Anna RodriguezWith the potential of digital marketing becoming increasingly evident to all businesses, companies are allotting more of their budget to establish their ground in the digital sphere. However, keep in mind that no matter how much a brand invests in its digital marketing scheme, the company’s objectives won’t be met without starting with an on-point strategy.
One of the crucial first steps in doing so is to figure out who your target audience is and how to efficiently reach them. Moreover, the goal should go beyond by striving to make your ideal market respond in accordance to your purposes. To effectively direct your resources, take a look at some of the scenarios that should not be happening when it comes to your brand’s digital marketing strategy and how you can take actions to make your tools work for your business.
Your digital marketing strategy aims to please a target audience that is too broad
Brands, even the most established ones, cannot be everything for everyone. If you sell car accessories, you simply cannot target anyone who has a car. This is where the value of knowing how to define your target audience comes in. This helps you find, talk to, and please the consumers who matter for your brand. Begin with assessing what your brand is and what you have to offer. Next, find out how your existing online audience perceives your brand. Take into account as well how you fare compared to your competitors. Then, refine your target market and group them further in sub-segments. Create personas, if you have to, just to be able to better keep your target customers in mind when you finally polish your digital marketing strategy.
There is little conversion from all of your social media metrics
It is one thing to be active in terms of social media marketing, but it is another to reap actual results using a smart social media strategy that focuses on getting you more revenue. Remember, reaching your target market on social media platforms and getting their likes and shares are just parts of your marketing plan. Stop expending your time on aimless social media activities and start converting your online followers into buying customers.
Once you locate your target audience, deliver high-quality, relevant, and timely content on the right social networking sites and at the right time. Draft KPIs when setting goals to guide your social media marketing no matter what adjustments you make. Keep in mind the word “social” in social media and focus on creating rich product experiences that will appeal to your customers. Aside from product information, emphasize what’s in it for them and include reviews from regular people that your customers can relate to. Most importantly, put links in strategic places to help your customers once they decide to heed your call to action.
Your online presence does not significantly generate foot traffic to your physical store
If you are an offline brand that is just starting to establish your online presence, reaching your target market presents an additional challenge especially in this age of online shopping — making customers drive to your physical store. According to the Close-Loop Uber Funnel for local stores by Gary Viray of Propelrr, a revenue-driven digital strategy uses social media sites to draw people in and leads them to more focused and less crowded channels such as microsites. These channels, unlike social media that are a borrowed channel, will also let you mine audience information more effectively as you have greater control of your own site. Eventually, by thinking out of the box, these online visitors are then enticed to flock to offline stores where they become likely buyers.
There is little or no online and offline marketing integration
Regardless of what tools and channels you choose, a sound overall marketing scheme depends on how seamlessly in sync its components are with one another. Your online and offline marketing aim to reach the same target market — it only makes sense that these channels should be integrated to prevent your audience from receiving conflicting messages from your brand.
Furthermore, having a clear and impeccable online and offline marketing integration imprints a stronger brand image on your target audience. This increases the chances of them becoming more receptive to your message when you reach them with your online and offline marketing channels.
One way to achieve incorporating your online and offline marketing is to utilize a mobile-first design, which web designer and consultant Brad Frost defines as prioritizing mobile to maximize this medium. Make your website load on any mobile device to reach your audience no matter what smartphone or tablet they use. Study your audience’s location to market to them wherever they are. Understand and meet their needs with apps that have tangible benefits to them. The list goes on.
You don’t experiment enough with your digital marketing tools
Because dynamic consumer behaviors result in a constantly changing digital landscape, there are no hard and fast rules on how businesses should formulate their digital marketing strategy. With this, stick to your marketing objectives, but leave enough room — and allocate ample budget — for you to freely experiment with different tools. Study the patterns and shifts that happen within your online community and use your analysis to keep up with your target audience.
You are trying to do all of it on your own
Business owners can get too focused on reaching their ideal audience that certain aspects of their marketing scheme are sometimes overlooked. Aside from taking a step back to assess the big picture, businesses could use help from digital marketing agencies. These external parties will study your brand inside out, but will provide an impartial and a more comprehensive analysis. Such agencies can give you fresh perspectives on things like expanding, limiting or refining your audience further. Also, their expertise will make digital marketing easier for you especially if you do not have sufficient technical know-how.
In sum, digital marketing holds a powerful spot in today’s marketing field. Make it even more potent for your brand by knowing not only how to reach your target audience, but also how to make them responsive to your message.
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