SIX AVOIDABLE OVERSIGHTS

Merilee Kern cites as many as six costly yet avoidable digital marketing mistakes that are common

With the digital marketing sector predicted to reach US$ 807 billion by 2026, it has become a crucial aspect of modern business strategies due to its far-reaching impacts and advantages. “Unfortunately, digital marketing mistakes are relatively common across various industries and business sizes,” notes serial entrepreneur and digital marketing authority Philip Smith.

FUNNEL FAILS If a company doesn’t concentrate on the entire marketing funnel and only worries about the likes of driving traffic to its website, email marketing content or sales conversions, the funnel won’t be optimised and as efficient as it could be.

Or worse, it could fail altogether and not generate any revenue, while having squandered both financial and human resources.

Revenue generation solves most problems. But many business owners erroneously believe that all they need to do is generate leads and if fruitful on that front, everything else in the sale process will fall in line.

For a funnel to work however, every facet of it needs to be optimised for maximising conversions and improving the efficiency of the sales process.

Some key considerations to keep in mind include ensuring that your value proposition is clear and compelling from the beginning. Visitors should immediately understand how your product or service can solve their problems or fulfil their needs.

HANDLING LEADS At first, this could seem odd – promoting ancillary products or services to your leads or established customers? But even the largest companies do this and with good reason.

Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart all monetise their traffic and boost revenue by leveraging other products or services from other companies.

Every consumer has multiple needs and this is a great way to capitalise on that captured attention. There are several ways to be strategic so you can promote other related and synergistic products or services that make contextual sense.

Many lead generation companies generate a lead for a specific product or service and promote other services through multiple monetisation strategies. This can also be accomplished using a dynamic lead form.

Depending on the answer to a question prompt, various other questions will continue to appear to help filter and qualify the lead for other products or services. That lead will then be placed in a specific email or SMS sequence that promotes other products or services.

This is a powerful automated way to monetise leads from a 360 degree point of view.

TARGET AUDIENCE Failing to properly identify and segment your target audience can lead to wasted resources and ineffective marketing campaigns.

Understanding your audience’s demographics, preferences and behaviour will help you tailor your marketing messages and strategies to resonate with them. Investing time in thorough audience research and creating buyer personas can help avoid this mistake.

MOBILE DEVICES With the increasing use of mobile devices for online browsing and shopping, neglecting mobile optimisation can be a huge mistake. If your website and marketing materials aren’t mobile-friendly, you risk losing potential customers who have a poor user experience.

Ensure that your website is responsive, and your emails, ads and content are easily accessible and readable on mobile devices.

ANALYSING DATA Failing to track and analyse your digital marketing efforts can result in wasted resources and missed opportunities for improvement. Without data driven insights, you won’t know which strategies are effective, where your audience is coming from or how they engage with your content.

Set up proper analytics tools, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and regularly review the data to make informed decisions and optimise campaigns.

STAFF STUMBLES Often, companies hire the wrong employees for digital marketing, which is a highly specialised sector.

When it comes to the trade, most people know only a few marketing strategies. They may be good at Facebook ads, SEO, Google, YouTube or email marketing but the company mistakenly thinks that it is all they need to know to make a digital marketing endeavour work.

This is a huge mistake as all facets of the digital marketing driven sales funnel need to work together for any campaign to be successful and maximise possible outcomes. From driving traffic to a landing page, conversion optimisation, sales videos, emails and SMS, long-term marketing strategies and so on, everything must work in concert as a well-oiled machine.

And beyond the systemic aspect, the content needs to be aptly strategised, written and displayed. The problem is that it’s hard to find one person who knows how to execute all aspects of an entire marketing funnel.

According to Smith, these factors contribute to the prevalence of digital marketing mistakes.

LANDSCAPE Digital marketing is a dynamic field with evolving platforms, algorithms and trends. Keeping pace with these changes can be challenging, leading to mistakes when strategies become outdated.

EXPERTISE Not all businesses have dedicated digital marketing experts on their teams. This can lead to mistakes in areas such as ad targeting, content creation, SEO and social media management.

RESOURCES Small businesses and startups often have limited budgets and resources for marketing. As a result, they might make mistakes due to the lack of investment in proper tools, training and research.

AUDIENCE If businesses fail to understand their target audience’s preferences, behaviour and needs, they could create ineffective campaigns that don’t resonate with potential customers.

ANALYTICS Neglecting data analytics and not monitoring KPIs can lead to wasted resources and missed opportunities for optimisation.

CAMPAIGNS Hasty execution without proper planning and testing can result in errors and subpar outcomes.

WEBSITES Poor website design, slow loading times and a lack of mobile optimisation can drive away potential customers.

BRANDING Inconsistent messaging and branding across different digital channels can confuse customers and weaken brand identity.

BUDGET Allocating resources to ineffective channels or overspending on one channel while neglecting others can lead to inefficient spending.

COMPETITORS Trying to replicate the strategies of competitors without considering your own unique value proposition (USP) can result in lacklustre results.

As digital marketing is an evolving field, staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices is critical for sustained success.