So, I have decided to pen down some mistakes you can avoid and learn from.

Common Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

The digital marketing sphere is ever-growing, and once you step into it, you are allowed to make countless mistakes just not the ones that could harm your business in the long run. It is also smart to read up on such material, so you can avoid any blunder and give your best shot at handling and expanding your business in the digital space.

So, let's get to work, shall we?

1. Know Your Audience First

I was under the impression that I could start posting and the right customers would notice eventually. But what happened was two things that did not get any recognition in the form of followers. B) I received followers who were looking for follow-backs only. However, this is just the gist of social media.

I later learned that there is something called a buyer persona that 90% of the companies create to understand the type of audience they need to target.

Knowing your customers is the foundation of any successful digital marketing extravaganza. How can you expect to reach out to the right audience without having the knowledge of potential buyers/customers?

So what do you require to do?

• Define buyer personas. Define customer types and categorize them according to criteria like demographics, pain points, expectations, and possible rejecting factors.
• Talk to your potential customers. It would be ideal if you could connect with potential customers. You can either send them a questionnaire or have a 101 conversation to understand better what they require from your services.
• Get a market expert on board. I hired a digital marketing agency that later took over my business and has flourished since. You can do that too much if you feel like the needs and objectives are too much for a single person like you to handle.

2. Digital Marketing Mistakes Are Not Resolving their Pain Points

One sure way to fail is to ignore what the customer wants and the experience they expect from you. According to the source, the companies that have taken extra care of the experience they provide to their customers, have noticed a revenue increase of 4-8%.

This is enough to alert you, as it did to me. I was focusing more on what I was providing and hoping they adjust. After learning the hard way, I changed the entire business model that was more customer-centric than Enlighten with Ingle’-centric.

When you place yourself in the shoes of your customers, you can get a better vision as to what kind of journey they would expect to have when availing of your services. When you are speaking to your prospects, you can ask them how can your services make their lives better or what more can they do to add convenience.

Such questions will give you valuable insight as to what needs to be tweaked within your own services to better resolve the issues of the customers.

3. Not valuing and Understanding SEO

I barely paid attention to the importance of SEO and my website did not take off as I wanted it. More than 93% of your online experiences start from search engines. Ignoring SEO practices and implementation is the death of your online business, especially your website that you are redirecting traffic to from all other channels.

I personally wouldn't recommend handling all SEO-related activities alone and hire a specialist that can do the necessary on-site and off-site SEO to boost the ranking of your website on SERPs.

What should you keep an eye on?

• Keyword optimization.
• High quality and unique content.
• Mobile-friendly website.
• Strong backlinking profile.
• Image Optimization.
• Speed optimization.
•  

4. Investing in Campaigns Without Research

You cannot consider digital marketing as a place where you can target blindly and expect it to land somewhere substantial.

You absolutely require a content strategy and a strategy for your social media campaigns as well. To have the best strategy, you need to know the following:

• Buyer/customer personas.
• Have clear and concise goals.
• Have the proper tools, channels, and tactics listed.
• Set a proper budget for each campaign and other investments like Google Ads.
• Keep track of all the progress and continue to fine-tune future strategies based on the results.

5. Expecting Results in a Jiffy

You must have heard stories about bad clients. I was one as well with the wrong mindset. It is true that you have your money invested. Naturally, one would want to see the immediate fruits of your invested money and labor, if you are handling it all by yourself. However, this isn't how it works. Digital marketing doesn't work this fast.

With the changing trends of consumerism and Google's algorithms, you need to be patient.

Facebook and campaigns depending on the strategy require a minimum of one week to actually start showing results. SEO results take even longer and may require two months or more. Yes, believe it or not.

The time to reach the right audience, for them to notice and engage, and for engagements to convert into proper sales or customers require a considerable amount of time.

The only thing that you can keep doing from your end is being consistent with your efforts. Sometimes, you might receive results altogether.

6. Digital Marketing Mistakes Posting on Social Media Randomly

A big NO. Do not do that. Social media platforms have become quite smart and provide you with a plethora of tools for you to perform precise marketing.

One of the best things about social media is, that you can rake benefits organically as well. Or you can inject some cash into paid ads and receive quick results. Either way, you are bound to get lucky since there are millions of users on board with varying degrees of interest.

However, the crowd on social media is tech-savvy, learned, and capable. You do not want to be scamming or annoying them by being irrelevant.

So, what should you keep in mind when tackling social media? Here is how you can grow your business on social media.

Always Consider Your Social Media Crowd

• Identify your business goals for social media. Implement SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely).
• Don’t target every platform. Find the one that works best for your business and has your target audience resides.
• Be creative: To attract customers, you need to be creative in your pictures, captions, and when to post.
• Collaborate with influencers. Influencer marketing has become common and you cannot ignore the fact that with the right collaborations, your brand gets the awareness and the audience in the form of increasing followers.
• Engage, engage, and engage. Social media has changed quite a lot. Today, you cannot just post and forget. To make your audience feel heard and seen, you need to make sure you are interacting with them and guiding them. The engagement factor also includes asking for their opinions, which can add massive value to your brand.

These were just a few of the many mistakes I made, but I decided to share the ones that stood out for me. I hope this must have helped you. While selling my life sciences consulting services, I was not using the right strategy and was stagnant for a long time. Today, with the right knowledge, and understanding, I have managed to get the brand awareness I targeted.

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