It is common that not all digital marketing campaigns yield the desired results we want. Even experienced marketers have gone through this phase and all you have to do is just move forward. But it helps if you analyze what you’re doing that might not be giving you the outcome you expected. Avoiding them in the future might lead to more growth and much more successful campaigns for your clients. Here are the top 10 digital marketing mistakes to avoid.

1. No Clear Goal

This is a very rookie mistake to make in digital marketing. Just because you know what you’re doing does not mean you’re going to be successful just by winging it along the way. To the eyes for the clients, this can seem unprofessional and disorganized. Setting a clear goal means you have a plan in mind on how you are going to achieve the desired results. Setting goals do not necessarily have to be too detailed. Simply outlining one central goal with steps on achieving them is enough.

2. Not Knowing Your Customers

This is the first step in any marketing strategy. This means knowing your demographics and the behavior of your target audience. A marketing strategy that’s full of informative and creative content but no real idea of the target audience will fall short on the goals set. You will have a harder time getting attention for the company or the brand if you don’t know the right people who will be interested enough to listen or look at your campaign. The modern internet is a hodgepodge of noise that could be challenging to get through.

3. Not Prioritizing Mobile

Ten years ago, mobile doesn’t even factor in when it comes to digital marketing strategy apart from doing traditional cold calls or mass messaging. Now, it’s becoming a dominant platform that doesn’t seem to leave people’s hand. Therefore, prioritizing mobile in any campaign strategy should be high on the list of concerns. If it seems like your campaigns are falling flat, you might want to analyze if you are utilizing mobile efficiently. It’s important to remember that putting mobile first is more than just making a website mobile friendly. It is initiating specific strategies geared toward mobile use.

4. Not Integrating Traditional And Online

Most marketers have either focused on online or traditional marketing but very rarely do they mix the two together. In order for a digital marketing campaign to be successful, online and traditional marketing strategies should be used in tandem. This way, you get the best of both worlds. You can design campaigns that can both be shown on the web and on traditional media channels like televisions and radio. Posters could be printed as hard copies or posted on social media. A good digital marketer knows to supplement their campaigns with tools offline.

5. Not Being Personal With Customers

Being personal with your customers means forming a good working relationship with them. Taking the time and effort to strengthen a relationship with a customer is more than just achieving a goal; it shows that you care about them. Doing such doesn’t require too much effort. Simply remembering an important date and sending a card or a message is enough to remind them that you are more than just out to get their business. Sending out impersonal messages that have clearly been made using a template will be seen as impersonal and insensitive.

6. Ignoring Email

With how the internet has evolved now, it seems obvious that all our efforts should be focused on mobile and social media when it comes to digital marketing. But you would be surprised how relevant email still is. There are still fairly significant numbers of people who use email on a daily basis. It is a powerful tool at connecting people. It can even be a more effective tool than social media at times. Studies have shown that email marketing is more effective at converting people into customers. Email can also be customizable because you are able to categorize your audience into different lists and send them tailored messages specific to each list.

7. Not Testing

Testing is an essential factor for a successful digital marketing. This goes hand in hand with doing market research. Most campaigns fail because they do not monitor how it is doing or how consumers perceive them. Simply assuming how the audience will react to a digital marketing campaign will lead to failure because customer behavior is dynamic and ever-changing. The only way to know how a campaign will be received is through testing. It is a good way to maximize the resources that are used in each campaign strategy.

8. Not Upgrading Skills

As professionals, it’s crucial that we keep up-to-date on the latest trend in the field. The industry is constantly changing, what people want 10 years ago is different to what people want now. Getting ourselves informed about new technology or strategy will greatly aid us in reaching our goals and deliver the desired results. Skills such as digital advertising, search engine optimization, data analytics, content marketing are fairly new development but have since been industry standard in recent years. Investing in these skills through online courses or seminars can put us ahead of the competition.

9. Not Setting KPIs

KPIs are essential to any business’ success. One sure way to fail is to ignore performance indicators. KPI is another way for businesses or marketing strategies to monitor their performance. It also contributes to customer satisfaction and improves morale in the team. Without KPIs, there would be no way of knowing if the goals of the campaign are met or if the vision and mission of the company are realized or not. Measuring targets can also lead to learning for the team and staff which helps them to improve their strategy as they move forward.

10. Ignoring the Competition

It seems foolish not to pay attention to what your competitors are up to. Monitoring them is a great way to know what is working and not working when it comes to digital marketing strategies. They could be doing something revolutionary, something that you have never heard of before. Keeping them in your radar is a great way of monitoring the general trend in the industry.

Author Bio: Sarah Brooks, an ardent blogger, loves to write about digital marketing and web development. She frequently blogs at arcanemarketing.com, a team of top professional digital marketers from around the country whose specialties include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Pay-Per-Click Management (PPC) and more.

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