To drive success in competitive modern marketplaces, businesses need to create and implement an effective digital marketing strategy that has been built around their core business objectives.
But that is far easier said than done. In fact, too many businesses are investing in strategies that aren’t properly aligned with their goals, which means that they are struggling to achieve the outcomes and the ROI they want to see.
There are a number of individual reasons why your marketing efforts aren’t hitting the mark and to help steer you in the right direction, here are some of the most common problems.
1. Your Digital Strategy is Disorganised
Consistency and organization are key to the creation of an effective digital marketing strategy that will set your business up for success. If you’re constantly bouncing between different campaigns with no clear direction or find yourself implementing new tactics every five minutes in the hopes that one will start generating positive results, you’re going to fail.
Instead, invest time into devising a clear strategy and several actionable goals that you can work towards. This will provide you and your team with a clear roadmap to work with, which will clearly set out which steps should be taken next to further your efforts.
2. You Aren’t Targeting the Right Audience
Before doing anything else, you should invest in comprehensive audience and market research to determine exactly who you want your marketing materials to appeal to. The creation of buyer personas will help you to understand the needs, wants, and preferences of your ideal customer, which will allow you to create visuals and messaging that will instantly capture their attention.
It is also important to pay close attention to the demographic information collected by your preferred analytics tool. This will ensure that your social communications are consistently using the right tone of voice and are being shared at the right times.
So, if your pay-per-click (PPC) ads aren’t driving the results you expected to see despite being targeted towards a very specific audience, the chances are that you’re trying to appeal to the wrong market. Although, there are also several other costly mistakes that may be hampering the progress of your PPC efforts. As Paul Morris of SEO agency, Superb Digital, states, “if you don’t know your objective when setting up a PPC campaign, you will struggle to track your progress and measure success”.
3. Your Messaging is Pitched Incorrectly
Writing marketing messaging isn’t easy. It needs to be informative yet concise and valuable yet engaging, and that’s before we’ve even thought about how a single punctuation mark can change the tone of a sentence in an instant.
If your marketing isn’t cutting through, the chances are that your messaging hasn’t be pitched correctly. There are a variety of ways to correct this, including hiring a professional copywriter and ensuring that each message is appropriately reviewed before being published.
4. You’re Looking at the Wrong Metrics
When it comes to setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and using data to refine your digital campaigns, you need to know that you’re looking at the right metrics.
It’s important not to be distracted by vanity metrics because while increasing the number of click-throughs you are achieving is positive, the success of your efforts will be determined by the impact your marketing investment is having on your bottom line.
Additionally, by making sure that you’re really paying attention to the metrics that matter, you may quickly uncover a variety of refinements you can make to your campaign to make it more successful.
5. You Aren’t Conducting Appropriate Testing
Testing is critical to all campaigns because it allows you to understand what’s working and how to continue to drive the best possible outcomes. A/B testing will help you to identify which methods and refinements will help you to tweak each campaign to maximize your return and achieve your objectives.
6. You Aren’t Utilising the Correct Tools
Digital marketing is complex and there are many steps you will need to take to create, launch and manage each campaign. It is, therefore, crucial to ensure that you are utilizing the tools that will help you to streamline your management process and make more progress towards your goals.
From Hootsuite and Buffer to HubSpot and MailChimp there really is a tool for absolutely everything. Look for options that can be easily integrated into the software you use on a daily basis and make sure that you’re familiar with the features that will enhance your overall campaign.
7. Your Team Isn’t United
If you don’t have a united team that is working towards achieving a set of shared goals, you’re going to struggle to make any sort of progress at all. Your team should be involved at every stage right from the beginning, which will ensure that they all understand upcoming events, campaigns, and promotions, and can craft engaging content in ways that will appeal to your target audience.
This will also have the added benefit of enhancing the sense of comradery within your business, ultimately contributing to a strong, motivated, and loyal team.
8. You Aren’t Being Patient Enough
Digital marketing is an ongoing process that requires time to start generating results. Additionally, the time it will take from launch to success will depend on several factors, including how competitive your sector is, how consistent you’re being with your marketing efforts, and how well you act on the implementation of refinements to enhance the strength of your campaign.
In Conclusion
Believe us when we say that there really aren’t any shortcuts that you can take towards reaching digital marketing success. From creation right the way through to the careful monitoring of live campaigns, there are multiple touchpoints that will require both attention and refinement to drive the best possible outcomes.
If your efforts aren’t generating the results you wanted or expected to see, it’s likely that you’re missing a vital piece of the marketing puzzle. The good news is that once you have identified that missing piece, it should be possible to implement a fix relatively quickly and get your campaign back on track.
