Digital marketing has significantly improved how businesses connect with their customers and build lasting relationships with them. At the same time, company leaders and marketers worldwide are transparent about how many mistakes they’ve made and learned from before achieving favorable results from their digital marketing efforts.
Many of them would also agree that although mistakes are excellent learning opportunities if they could’ve avoided those mistakes, they probably would’ve. Avoiding common digital marketing mistakes can optimize your campaign strategies and fast-track your results.
There are so many steps involved with digital marketing that it can be difficult to avoid every mistake there is to make. But there are some actions you can take to field off mistakes no matter where you are in developing and implementing your campaign.
Here are five tips for avoiding the most common digital marketing mistakes.
Set Goals and Track Your Progress Toward Them
One of the most common digital marketing mistakes made is not setting goals. Moreover, even if goals are set, many marketers out there neglect to track their progress on those goals and measure the results of their campaigns.
Write down your specific digital marketing goals and keep them visible. With your goals, you also want to detail your plan for tracking them and reaching them and specify how you will know if you reach those goals.
Take the Research Seriously
Another mistake digital marketers make is undervaluing and underappreciating research. This looks like failing to stay informed on the current state of their market, not doing any market or target audience research before deploying a campaign, or neglecting to do any research on their biggest competitors.
All of these things result in you missing critical information that could directly impact the success of your digital marketing techniques. So, whenever you’re required to do some research, ensure you’re fully engaged in the process. This means:
- Eliminating any distractions
- Taking notes
- Saving resources to view later
- Verifying references
- Giving yourself ample time to partake in the research process
- Asking and answering questions that arise
- Keeping your research organized
Create a Well-Rounded Digital Marketing Strategy
The next common digital marketing mistake we will tackle is putting all your eggs in one digital marketing basket. In other words, allocating all of your resources, time, and effort to one specific digital marketing tactic. This can be costly, unproductive, and make it extremely difficult to achieve your goals.
You’ll have more fun and better results with a well-rounded strategy. Experimenting in digital marketing is highly encouraged, but do it responsibly. Try different digital channels, including email, website, and social media. Implement a combination of paid strategies like PPC advertising and organic strategies like on and off-page SEO.
No matter the tactics you use for your digital marketing strategy find where your audience is and what works best for your digital marketing goals.
Check Off Every Box When It Comes to Content
Low-quality content is one of the most harmful mistakes to make in digital marketing. Poor content turns visitors off, and they’ll likely never interact with your brand again.
On the contrary, checking off every box for your content can encourage lots of engagement and drive readers to take your desired action. Familiarize yourself with what makes content compelling, and do your best to do all of it. This includes:
- Writing about relevant topics
- Consistency
- Ensuring your content is scannable
- Having a strong call-to-action
- Using the most impactful medium
You’ll also want to ensure there isn’t any reason your content could be taken down after it’s published.
For instance, let’s say you’re running a digital advertisement. You must ensure your messaging is appropriate and that your claims are accurate. Otherwise, you could be breaking certain advertising and marketing laws that may result in a hefty fine, having to change your messaging completely, or scrapping the ad altogether. Self-educate on some typical advertising and marketing laws, but it’s in your best interest to hire an attorney to ensure you’re content is within the legal limits of the law.
Learn From Others
Lastly, it’s common for many marketers to dive into digital marketing blindly and approach it as if they’re the first ones to do it. But the more thoughtful approach is to leverage learning from others. There are people out there killing it with their digital marketing strategy, and you’d be wise to learn from their experience.
For example, one of the most efficient ways to learn from others is through traditional education, like pursuing an MBA in marketing.
These business and marketing courses are often taught by professors who have real-world experience and are filled with students with varied perspectives on digital marketing. You’ll also read work from experts in the field about their experiences and suggested best practices.
All of these present an opportunity to learn from those around you and avoid gaining all of your knowledge and skill through trial and error.
Ultimately, learning from others can help you avoid the majority of common pitfalls in digital marketing because you’re given a heads up on what didn’t work and also a pathway forward with what is working.
Conclusion
Don’t feel like you have to conquer this entire list at once. Instead, take a deeper look at each common mistake detailed here and how/if it’s showing up in your digital marketing. Then, use the tips above to guide your attempts to tackle each mistake showing up, one by one.