Digital marketing presents a remarkable opportunity for small to medium-sized businesses to enhance their visibility and attract their target audience. A substantial portion of consumers, nearly one-third, particularly the younger demographics, discover new brands through social media channels. Additionally, almost half of consumers rely on search engines to find new products. So, it comes as no surprise that social networks and websites rank as the top two marketing channels.

In essence, a robust digital marketing strategy is indispensable for brands to maintain their competitiveness in the market! 

While digital marketing is undoubtedly invaluable, it does not justify adopting a mindless approach. Especially, where you are churning out excessive content and running multiple campaigns without a strategy and careful consideration of your goal. Partnering with a reliable digital marketing agency can greatly aid in achieving your goals effectively.

Digital marketing should be viewed as a strategic investment, in fact with little expertise and creativity your business has the potential for significant profit- if you steer clear of common marketing mistakes.

This blog post will cover: 

1. The most common mistakes which businesses everywhere make
2. Provide additional actionable marketing tips, so you don’t have to make the same mistake twice

Common Digital Marketing Mistakes + Solutions

Starting Without A Clear Plan

Some business owners start with the idea that casting their net wide is the best way to expand in their market and onboard more customers. But in this race, they forget that this hinders them from developing a deep understanding of their prospects, pain points, and their buying behavior. Without a goal and articulating what you need to do to achieve it, your campaigns will lack purpose and you won’t know when you will achieve your goals and if you are achieving them in the right time frame.

Pro Tips to shape your strategy for maximum returns:

1. Create a buyer persona: It is crucial to break down your market into distinct ‘customer types’. That is to define them according to their age, location, interests, pain points, and potential offerings.
2. Collaborate with a digital marketing agency: To gain deeper insight into your target market, evolving habits and changing trends enlist professional digital marketing services.
3. Engage with potential clients: Use the medium of social media channels and other interactive channels to interact and learn about them firsthand.

Not Having A Strategy With The Right Marketing Mix

Getting visitors to your website is goal number one, and goal number two is turning them into customers. Your target audience is primarily interested in solving their problems and pain points. That is, if you fail to develop a seamless experience for the intended user’s needs, you might end up losing them. 

Also, leads can originate from various traffic sources, including keywords, emails, referring links, and social media. Among these different sources, some might yield leads that rarely convert, while others consistently bring valuable prospects. Before you get into the feat, it is important to understand the distinction and make informed adjustments to the strategy.

Pro Tip: Think about what you are offering, and articulate the journey from an issue-ridden ‘before’ to an improved ‘after’ state. The key is to have a cohesive message, maintaining your uniqueness and quality throughout your online and offline channels.

Neglecting the Value of Competitor Analysis

There might be someone selling the same product or offering the same services, and maybe they are better at it. Rather than ignoring their presence, acknowledge the competition and focus on what sets you apart. You might come across if they are following any market trends to stay abreast with the current competition in your specific segment.

Pro Tip: Make competitor analysis a part of your regular digital marketing efforts. For instance, check out their social media platforms to identify anything different they are doing. It is best to look for businesses that are the same size as yours and located in your locale. This will help you figure out what makes your brand special. The message should be loud and clear, highlighted on your website.

Overlooking The Role Of Content Marketing

It is surprising to find out that there are still many businesses that don’t have a blog page on their website. However, in a digital landscape where more than two billion blog posts are posted daily, securing visibility, attracting traffic, and gaining credibility hinges on content quality. When the blogs posted are of quality and meet Google’s standards for quality, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, you will stay ahead in the ever-changing realm of search engine optimization.

Pro Tip: Posting blogs and not seeing any results? To stay on top of this fast-evolving field, employ the services of a professional digital marketing agency that is at the forefront of these developments. Also, they utilize time-tested SEO techniques that will help your content appear in search results and rank better.

Here is a brief overview of how they do it:

1. Choosing the right keywords, that is the one you wish to rank for, and also the keywords that your target audience uses to find what they are looking for.
2. As we mentioned above, Google and other search engines favor relevant, long-form, and high-quality content that is well-researched. To connect with your audience, content marketing is the fuel you need!
3. Optimizing your website for mobile as it has taken over the majority of internet traffic.
4. To rank you higher and appoint you as one of the authorities, they help you get backlinks from authority domains.

Focusing only on Popular Keywords

A significant digital marketing mistake is failing to be present where your customers are! Popular keywords are often highly competitive, with many websites and businesses vying for top positions. Even if you manage to rank on those, users may be more selective or directly not align with your product, services, or content. As a result, click-through rates might be lower, challenging to achieve a higher ranking, especially if you are new in the domain or lack authority. Plus, targeting only popular keywords may narrow down your content focus, leaving out valuable topics that could attract a specific audience.

