In our fast-paced digital climate, mistakes and bloopers abound. Unfortunately, there are a few mistakes that many will never come back from. In the age of the internet, these errors can severely impact the reputation of your business and damage your brand in the public eye… well, forever.
Digital marketing is only as effective as it’s execution. From a lack of research to a broad ‘target’ audience, here are five common marketing mishaps you could be making – and how to learn from them.
Lack of USP
Your unique selling point, or USP, tells your customers why they should purchase your product and/or service, and not run off to your competitors. Your USP sets you apart in your unique niche and should be the central theme across your digital marketing regardless on the campaign or digital platform.
Vague phrases like top-rated or most valuable may seem like the easy way out but in reality, this type of flakey, wishy-washy marketing is boring and overdone. It is important to employ a customer-centric strategy that puts your target audience at the centre of your campaign. Subsequently your USO should help your customer understand how your product and/or service will benefit them in a way your competitors cannot.
Not Tracking Performance
Arguably the best advancement we have witnessed within the advertising industry recent years is the ability to easily track a marketing campaign through digital analytics. With the touch of a button, marketers and content creators alike can shadow their marketing campaigns, using the resulting data to analyse, evaluate and eventually, use it to their advantage.
With all this technology, there is little reason why you should not be tracking your digital marketing campaigns – especially with the availability of social media marketing tools. Before you launch your campaign, make sure you set clear, defined goals that are both sensible and manageable. Setting goals and tracking the performance of your campaign enables marketers to see where their campaign is doing well – and where it is lacking.
Unwilling to Evolve
Just like human beings, your business or organisation needs to grow and evolve to ultimately achieve success. If your business is unwilling to adapt, whether that be including new technology, experimenting with new platforms or expanding your target audience, it is unlikely your marketing campaigns will capitalise on growth with maximum efficiency.
The most successful marketing campaigns are borne from the latest trends and advancements in technology. By experimenting with different strategies and techniques, such as the constantly evolving landscape that is social media marketing, you will be able to reach a wider audience, maximise the success of your advertising and build brand awareness and visibility.
Poor Research
Understanding the wants and needs of your target audience is pivotal to the success of any campaign, regardless of purpose. From building brand visibility to generating leads, a compelling campaign that speaks to your customers must be thoroughly researched before you implement it.
While research may seem futile, dedicating a portion of your marketing budget to research can save you and your team further hassle down the time. Many have fell victim to ill timing or a well meant yet out-of-touch message lost in translation. Take that Pepsi ad from 2017 (you know the one, with reality TV star Kendall Jenner). The misconstrued ad went viral for all the wrong reasons and was pulled just 24 hours after it was published. Then of course there’s the time Burger King put out their infamous 2021 ad stating “women belong in the kitchen” without any context… on International Women’s Day.
If only the marketing teams behind these campaigns had done their due diligence. To prevent any colossal mishaps that have the potential to permanently damage your company’s reputation and offend the masses, it pays to research heavily. This could be testing different messages and offers across various marketing channels, including your social media platforms. You might even like to consider hiring a social media marketing agency who can make life a whole lot easier, especially for smaller businesses and brands. Remember, hell hath no fury like Twitter scorns.
Targeting Everyone
New technology, tools and digital platforms allows modern marketers to create highly targeted campaigns and content. Unless you’re Google or Amazon, your campaign does not and cannot simply apply to everyone. It’s of the utmost importance that you identify your core audience and work to target them and only them.
These days, data like gender, location and age group can be sourced directly from your core audience in the form of digital analytics. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow businesses and organisations to view directly the demographics that are engaging with their content and track their activity online. With a wealth of information available online, businesses can easily gain access to a comprehensive picture of their core audience. Pairing these insights with your marketing and using the data to shape your campaign will result in advertising that entices, engages and perhaps most pertinent, works.
Conclusion
Perhaps most pertinent, it appears utilising digital marketing tools and all its technology and insights is of the utmost importance in our fast paced digital world. With an evolving, fully automated landscape forever a looming presence in the lives of just about everyone, digital marketing and its many amenities and conveniences has cemented itself as a crucial slice of a business’s advertising strategy. Traditional marketers may see all this digital marketing stuff as unnecessary or a fad. However, it’s the reality of our modern world. Fail to utilise modern digital tools and technology, and no doubt your brand will be missing out.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by digital marketing and need a little advice, you could always contact your local digital marketing agency. A professional agency will be able to analyse your brand. From there, they’ll build a strategy that target the right demographic and drive the right kind of traffic.
