If you run a business, you’re probably juggling a lot of commitments, so it’s important you don’t waste time on fruitless digital marketing efforts. Here are 5 of the most common digital marketing mistakes and what to do about them to ensure your time and money are well spent.
- Failing to define your audience
Businesses that take the time to profile their target customers have much greater success at digital marketing. You may be thinking that a “scattergun” approach is just as effective, but in practice it’s better to focus on the people who are likely to buy from you. You can do this by creating two of three buyer personas: consider the demographics of your typical customers, along with their interests, habits and pain points. Do this by looking at your existing customers and social media followers and talking to them to understand them better. You could also hire a market research company to give you more granular detail.
- Not adapting your approach to suit your different customer types
Once you’ve created your buying personas, use them! Your digital marketing efforts should be informed by your understanding of your target customers, so consider not only what you offer them but the images, tone and language you use when communicating with them. A key point is to understand their pain points and then come up with messages that address these. Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with your customers will help you achieve this and respond swiftly to any changes in their needs and interests.
- Doing minimal SEO
Yes, SEO can be a drag, but a half-hearted approach to it will negatively affect your website’s search rankings. Key points to address when honing your SEO efforts are your use of keywords, your creation of quality content of the right length, tagging your images correctly, making sure your website is mobile friendly, making sure it loads quickly, obtaining backlinks to your site and using clear, concise URLs.
- Lack of a strategy
Make sure you plan out your digital marketing efforts using SMART goals – goals that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant, and
- Time-Bound.
Understanding your buyer personas will help you achieve this. You should also have a clear plan for which tools and channels you will use to fulfil your goals, and the steps you will take along the way. Plan out your spending on ads carefully and run A/B tests to see which ads bring the best results.
- A sloppy approach to social media
For your social media efforts to work you need to be consistent and organised in your approach. Plan out your content, post regularly and connect with people, influencers and businesses that are relevant to your brand. Decide on a tone of voice and stick with it – generally, putting some personality into it is a good idea. Above all, engage with your followers so that you build a strong relationship with them.
Making digital marketing mistakes and need help? At Primedia Marketing we’re experts on all of the above and more. Get in touch today to see how we can help you.
