Digital marketing can often feel overwhelming for small business owners. Sometimes, it’s difficult to even know where to begin, what tools to use and why. Then there’s that terrible feeling of ‘am I doing this right?’, ‘am I wasting my time?’, ‘what if I make a mistake?’, ‘can I run out of it?’. Well, if you’ve had that feeling then this is the blog for you. Here, we outline 4 of the most common digital marketing mistakes made by small business and what you can do to avoid them.
Digital marketing mistakes: Putting the User Last
As the digital world continues to grow, where social media sites multiply and Google updates it’s algorithm on a regular basis, losing sight of your customer is an all too common mistake. It’s very common for small business owners to feel like they have to do everything. Set up a Facebook Page, be more active on LinkedIn, redesign my website, make sure my business is seen in search results, produce more blogs and so on.
With so many opportunities to consider and with less time to do it all in, we can forget the most important element in making sure you’re successful online. The customer. Boycotting trends and focussing on your customer will help you develop a website that performs for your business, a social strategy in which your page receives engagement and an acquisition strategy based on your customers online behaviours, user experience and satisfaction.
Acting Before you Think
If you rush, trip, fall and make mistakes, your digital marketing activity could end in a disappointing result. Just like any business decisions you make offline, online activity needs the same level of thought, purpose and intent before launching.
Your online activity needs to support your overarching business goals. If your online activity is not delivering on key business outcomes, you will need to reconsider your approach. Jumping on social media and setting up a page is easy, it’s the maintenance of the page, your brand reputation and customer satisfaction that is the hard work. For you to use these online tools effectively and to support your business goals, you need to ensure it has been clearly thought through first.
Focusing on One Channel
Focusing on one channel is a good place to start, particularly if you want to test the water before diving in. However, if you have planned effectively and have identified the business goals you want to achieve, you may find that there is more than one channel to help you get there.
Each digital marketing function has it’s place in the purchase funnel path, working together to achieve online business success. By diversifying your approach you are able to deliver brand awareness through social media, SEO results through relevant content creation and blog management through to Google advertising. All of these elements combined will help you move your customers down the funnel, from awareness of your product or service through to purchase and brand loyalty.
Not Tracking and Analysing your Data
If done correctly, the most powerful tool for digital marketing is the data you receive. This data is key in helping you understand your customer’s behaviour patterns and assists you in making well informed business decisions. Google Analytics is a free program that allows you to better understand how your customers arrived at your website, what research they’re doing online before they purchase in your store, what they do when they arrive at your online store, how many blogs they’re reading and what marketing activities are driving the most revenue or delivering the best performance. Ultimately, this enables you to tailor your online marketing activities and pinpoint new opportunities.
Next time you’re planning on using digital marketing to support your business goals, make sure you think through your business goals, keep your customer in mind and make sure you track your activity using Google Analytics.
