7 Digital Marketing Mistakes To Avoid & What To Do Instead

MMG Consulting
digital marketing mistakes to avoid

Digital marketing is one of the most complex fields of all, given its breadth and scope. Each of these elements come with their own set of challenges and complexities, so it can be difficult to master if you are not constantly learning and developing new skills to stay afloat in the ever-changing industry.

Experimentation is a major part of the practice as it is important to evaluate your tactics repeatedly to discover what works. However, there are major errors that you should try to avoid at all costs. Some of these mistakes are more common than others while some are only applicable for specific niches or industries, but they can still cost you time, money, and your reputation if you do not address them quickly.

It is important to avoid these mistakes to ensure that your business can reach its maximum potential as these mistakes can be very costly for any company. Apart from the financial cost, they also increase the risk of losing customers and followers.  In this article, we will discuss the seven most common mistakes that digital marketers make and what you can do instead.

Contents

Not having clear digital marketing goals

clearly defined digital marketing goals

The first mistake that we will discuss is not knowing your goals. This seems like an easy thing but, marketers spend their time working on goals that do not generate any business because they do not know what is going wrong with their campaigns. The solution would be to create a strategy upfront.

It is critical to create a set of achievable goals for your digital marketing campaign. Digital goals and metrics are the way companies measure success and performance. Goals can be split into three categories:

  • company goals
  • project goals
  • user goals

Company goals include data on total revenue, total number of customers, and cost per customer. Project goals include data such as revenue per project or the customer satisfaction rate on a specific product or service. User goals vary from person to person, but they include such information as conversion rate and customer engagement metrics.

Not understanding what your target audience needs

target audience

It is important for any company to have a clear understanding of their target audience. This will help them create proper messaging that resonates with the right people. Not understanding your target audience can lead to ineffective marketing strategies and tactics.

It is imperative to create a Buyer Persona to fully understand the needs and desires of your target audience. By properly understanding their pain points, you will be able to produce ideas that are more relevant to them, which should help you to better engage with them.

If you have not set up who your audience is, your digital marketing efforts will produce little to no results as you are not delivering to a specific customer. By doing in-depth research on who your target audience is, where they live, what they do day-to-day and so on – you can start creating content tailored towards them. It is the job of the writer to present information that will be understood by their audience and keep them interested.

Lack of Investment in SEO

seo flowchart

While there are still a significant number of marketers who do not prioritize the need for SEO, it is a huge mistake to ignore it. Social media has its place in digital marketing, but search engines are still where people go for answers to their questions, information and businesses that they want to find or buy from.

One of the most important steps in launching a successful SEO campaign is to do keyword research. This process will allow you to enter a highly competitive industry and target your ads for the correct audience. By researching what your competitors are doing and keeping up to date with Google Trends, you can find out what keywords are trending and how to perfect your campaign.

Content marketing is also key to get your brand noticed in the digital economy. However, there are some companies that are not prioritizing content marketing, which can lead to missed opportunities. For example, you might be competing with other brands for the same potential customer and not even know about it. It is crucial to have a content-marketing strategy because it is an effective strategy to generate quality leads and establishes your business as an authority figure in your industry.

A lot of companies have some sort of a blog on their site now, but not all of them maintain it regularly. This is another big mistake, as blogs provide you another opportunity to generate traffic from those who are looking for answers as well as those who are simply browsing the internet.

Failure To Understand Or Utilize Data

data analysis

Data is everywhere in the world of marketing, but many brands are still failing to leverage data to their advantage. Data can be used to provide information on how customers are using your product or service, what time of the day they tend to make purchases, and so much more.

For example, someone could use Google Analytics data to find out where their website visitors are coming from and then tailor their marketing message accordingly. Data is a huge part of marketing whether you’re considering digital or traditional. The main issue experts have faced is not having the right approach to acquire the right data or those that are simply uneducated about data utilization.

Typical types of data that can be generated for all business types include: target audience region (local/foreign), social media stats to know about their concerns in your product or service’s niche, what your competitor is offering, what is your competitor’s business strategy, what SEO keywords people are using that could relate to your product or service category.

You can arrange audience survey campaigns to know what users are expecting your product will deliver and much more. This data may vary from business to business, but the idea is the same. Without accurate data, it will be difficult for you to create a well-informed strategy that will help grow your business.

Not Prioritizing Mobile Optimization

mobile optimization

Mobile devices have become the norm for people to consume content, because they allow people to find what they are looking for anytime and anywhere. Not surprisingly, mobile internet usage exceeds desktop usage by 68%. If your website does not function correctly on mobile devices (e.g., iPhones, Androids), you will lose traffic, leads and potential customers.

Consequently, mobile optimization has become a vital element in web design. It enables web designers to create a website that provides an optimal user experience no matter what platform is being used- be it a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone. The key features of this technique are fast loading times, easy-to-perform actions, and readability.

Additionally, ignoring content creation for mobile users can be detrimental to your digital marketing efforts. It is critical that your website is optimized for this type of experience so that visitors can find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently.

Inefficient Video Content Utilization

video marketing

The art of video marketing has been one of the most popular and effective tools for reaching out to a vast audience. Video content is a highly effective way to communicate information and stories. It is also much more engaging than text-based content. With the increasing trend of video viewing, it is imperative to create content which is optimized for video.

Inefficient Video Content Utilization is a problem that most companies face. Most videos consume more bandwidth than the company has available, which impacts the quality of their service for other users.

A study published in the Journal of Advertising Research found that video marketing content is more efficient than other types of content during marketing campaigns. Video marketing research continues to demonstrate that video is has grown as the dominant online marketing channel, but digital marketers still face major challenges such as the lack of production resources and inadequate video budgets. There are many reasons why it is difficult to create optimized videos, but one major reason is that digital marketers are not aware of the video tools available to help automate this process.

Not using social media effectively

social media strategy

Today, social media is the most effective way to connect with your audience. Even though social media provides enormous opportunity to increase your company’s reach, it can be very challenging to get followers and have good engagement rates. It can be especially challenging when you are trying to create a new brand. It can be difficult to know if the decisions that you make will lead you to your ideal customers or might lead you towards embarrassing viral moments.

People are getting smarter about how they use social media, so marketers must devise sound strategies to rise above the noise. Best practices include using an always-on social media strategy that uses automation and collaboration tools, making sure content is relevant for the audience, and providing value through meaningful interactions.

Conclusion

Many companies do not plan adequately and neglect to consider digital marketing as the most important marketing strategy for any business in this digital age. Additionally, digital marketers face many obstacles on the way to achieving their goals and can lead to ineffective campaign efforts. The reality is that digital marketing is a never-ending process that never reaches a final destination. It provides good opportunities to connect with your target audience and increase brand awareness, but this can only be achieved by ensuring your company is not making crucial mistakes. If you need guidance with optimizing any of the important digital marketing elements listed above in this article, contact us for a free consultation today.