The way to market your service or product has changed significantly since the introduction of the internet. And where once it was all about advertising in a one-way stream of messages, the new age of digital marketing is about communication between you and your customer base. Sometimes the hardest part about a digital marketing campaign is knowing where to even start, and then trying to figure out how to get where you want to go.
Do You Currently Have a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Over the past decade, the number of small businesses incorporating a digital marketing strategy has increased significantly from about one-quarter to about 45% of companies hopping onboard. Although that is a great improvement, that still means that over half of businesses are missing the boat.
Traditional marketing and branding is still a highly necessary part of your overall success, but digital marketing differs because it is more interactive and communicative. If you aren’t employing both types of ways to reach your niche market, you are missing out on a huge percentage of potential.
Ten Reasons Why you Need a Digital Marketing Strategy
1. You Have No Direction
It is nearly impossible to get where you are going if you don’t know where that is or the path to get there. Digital marketing isn’t about throwing everything out there and hoping something works. It is a targeted way to devise an overall campaign so that everything you do is relative and works in combination to get to your end-game. If you aren’t analyzing what is working and what is not, or haven’t a clue even how to, you are likely throwing time, money, and resources out without getting much for it.
2. You Haven’t Clearly Defined Your Audience or Niche Market
The key to a successful digital marketing campaign is knowing who your audience is. Clearly defining what niche market you serve is integral to using targeted marketing to interact with them.
3. Your Competitors are Doing it Better
When devising a marketing campaign, you have to know who your competitors are and analyze what they are doing right and wrong to differentiate your company. If you aren’t learning from the competition to get and stay ahead, they might leave you in the dust.
4. You Don’t Have a Clear and Concise Message
For content purposes, you must have a clear and concise message that states who you are, what you are about, and what your philosophy or brand stands for. A clear message across all mediums is important to establish not just brand familiarity but also brand loyalty through the message that you send. Once you find your message and your voice, use it consistently across all forms of digital marketing like social, email, and blog content.
5. You’re Not Staying in-Tune With Your Customers
Opinions change over time, and to remain relevant and successful, companies have to be in-tune with what their customers desire. They can only do that through the use of feedback to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Using feedback from clients, surveys and online reviews is the best way to be on the pulse of what your customers think and feel about your message, your products, and/or your services.
6. You are “Disintegrated”
A machine works best when all of its parts are in sync. If you have separated your traditional marketing from your digital marketing strategy, then you might find yourself disintegrated. Your online representation should have the same tone, brand, and message as your offline marketing. Consistency across marketing channels is key!
7. You Don’t Invest Enough Efforts Into Your Digital Presence
Digital marketing shouldn’t be an afterthought or something that you just “throw together”. Because the internet has changed the way that consumers find companies and products, if you aren’t investing your time and resources into digital marketing, you are making yourself obsolete.
8. You Aren’t Evaluating What Works and What Doesn’t
Just as important as it is to use all the digital marketing tools at your disposal, it is critical to not duplicate your efforts. Make sure that you are continually evaluating where your efforts are being spent so that you aren’t throwing money out by doing the same thing in ten different ways. Evaluate what all of your efforts are doing to look for any overlaps. Adjust or get rid of strategies that aren’t working and double down on the things that are.
9. You’re Not Staying One Step Ahead
The way to remain relevant is to make yourself important in the marketplace. For a successful digital marketing campaign, you have to be willing to diversify, stay ahead of the game, and continually look for holes in advertising and marketing to insert yourself. Your audience will likely change over time, so you have to know when things are shifting, and shift your message and campaign accordingly.
Coronavirus has really shown how important it is to adapt to the current market and has forced a survival of the fittest mentality on businesses.
10. You Aren’t Using All the Tools Available
There is an endless number of ways that companies can segment and reach potential and existing customers. You have to do both; retain your customer base and find new audiences. That takes using all the tools of digital marketing that you can. Those tools change rapidly though, and keeping pace is the only way to ensure that you aren’t missing opportunities to grow your business and your bottom line.
Most businesses understand the value of marketing and advertising. In the new age of the internet, marketing has changed. And it is no longer about placing an ad and hoping your niche market will see it and reach out. Digital marketing is about creating a two-way channel with your audience to find a strategy that works through communication and feedback, as well as refining your message and establishing your digital brand presence.
Are you doing all you can to use the powerful tools at your fingertips?
If not, let Fu Dog Media help you create a digital marketing strategy to achieve your business goals. Contact us today to get started.