12 Things Must Avoid When Using Digital Marketing in 2016:
Digital marketing in
2016 comes with a new set of problems, pitfalls, technologies, innovations,
strategies, and opportunities.
1. Failing to identify your target audience:
Identifying your targetaudience is the first step in any type of marketing endeavor. Tragically, it’s
also easy to overlook. Don’t make this mistake. Study your audience, and much
of your marketing will take care of itself.
2. Not having a strategy at all:
Yes, it happens. Sadly,
much of digital marketing relies on “tactics” and “techniques” rather than
solid strategies and goals. Before you ever pick a tactic to try, form a
strategy to rely on. Your online marketing strategy will be your guiding light
as you engage in the wild world of marketing.
3. Forgetting about mobile:
Mobilegeddon may have
happened in 2015, but we’re still living in the wake of its impact. If you
aren’t functioning with a mobile-first strategy, you are alienating more than
half of your potential audience. Mobile optimization is a key ingredient both
for conversions and content, so keep it at the front of your mind when forming
your digital marketing strategy.
4. Rejecting SEO:
The SEO-is-dead myth
has been around almost as long as SEO has been a thing. Now, in an age of
artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms, more marketers are willing to
say “What gives?” and leave SEO well enough alone. This is a mistake. Why?
Because SEO remains (and will continue to remain) one of the building blocks of
a technologically sound and competitive web presence. Without an understanding
of SEO, your marketing presence will falter and fail.
5. Not doing any conversion optimization:
There was an era in
digital marketing when it was okay motto do conversion optimization. That time
is far gone. Failure to conduct regular and careful split testing is a recipe
for decline. Don’t be afraid of it. Yes, it requires some technical chops and
an eye for analytics, but most CRO software eliminates the need for in-depth
knowledge.
6. Trying every digital marketing tactic in the
book:
Since there are a few
hundred thousand tactics available for your choosing, you’re going to get
bogged down fast. The best method for avoiding tactic overwhelm is to,
1) Figure out what your
audience wants,
2) identify where they
are,
3) Adopt a strategy to reach them.
With this kind of laser
focus, many tactics will fall to the wayside.
7. Using every social media platform available:
A close cousin of the
“trying every digital marketing tactic” mistake is “using every social mediaplatform.” I’ve watched hundreds of digital marketers make this massive
mistake. It’s obviously important to have a social media strategy. But when you
try to blanket the social media universe with your brand presence, you’re going
to fall short. Why? Because social media channels require a ton of time and
energy. If you try to go all out on each one, you’re going to burn out very
quickly. A better approach? Pick the top three platforms where your audience
hangs out, and give these all your energy.
8. Paying for followers:
Just
don’t. Boosted posts and promoted tweets are one thing, but paying for a few
followers on Fiverr or some other platform is shady at best.
9. Link building:
Link
building (done wrong) is an old SEO tactic that got websites into trouble.
Thankfully, most SEOs and marketers are beyond this point, but it bears
repeating: Don’t do “link building” as it was traditionally performed. There
are ways to do it correctly, so take heed.
10. Neglecting content marketing:
Content marketing should form the core of any digital marketing strategy. We have not yet reached
the point at which content marketing has diminished in effectiveness. Using
content aggressively, strategically, and expertly will take your marketingwhere you want it to go.
11. Having no marketing budget:
If you get stingy with
your marketing budget, one of two things will happen. First, you realize your
mistake and get desperate, dipping into other funds, which messes up your
entire business plan. Second, you have no budget, so you do no marketing, and
your business fails to take off. Either way, you run the distinct risk of destroying
your business. Instead of short-circuiting your business with no marketing
budget, release a few funds to get the ball rolling. This is especially
critical for startup businesses that have little to no market penetration.
12. Expecting huge results in no time:
Digital marketing takes
time. Yes, you’ll see some measurable results in a relatively short time.
However, stay realistic about the time it takes to achieve goals.
Conclusion:
It’s easy to make
mistakes. But we succeeded when we overcome these mistakes
Simply keep It Mind
each of the mistakes listed above and not to make them in the first place.
Source:
Forbes - Neil patel
http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2016/03/10/12-things-not-to-do-when-using-digital-marketing-in-2016/#94fe6e33ac25
