Are you new to the world of digital marketing? If you want to make a great first impression of your company, it would be best for you to slow down and have a clear vision for what you want to accomplish. Read these 5 common strategy mistakes that new digital marketers tend to commit.
Countdown to the Top 5 Mistakes New Digital Marketers Make
5. No clear goals
Not knowing your company’s goals and target audience is steering a ship without a compass. Sure, it may sound like an adventurous idea for sailors, but for businesses that invest thousands to millions, the risks at stake are too high to wing their digital marketing strategy.
For example, many businesses do not use search engine optimization best practices. Instead, they feel like they can find a short cut to getting massive amounts of traffic. Usually, that just bites them in the butt because this traffic does not have a targeted source. Therefore, they do not get the leads, engagement, and revenue they want from their search campaign.
Instead, you need to identify the purpose of the campaign. Do you want to increase engagement, leads, traffic, or revenue? Your goal will steer your campaigns in the right direction. It also makes it easier for you to select your target audience for your upcoming marketing campaign.
Moreover, defining a clear goal will help you set the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor your campaign’s progress, and provide actionable insights for future goals.
4. Lack of research and failure to test
Research and testing are essential in defining your campaign’s baseline data, to determine how your goals can be achieved.
The best way to get that research is to read case studies or similar research related to your product, service, or business. The more you can gain from this information, the more of a competitive advantage you have when you market your product.
Research provides you with a sneak peek into how to get the most from your marketing campaign. Instead of making all the mistakes on your own, you can discover the best ways to improve your campaign by learning from other’s successes and mistakes.
Your research can help you identify your target audience. Failure to connect with the right people could easily devalue your efforts.
Find out at what times and days your target audience is most active online and on social media which ads grab their attention and influence their buying habits?
As you build your audience through social media, email marketing campaigns, and other types of promotion you collect vital data you can use to target your prospects correctly. As you gain a following, you can narrow your target audience from the data you collect. The A/B tests you create lets you test various versions of an ad, app, email, or website in similar and different conditions. See which ones elicit the highest audience engagement.
3. Not understanding your data
As a new digital marketer, it could be daunting to look at all your campaigns Key Performance Indicator (KPI) numbers. Tracking these helps you understand your campaign’s overall performance and provide actionable insights.
One common digital marketing mistakes many rookie marketers make is to not understand what each data point affects the quality of your campaign. This could mean that your company is missing out on metrics that can help grow your resources and profits.
Fortunately, there are guides and tools that can help you understand your marketing data.
For example, Google Analytics is a free tool that marketers can use to monitor a website’s KPIs and other metrics. For social media, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter each have individual analytics tools to evaluate data.
2. Forgetting mobile users
Did you know that 51.65 percent of the 4.39-billion Internet users in 2019 use a smartphone? Truly, mobile users have overtaken their desktop counterparts. Unfortunately, one of the most common content marketing mistakes rookie marketers make is to discount mobile users from their strategy.
When you’re planning your digital marketing strategy, consider optimizing your creative content for mobile users. This way, you aren’t missing out on potentially 2.27-billion Internet users that could be interested in your product, service, or business.
Another thing that they get wrong is creating a one-size-fits-all ad. The last thing you want to do is to waste your company’s resources only to see that an ad can’t be viewed properly on your mobile device and/or desktop.
If you don’t have any idea on the dimensions needed for mobile platforms, check out Facebook’s image guide. You can choose the right dimensions for the ad and platform you plan to use.
1. Not focusing on social media marketing
According to Statista’s projections, 3.1-billion users will be on social media by 2021. A lot of new marketers fail to realize the potential of a sound online presence on social media.
This results in rookies committing social media marketing mistakes: not engaging with customers, not targeting their audience, too much brand promotion, afraid to use paid promotions.
Maximize your social media platforms. It’s a powerful tool that can drive traffic to your website, generate sales, increase brand awareness, and more. Don’t be afraid to spend money on social ads. More importantly, engage your customers to build brand loyalty.
Final Thoughts on the Top 5 Mistakes New Digital Marketers Make
While you may want to come out with guns blazing to impress your boss and colleagues, sometimes it’s good to slow down to plan things well. Ask for guidance from your superiors, do your research, and test your strategy. A good digital marketing campaign that yields good results will surely impress them more than showing off.
If you are a marketer, we are curious to know what mistakes you made when you started. Relax! Andy wants to help by sharing the mistakes he made when he started this blog. You can read his Social Networking Blog Duh List going over 10 mistakes he made when he started this blog. Interested in your mistakes and what you learned from them.
Author Bio
Kimberly Grimms is a futurist who spends most of her time monitoring social behavior in search of new consumer trends. She uses the information to create viral and useful content as part of the new media strategy. She’s interested in technology, market behavior, new media, environment, sustainability, futuristic scenarios, and businesses.
