Marketing & Content Strategy
Digital Marketing Mistakes and How to Correct Them
The constant evolution of digital marketing technology leaves many brands seeking solutions, and oftentimes making mistakes that are costly. If your company has found itself making any of the following errors, there are tried and true corrections that can be made to increase sales, engagement and customer loyalty.
Here are the top 5 common mistakes and how to strategically manage them:
1. Lack of Personalization
Nothing is more important to today’s consumers than personalized messaging and interaction. If you’re using generic messaging for a broad audience, then you need to reconsider your tactics. Why?
- 71% of consumers expect personalized messaging
- Personalization of messaging generally results in revenue increases of 10-15%
(CO Consulting)
The Solutions?
- Audience segmentation – based on behavior, interests, stage in the consumer lifecycle
- Dynamic content that’s consistent across all platforms – email, social, and web
- Personalized landing pages and CTAs that speak to individuals
2. Engagement Trumps Reach Every Time
Many brands focus on impressions, views, likes, and follows so much that they’re missing the opportunity to create relationships with consumers. It’s important to remember that reach doesn’t necessarily mean results, and that interactions that drive sales must be relevant and personal to build customer loyalty.
(Worldmetrics)
The Solutions?
- Engagement, conversion, and lifetime value tracking
- Prioritizing community engagement builds loyalty and confidence with consumers
- Take every opportunity to initiate and respond to user-generated content
- Create interactive messaging in content to engage viewers
3. Building Content without Customer Insight
It’s not all about you. First and foremost, your brand needs to have clear, actionable insight into what your customers care about. What your customers are looking for is human connection, relatable stories in which they can picture themselves. Your product features and pitches aren’t nearly as important.
The Solutions?
- Ongoing voice of customer research
- Who said what? Pay close attention to customer reviews and social comments and respond
- Create content that addresses customer pain points, lifestyles, and core beliefs
- Tell their story over pitching your product
4. Not engaging with User-Generated Content (UGC)
Your customer’s voice, pain points, reviews, and reactions on social media should be key resources for your messaging. When you listen and respond, they will come. User-generated content creates trust because consumers trust each other more than they trust your product pitch. So to build that relationship, respond, react, and reach out to those who are talking to you, and each other.
The Solutions?
- Create opportunities to share content
- Make the most of relatable hashtags, reposts, and shares
- Incentivize your content with rewards for participation
- Utilize reviews and other UGC in your paid media plan
5. Key Performance Faux Pas – Measuring the Wrong Stuff
Sure, everyone wants likes, follows, impressions, and reach. But if you’re spending a key amount of time just looking at these metrics, you’re missing the point. And the point is that as digital platforms change, you need to be paying closer attention to what really matters. So, stop looking in the mirror and take a fresh look at your KPIs.
The Solutions? Take a closer look at…
- CPAs – Cost Per Acquisition
- CLV – Customer Lifetime Value
- Conversion Rates
- Revenue Attribution
- ROAS – Return on Ad Spend
We’d Love to Hear Your Story
Tell us about a time you exercised some of these solutions, and how it changed your relationship with your customers. And if you’re looking for help creating campaigns that are personalized, customer-centric, emotionally connected, and engaging for your customers, give OEA a shout. Digital marketing and platform integration are always on at O’Brien et al.