Pro Tip:

1. Thorough keyword research: It is important to identify a mix of popular and long-tail keywords relevant to your business.

At Cliffex, this is one of the first steps in our comprehensive SEO process. Our team conducts meticulous keyword research to strike a balance between high-volume keywords, location-based keywords, and more specific, less competitive terms.

2. Prioritizing relevant keywords: To attract visitors who are more likely to engage and convert it is important to narrow down keywords that are highly relevant to your product, service, and target audience.

Forgetting Search Intent Optimization for Compelling Content

Merely creating valuable content is not sufficient. The way you present your message and provide solutions matter just as much as the content itself. By this we mean that, if visitors arrive at your website but don’t find the information they were looking for, they are more likely to leave, leading to higher bounce rates. This indicates to the search engines that your content is not valuable, further hindering your visibility and organic traffic potential. 

By aligning your content with what users are looking for, you can achieve better results and build a stronger online presence.

Pro Tip: Developing a diverse content strategy is the key. If you don’t have an in-house team to look after this, a dependable digital marketing services provider can help you with it. They gain insights into your target audience’s needs, pain points, and search behavior. And also helps you identify a strategy, involving content ideas that better match their intent.

Ignoring Social Networks

Social media continues to grow in viewership. If you are not leveraging social networks then you are missing out on the attention of a huge audience to get in front of. Until you establish a presence, you won’t know who is actively seeking your products and services. Do your brand a favor- begin posting relevant content and engaging with your audience! You will start to see benefits yourself.

Pro Tip: Obviously, you don’t need to be on every platform. Users on Facebook differ from those business-oriented platforms, LinkedIn, and also Instagram that is more lifestyle-oriented. It is important to do a competitor analysis, which channel they use, and what content they post for strategic scheduling and engagement.

If you have been sharing good content for a long time and you are discouraged not having followers and engagement. Then, my friend, you need to outsource this to a social media account manager!

Not Utilizing Paid advertising

To ensure a continuous flow of website traffic for your business in the long run, implementing search engine optimization is a valuable investment. However, SEO requires patience as it is a gradual process. All our digital marketing agency clients who need instant results opt for it. For entrepreneurs and brands who are seeking immediate results and quicker outcomes, turning to paid advertising can deliver desired results promptly.

In terms of growing reach, traffic, and conversions, PPC marketing on platforms such as Facebook and Google Ads can be extremely rewarding. It can accelerate your growth, help you reach a wider audience, and drive targeted traffic.

Pro Tip: Combine search optimization and running paid ads simultaneously for a comprehensive and effective approach to digital marketing.

Spamming CTA buttons all over your website

If you have a great advertising campaign but placing too many CTA buttons or using them inconsistently can lead to confusion for visitors. 

“Sign up to get 5% off.”

And how about this? “Existing customers ordering before midnight receive 10% off.” And a few more like this.

The reason for this instance is to demonstrate that where there are too many options, users may get confused about which action to take, resulting in a cluttered and overwhelming user interface.

Pro Tip: Ensure that CTA buttons are clear, concise, and relevant to the content so that users are most likely to take action. You can position them after providing valuable information or at the end of a compelling blog post. Focus on A/B testing different CTA variations to identify which ones drive the best results. Also, continuously work on optimizing them based on feedback and customer behavior. 

Not Tracking your results

This one should be no brainer. But too many brands and businesses are not paying attention to their results. It is like playing with fire, you are unaware of what is working and if your marketing strategy needs adjustments. This can lead to wasted budget and efforts without knowing if they are generating any positive results.

What’s more, competitors who actively track and analyze their results can quickly adapt their strategies and stay ahead. Not following the same can put your business at a disadvantage.

Pro Tip: Once you define your strategy, you will have the data and deeper insights into the areas that are performing and those that need further improvement. And when you collaborate with a digital marketing agency you will be worry-free as they weekly or monthly share reporting. Base their decisions on data rather than assumptions, enabling you to optimize for better results.

Trying to Do It All Alone

Accomplishing everything on your own is not always feasible. You might not have an in-house team or there might be areas where you lack expertise or experience. Learning and mastering various digital marketing tactics or hiring a team can take significant time and effort. 

Outsourcing and seeking assistance from someone who can complement and fill those gaps is your best bet!

Pro Tip: For a well-executed strategy, improved efficiency, and more impactful marketing campaigns, consider partnering with a reputable digital marketing agency that can complement your in-house team skills and help you avoid the above-listed mistakes.

Don’t get overwhelmed! If your focus is on driving results, collaborate with marketing professionals, such as our skilled team at Cliffex, to maximize the potential of your campaign effortlessly. We will help you avoid these mistakes and propel your business up the success ladder in no time. Contact us today, to learn more about our custom digital marketing packages.