3 Pitfalls Of Digital Marketing – And How To Avoid Them

Blunders in digital marketing campaigns happen more often than you might think and can show up without the least amount of warning. Holes in your marketing campaign can seriously damage a company’s brand image.

With today’s massive digital marketing trend, content is being created and posted at a breakneck pace, and there is ample room for making mistakes that will be displayed online for all to see.

Every day presents a new trend in web design – yesterday it was infinite scrolling, today it’s minimalism, and so on. Keeping up with these trends can prove enough of a hassle without taking into account all of the other aspects that make up a successful digital marketing campaign: fact-checking, ad placements, targeting audiences, and standard grammar and punctuation expectations. It’s hard to be on top of everything all at once. That’s why we’ve taken the liberty to lay out some of the more disastrous digital marketing mistakes, so you can be on the lookout before it’s too late.

Number 3: Trying To Speak To Too Many People At Once

This is a common problem, especially when companies are just beginning their social media marketing campaign. They’re under the impression they need to generate as much new business as possible, and the way to do that is to target everyone. This is an impossible goal that only serves to aggravate you and turn your ideal audience away. Here are a few numbers to keep in mind when considering your target audience:

Every business has a niche it speaks to, and an ideal target audience. If this audience is spoken to in the right way at the right time, it equals conversions. If nobody in particular has been targeted, your content is sure to come off as irrelevant, cheap, and passé. It’s imperative that you put your ideal customer first. First, you need to identify who your perfect audience is. Then, find out what they need. Fill that need with relevant content that has substance, and base your marketing strategy around it.

Paid social media marketing can be used to build your social community and followers. If conduced effectively, it will spread brand awareness and poise your business as a thought leader in its industry – one that people will want to pay close attention to. In order for this persona to be believable, you have to earn the trust of your reader. Giving specific, current information backed by statistics instead of broad statements is the key to achieving and retaining the customers’ confidence.

Throughout a social media marketing campaign, it’s also important to bear in mind the specific group of people using each social media platform. For example, more women than men use Facebook, and the majority of users on Instagram are under the age of 29. Using these demographics to understand who you’re speaking to can mean the difference between presenting yourself as a leader of your industry and being written off as a hack.

Number 2: Ignoring The Needs Of The Customer

It’s hard to believe that this is still an issue plaguing many business owners, but it’s easier than you might think to get caught up in the logistics of running a company and neglect to attend to the evolving needs of a customer base. Creating a product or website first, and then trying to force customers to use it will never work. Instead, you have to come up with a need of the customer, and then work to fill that need.

One issue especially prevalent in digital marketing efforts is not paying due attention to the usability and stability of your site. Allowing your site to fall prey to pop-up ads, system glitches, and multichannel interface issues shows a lack of commitment to your site and sloppy management. You don’t want customers to think your business is prone to malware or unable to satisfy their mobile device needs. Your site has to be able to adapt to changing systems and operate smoothly across multiple devices. Otherwise, users will leave and find a site that better understands their shopping habits.

2016 is predicted to be the “Year of the Customer,” where businesses will be more pressured than ever to deliver top-notch customer service and website usability. Tech-savvy customers are becoming run-of-the-mill, and businesses have to struggle to remain one step ahead of them. Customer expectations are sky-high when they have access to mountains of spot-on content, websites that evolve according to their evolving needs, and endless options at their fingertips. Truly listening to your customer base and making changes to your web design will ensure their lasting support.

Number 1: Getting Stuck In The Past

The number one pitfall that stops businesses in their tracks is the mistake of getting stuck in the past. Your business may have been at the forefront of the digital age a few years ago, but then tapered off when talk of cloud platforms and hybrid technologies became prevalent. Don’t let the changing digital environment make you run and hide – embrace new technologies and understand that the point of technological innovation is to improve human lives, not make them more difficult.

There are seminars you can take or tips you can read for learning new technologies for your business, to stay ahead of the learning curve as we continue to advance through the Digital Age. Keeping up with social media trends is important for staying relevant and not getting left behind. Your digital marketing campaign can be doomed from the start if you’re using outdated technologies and old-fashioned trends.

A classic example is the “death” of MySpace after Facebook took off. MySpace was adept at filling a need, but it did not progress fast enough to keep up with the newer, cleaner, and simpler communication method Facebook offered. From its launch in 2004, Facebook has strived to remain a thought leader in social communication, engaging in video conferencing technologies, new methods of advertisement, and investing in budding enterprises like Instagram.

Staying relevant is the number one key to achieving and maintaining a successful business. Integrating your business into what’s being discussed in the larger picture is the only way to ensure your content will get read. Don’t end up a Digital age has-been; do your research or hire someone to help you with your digital marketing campaign today.