It used to be that succeeding as a marketer simply meant ensuring print and TV ads were clean, informative and memorable. Today, marketers have to deal with a lot more. In fact, no longer are we merely called marketers, but digital marketers. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Ad Words, Analytics, Email campaigns; these are just a few of the things we have to deal with that the CMOs who came before us never did.
Furthermore, marketing is more competitive and diverse than ever, so we always have to be on the lookout for “the next big thing” to ensure we’re continually capturing our audience. But today, we wanted to talk about some common mistakes every digital marketer makes and how to avoid them.
Not Prioritizing Customer Care
Marketing is all about people. Establishing emotional connections, relating to them, figuring out how to speak to them. Yet far too often, companies forget the power of customer service as a marketing tool. On average, happy customers tell nine people about their experiences with a company. That’s potentially nine new customers just by word-of-mouth, and all it costs you is ensuring that each consumer has a positive experience.
On the flip side, unhappy customers, on average, tell sixteen people about their negative experiences. Overall, prioritizing customer care is a cheap, easy way to make all of your customers walking advertisements. For an in-depth look at the critical role customer care plays across all areas of your business, check out this article: 32 Customer Service Facts You Can’t Afford to Ignore.
Marketing Without a Clear Strategy
Coming up with guerilla marketing techniques and implementing a robust social media regimen is great when putting together a marketing plan, but in the long run, it will ultimately fail if you don’t have clear, defined goals of what you’re trying to accomplish. Are you trying to turn a profit? Increase brand awareness? Establish an audience? Asking yourself and your team these things is crucial when outlining strategies because the answers dictate entirely how you market your company. You want to make sure that your marketing tactics aren’t just entertaining people, they also should be generating conversions.
Furthermore, once you have found your target audience, cater to them. If you’re marketing to millennials, make sure you have a steady online presence that evokes trust and legitimacy. If you’re selling to baby boomers, maybe try an email campaign as not all baby boomers are on social media. You never want to neglect one area of marketing, but you can put more time and money into the tactics that will be most effective for your audience.
Ignoring Changes in the Industry
Adapt, change or fail. It’s the way of life. Recently, we published an article about the rising popularity of interactive marketing. These are the things you should be keeping an eye out for, there will always be a new digital strategy or social media outlet around the corner and the earlier you familiarize yourself with it, the more you can capitalize on it. Pay attention to your competitors, learn from them. 10 years ago, blogging was just something people did to share their personal opinions on things. Now, there’s not a successful business out there that doesn’t implement blogging into their strategy in some way. Stay alert and cash in on these emerging tactics early.
Of course, there’s plenty of other mistakes we make, but identifying them and understanding your weaknesses is the first step in avoiding making the same mistakes time and again. Explore our site, enrichmybrand.com, to learn how we can help you outline your strengths and weaknesses and together create a successful marketing plan.
