In fact, 86% of marketers increased brand awareness by utilising online marketing, demonstrating the power of this digital lexicon.
But with such high expectations, it isn’t always easy to get a digital marketing strategy right.
Considering that 60% of content produced by brands is deemed lacklustre, irrelevant and fails to deliver positive outcomes, it’s clear that the investment into this marketing method does not always return ideal results.
So here are our top tips on what mistakes you should aim to avoid for 2023 and beyond…
1. Neglecting The Basics: Websites Are The Anchor In A Noisy Sea
When it comes to marketing online, websites may not appear to be the most exciting platform to give precious time and attention to. The question of investment return is even more prevalent when you consider that the average person spends less than a minute on a website page, and a lot of the hard work is undertaken by back-end developers, which appears to yield no user-facing result.
Despite these factors, the reality is that a website is the first point of call for many who are considering purchasing a product or service from a brand. They act as a hub, a refuge from the noisy ocean of misinformation and digital crowding across other platforms. A website is a brand’s own world, like no other channel can be.
In these ways, websites are the most authentic representation of a brand’s calibre, ethos and messaging. This matters greatly when you perceive that 88% of consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience.
So, whether it’s through frequent updates, modernised UX, mechanical troubleshooting or a consistent cross-device interface, give love to your website and consumers will return this to you through repeated visits that will soon translate into sales.
2. Blogs Are The Window To The Brand
Blogs are a great way to strengthen the themes and messages within a marketing strategy. They provide the opportunity to build upon a brand’s culture, delving further into topics and viewpoints that matter to them, and their target demographic.
In fact, around 60% of people read blogs at least once a week, so no matter the style of blog, the chances are that someone will end up reading and finding value within it. As a result, building a steady stream of blog content can increase web traffic and instil the EAT principle, providing expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
And beyond these advantages, blogs facilitate further insight into your audience, promoting an opportunity to delve deeper into subjects that matter to them. They can act as an answer to a silent question, helping brands to understand what information their audiences are seeking.
3. Targeting A Broad Audience: The Useless Chocolate Teapot
It can be extremely tempting as a brand to label your product or service as a one-size-fits-all offering. Demand from a diverse range of consumers and the notion that a product or service can be applicable to a multitude of situations and needs is a profitable dream.
But the reality is that it’s not necessarily an advantageous strategy, as 49% of people will ignore a brand if they are bombarded with advertising, they believe is not relevant and 36% are more likely to buy a product from brands they receive personalised messages from.
There is strength in identifying a brand’s specific demographic and their key traits, to more effectively market what you are offering and understand their needs. This also allows improvement of the product or services, as you can better perceive what their demands and preferences are.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that marketers and brands should not aim to engage new audiences, but it is more beneficial to think of these potential consumers as neighbours to your existing demographic. Do they have anything in common? Are they an evolution of your current demographic in some form? How can your product or service uniquely benefit them?
4. Turning A Blind Eye: Ignoring The Competition Doesn’t Mean They Don’t Exist
Looking into what your competitors are doing within the market doesn’t have to involve dedicating a lot of time and resources to staying up to date with them. These elements are put to better use strengthening your own strategy, but it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out on the periphery.
With almost 61% of businesses having social media listening systems in place, it’s no secret that marketers are paying attention to what people are saying about brands, and their competitors. And it can be a beneficial practice, helping you to understand the ways in which your competition is marketing themselves and how you may be able to improve.
It also helps you to infer key differences between your brand and other ones, highlighting significant USPs that you can bring forward to your target demographics and boost your position within the marketplace.
5. Assuming You Have The Perfect Strategy
No matter what shape or size of strategy that you are undertaking for your digital marketing, it is important to remember that reviewing it periodically can be an essential part of the process.
First and foremost, it will help you to realise what is working and what isn’t, obviously. Since one size doesn’t always fit all, it’s important to remember that what might have worked in the past for another client, service or product, doesn’t necessarily apply to the next one. It’s reasonable to adopt previously successful techniques, but humility is essential to assessing whether this still stands true for the here and now.
It also helps you to stay on track for your long-term goals and to see how your numbers are measuring up against this. Try not to take it personally when ideas you’d been invested in aren’t paying off, as there’s strength in realising your pitfalls. In fact, around 40% of marketers have doubts about their strategies, so you’re not the black sheep if you’re feeling uncertain.
And, perhaps most importantly of all, reviewing your strategy ensures that you are modernising your approach. Particularly within digital marketing, technology is frequently updating and evolving, with new apps popping up rapidly too. You don’t want to appear dated by missing out on the latest trends or failing to realise that your target demographic has begun moving on to a new platform.
Conclusion
Overall, avoiding key mistakes in digital marketing can be a difficult task, and it is often a process of trial and error, but the advantages are worth it when you’re left with a more streamlined methodology that can stand the test of time and consumer judgement.
And once you smooth out the disheartening cracks, you’ll soon be reaping the real results and sales that you’ve been striving for.
