiest way to build customer trust and realize ROI.
3.) Not Using the Data.
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes that any business, small or global, can make in digital marketing. Not optimizing your digital marketing strategy based on analytics and data means you’re shooting in the dark when it comes to understanding who to target, when to publish content, when to end a campaign, and so on.
You don’t have to be a data analyst to understand how to use it to make an informed decision. Yet, you do have to give data analysis its proper attention to develop better strategy and see greater results.
Some important things to understand about using data for digital marketing include:
1. Low numbers might not necessarily mean your content is not valuable. It means revamp your strategy.
2. Legacy data tells a story about your audience that you can use to your advantage.
3. Robust data helps determine if your digital marketing efforts are aligned with business objectives.
4. Data is generated every time you produce new content or a new campaign. Use it.
Most digital marketing platforms offer native analytics that track data and provide reporting, and if you’re using one that does not, odds are there is an affordable tool that will integrate with your platform. Using data to optimize your digital marketing strategy truly helps drive results.
Let’s face it – businesses, small or global, that are not competitive in the digital marketing world have a serious problem to address. That also goes for those that are making these common mistakes. Yet, the beauty of digital marketing is that there’s always room to grow and adjust.
Strategic digital marketing that adds value, tells a story, and follows the data helps you to maximize business value and go toe-to-toe with your top competitors.
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