Digital marketing is a huge factor in any company’s success. It is important to invest time, money, and resources into digital marketing efforts. When you are investing in these digital means though, you want to be sure you’re doing it in a smart way that will help your business grow. Below are 6 common mistakes businesses tend to make when it comes to digital marketing. Avoid these errors to keep your business at the top of its game digitally.
Spending too much on far-reaching ads
When it comes to paid advertisements on sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp, there are a lot of potential sales and customers to gain. That being said, it is not wise to cast too wide of a net when it comes to these targeted ads. You will get a better return on the money you spend by focusing your efforts on a reasonably-sized demographic that makes sense for your business. Targeting too large of an audience will get more eyes on your ads, but they will be eyes that are less likely to purchase and become customers, so the extra spend is not worth it.
Using all your spending on paid ads
As was mentioned above, paid advertisements can be extremely effective, but don’t go overboard with them. You should not be spending all, or almost all, of your time and money only on paid advertisements online. Your organic growth is a really important piece of the digital marketing puzzle as well. Customers will notice if the only times they see your brand online are in sponsored or paid posts. Those are a great way to increase exposure, but then you need to have an organic web presence too, to complement them.
Using clickbait to drive traffic
Sure it will drive some traffic to your site, but clickbait will ultimately end up annoying people and will not win you any lasting customers. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be creative in the ways you try to drive people to your site-you definitely should. Just do not use overly flashy headlines or stretch it too far.
Focusing only on new customer acquisition
Gaining new customers and reaching a new audience is essential. Brands should constantly be working to grow their following and customer base. By focusing on new customer acquisition, though, do not neglect your current customers and leads. These people can produce valuable sales as well! Working to obtain repeat business, or business from those who already have their foot in the door, can be cheaper to attain and can lead to long-term customers. These people are probably easier for you to reach, and already have some sort of connection with or interest in your brand, so do not forget about them!
Switching platforms just because everyone else is
When it comes to digital marketing, you definitely need to stay current on trends. That being said, don’t jump ship on things that are working for you just because something new comes along. If your brand has a strong Facebook presence, keep nurturing that! Don’t abandon your successful platforms just because the platform as a whole has lost some traction. As long as your page and your presence is staying strong or growing, it is a worthy platform for your company to focus on. You can still experiment and branch out when new trends or social media platforms emerge. But as you do experiment and try new things, keep doing the things that have been successful for you too.
Not being responsive to your audience
A big benefit of the internet is the ability to communicate instantly and find information fast. This is what your customers expect when they engage with your brand in any way online. It looks very bad for your company to leave emails, messages, or questions unanswered for multiple days. Make sure you are responding in a timely manner to all digital communications. There’s no quicker way to annoy a potential customer than by leaving them on read.
Avoid these 6 mistakes, and your digital marketing efforts will benefit immensely.