Top Digital Marketing Challenges and How to Overcome Them
By Bobbi Wharran | bobbi@pancakedigitalsolutions.com
There are so many moving parts when it comes to building and growing a business. In this day and age, one of the most important ones is digital marketing. Unfortunately, it also happens to be one of the most difficult.
For that reason, I’ve put together a list of 4 of the top digital marketing challenges along with some tips to help you overcome them.
#1 – Understanding Your Audience
Understanding your audience is key when it comes to creating a digital marketing strategy that works.
Have you heard the saying by Meredith Hill – “When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one”?
Essentially what that means is that you have to know who you’re selling to and speak to that person (or audience) directly in all your marketing content. There are many ways to do this, creating a buyer persona is an easy way to get started. Check out this free and fun tool by Hubspot – Make My Persona. While you’re there be sure to also check out the guide on how to first gather the data to create your buyer persona!
#2 – Working With a Small(er) Budget
Most business owners don’t have a large marketing budget to work with, especially in the early stages of business. But don’t worry, there are ways to utilize the budget you have and still get positive results.
Segment Your Audience
By segmenting your audience you can be sure that the strategies you’ve put into place are relevant to that particular group of people. This is especially important if your business caters to more than one type of audience. Depending on your business, you could segment by age, location, or buying habits.
Put Your Focus on Where Your Audience Is
As I previously mentioned in #1, knowing your audience is vital. Once you’ve nailed down your target audience, you can then focus your attention (and budget) on the platforms your audience is most likely to be using. For example, if your audience mostly uses Facebook you don’t want to be running ads on Instagram.
Need more help determining where your audience is? Check out this blog post.
#3 – Defining Success
Almost half of small business owners don’t know if their digital marketing strategy is working. That means that time, energy, and money is being spent in places that most business owners aren’t sure is even worth it.
The best way to solve this problem is to start by defining your goals and then determine what KPIs (key performance indicators) are going to be used to measure the success of your marketing efforts.
Once you determine how you’ll be measuring your marketing success, be consistent about tracking your efforts so you can monitor and tweak your strategy along the way.
#4 – Social Media Isn’t Flourishing
Social media marketing has changed a lot over the past few years and it’s gotten much harder to get positive results. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Social media has become the new word of mouth and is often the first place a customer will look to see if your business is credible. Here are a few tips to being successful on social media.
Consistency
Most businesses don’t have to post multiple times a day in order to stay relevant to their audience. Simply posting on a regular basis, even a couple of times per week, will show your customers that you’re an expert in your industry and help build the know, like, and trust factor.
Be Social
Equally as important as consistency is being social. Social media is the place to build relationships with people before they’ve ever done business with you. But in order to do that you need to be present and have conversations with them. Social media is not a set and forget tool like a website. Take some time to put the social back into your social media strategy and see just how great it works!
Provide Value
Everyone loves a funny meme or inspiring quote but you need to also provide value to those who took the time to follow you on social media. What piece of advice or industry-specific tips can you provide that will help your audience?
You also need to be sure that your social media platforms aren’t just a place to promote your products and/or services. No one likes to be sold to and will they quickly unfollow you if they feel that you just want their money. To do this, simply keep the 80/20 rule in mind when creating your content (80% value to 20% promotion).
On the Table
Digital marketing is ever-changing and with those changes come new challenges. But, with a solid, intentional strategy your business can flourish online.
For more digital marketing guidance, come join our Pancake Maker’s Club where we will walk you through the steps of creating a personalized strategy that will help you get massive results in your business!