The internet has become an integral part of our lives, which means your business must adapt. Due to the constant expansion and change of the digital space, it is very different from the offline world.
You can use digital marketing to promote your business, your brand, and your product or service. You should therefore use creative and unique marketing techniques to attract an audience in the digital space.
Digital marketing can, however, be done right or wrong. When done right, your presence online has the potential to reach an audience and build a great reputation. On the flip side, it also has the potential to destroy your brand if you make too many mistakes. Here are the 12 biggest digital marketing mistakes you can make – and how to avoid them.
Don’t fall prey to these common mistakes!
1. You are undervaluing your website
Any type of business activity, whether online or offline, requires a website. As a result of more than 1.5 billion websites on the World Wide Web, the internet has reached its saturation point. Unless you promote your website, you cannot expect audiences to stumble upon it in such excess.
In order to drive traffic to your website and ultimately generate revenue, you need to invest in its promotion. You can promote your website by investing in SEO, SEM and developing high-quality content, as well as paying to advertise it on search engines. There’s no need to worry if you don’t have sufficient SEO knowledge and experience; you can learn SEO and SEM using several easy to follow online learning tools.
Don’t forget about your blog! Market your site not only as a business, but as an industry leader as well. Providing valuable, insightful, and accessible blog content will establish you as an authority. Your blog posts also contribute to your site showing up higher in Google search results because each post is another indexed page.
When running a blog, be sure to make it fun and interactive too. You can ask questions in the comment section to get responses. Include guest posts or interviews from researchers or successful professionals in your field.
2. You’re missing out on your target market
Reaching as many people as possible isn’t an efficient use of your marketing budget. Focus on a clearly defined target market to generate more relevant leads.
You shouldn’t make assumptions or rely on guesses about any audiences. Identify your target audience and determine the best way to reach them.
In the event that your business landing pages have an increasing number of visitors, you should determine whether those visitors represent your target market. A misplaced digital advertisement or inaccurate marketing communication could lead to traffic that is not your target audience.
Your marketing communication should also be revised to better appeal to your actual target audience if you have made such mistakes.
3. You set unrealistic goals
Developing a long-term strategy is essential to a systematic approach to digital marketing. Your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals should be outlined.
There can be no goals to track or research-based methods without a plan and a vision. In many cases, this is a waste of time, money, and resources.
It is common for digital marketers to develop unrealistic goals that overestimate the potential of the digital space. It is unrealistic to expect your business to attract more than 500,000 customers during its first year of operation.
Many digital marketers also expect all visitors to convert into sales, which is another fatal mistake because it causes them to doubt the benefits of digital marketing.
Setting realistic goals with digital marketing is the solution. In order to achieve this, you should observe past trends and also look at the experiences of similar businesses in your industry, as well as investing in digital marketing.
Set reasonable goals, understand what you need to do to achieve them, and keep track of your progress as you build your marketing strategy.
4. You don’t offer discounts and promotions
Retail Me Not found that two-thirds of customers made unplanned purchases because of discounts. You can use online coupon codes or limited time offers to pop up on your site, especially when customers abandon their carts. A promotion can also be used to incentivize a call-to-action on your site.
5. You use clickbait in your marketing
It is common for digital marketers to invest in content that is clickbait in nature in order to increase customer engagement. In clickbait, words are cleverly twisted to entice customers without offering any real value to them.
For example, if you use phrases like ‘you’ll never believe what happened next’ despite the content inside being very believable by the average joe, you’re using clickbait. The reputation and credibility of your brand are tarnished by such practices.
Your target audience expects you to deliver content that provides real value, so make sure you tell them what to expect inside the article. As a result, your viewers won’t be disappointed with the actual content inside, eventually becoming regular visitors.
6. You’re unable to convert web traffic into sales
The value of visitors to your website who don’t become customers lies in word-of-mouth advertising, which introduces a lead. The first goal is to attract visitors to your site, but the second is to convert them into customers. Create a strategy for converting web traffic into sales.
This starts with a great site. A well-optimized landing page is essential for a website designed with digital marketing in mind. It is also important to display any promotional offers or discounts prominently. In order to turn visitors into fruitful leads, your website must be informative and inviting.
Online leads can come from a variety of sources, including keywords, email blasts, referring links, and social media. Leads from one source might never convert to customers, while leads from another might. You need to track this metric and adjust your strategy based on this.
7. You are investing in the wrong resources
In many companies, only a few people handle all of their digital marketing needs, and some don’t even provide them with the necessary tools. The result is ineffective digital marketing campaigns that fail to generate profitable leads.
Getting the right staff and equipment to run an effective online campaign is crucial for digital marketers. In order to achieve this, both the right tools and the right digital marketing professionals are needed who can think strategically and design tactical digital marketing campaigns that provide the best ROI.
8. You only spend on paid advertisements
Most digital marketers spend their entire marketing budget on paid advertisements, leaving little to no budget for other, potentially more effective, digital marketing strategies.
In order to generate more visibility for your brand, you should only spend on paid advertisements to supplement your other digital marketing efforts. Your brand might be better off investing in other digital marketing tools, such as creating high-quality content or improving your landing page design if it already has an organic following that is gradually growing.
9. You communicate with every customer generically
Nothing attracts customers more than a message that carries sentimental value. Sending an online birthday card to your customers on their birthdays, for instance, can strengthen your relationship with them.
While such personal communications are essential for building brand loyalty, many marketers ignore them.
10. You have poor customer service
Visitors who have never done business with you take a risk by becoming customers. It is important to offer good customer service to lower that risk, because 70% of customers are likely to continue doing business with you if their complaints are resolved correctly.
Make it clear where visitors can find help on your site. This could be a Contact Us page, a virtual chat box, or a helpline. Ensure that if someone visits your site, they can clearly see they can get help if they need it.
Don’t make the mistake of ignoring emails from your customers. When your clients write to send in any feedback regarding your business – you need to respond every single time. Remember, every unanswered email results in a lost customer. It can prove to be very valuable to invest in a dedicated resource to respond to emails only.
11. You are relying on outdated skills
As digital marketing evolves rapidly, digital marketers need to remain up-to-date on their digital marketing knowledge. Many online and offline courses are available for free or at a very low cost. Your digital marketing efforts can be rendered ineffective if your skills are outdated.
12. You try the latest methods instead of the effective old ones
Switching from one marketing channel to another might be counterproductive if it is working well for you. Many marketers have begun to move away from SMS marketing in favor of modern digital marketing methods with the promise of reaching a wider audience.
You might benefit more from sticking with the old methods if these new methods aren’t suitable for your business. It is therefore important to evaluate the impact of such a switch before discontinuing an effective marketing channel.
Conclusion
Marketing tools and strategies are essential to the success of your business. With digital marketing, you have endless learning and growth opportunities. By targeting the right leads and optimizing your website, you can boost your business to its full potential.
SwaysEast offers a suite of smart digital marketing tools to help brands create innovative solutions and experience their very own AI digital marketing success stories. Book for a FREE APPOINTMENT today.
