With a zillion online businesses taking up space in the digital marketing world daily and the customers’ ever-changing demands, leveling up your digital marketing strategy could be a little uphill battle.
But digital marketing thrives on challenges, doesn’t it? Let’s replace the term ‘challenges’ with ‘changes,’ and we immediately start looking at a more positive picture.
Massive global changes like the pandemic and the multiverse may shake up businesses to their core; however, they also enable them to open up unique pathways to promote their work.
How to Revamp Your Digital Marketing Strategies?
Let’s say you’ve witnessed a sharp decline in your website traffic or want to expand your target audience for a specific product or service. In such cases, be mindful of rash decisions, like panicking and jumping on an entirely different strategy.
What you need to do instead is to tweak your existing one and see how your audience responds. And don’t change everything at once. Focus on some key parameters that have the possibility of making the most significant impact.
Here are three things you may want to consider before doing a spring cleanse:
Brush up the Basics
Before considering revamping your digital marketing strategy, it’s essential to re-consider the fundamentals., like your goals, audience, and core marketing strategy. Try answering the following questions and see if you can find where your plan has some loopholes.
1. Are You Crystal-Clear About Your Marketing Goals?
We know everyday tasks might make you feel mechanical and cause you to lose sight of your goals and, more importantly, the bigger picture. Is your marketing strategy flexible enough to correspond to the needs of the new drastic changes the world is experiencing right now? Or, have you lost track of what is it that you exactly expect from your digital marketing strategies?
For example, is your goal to generate sales from social media? Or is it to create brand awareness and, in time, establish a solid and loyal customer base? Be as specific as possible.
Know that your marketing goals are bound to change with time, and a little setback can be considered a timely reminder to do things differently.
2. Are You Still Catering To Your Target Audience?
Your target audience lies at the base of your business. And if you’re experiencing setbacks, it may be a good time to rethink who your target audience is. Even if you don’t make drastic changes in your strategy, focusing on this single parameter will help you unveil many loopholes in your existing one.
3. Are You Using Social Media Marketing the Right Way?
Undoubtedly, in this day and age, social media marketing is one of the most effective, if not the best, ways to promote your business. But if you are not making the most of social media or haven’t yet dipped your toe into influencer marketing, this is your cue to embark on your social media journey with both legs.
Consider which platforms provide the best value, or did your target audience switch platforms, but you fell behind? Are you posting the same things for a long time, and they just don’t work anymore as they did back when you started?
Don’t be afraid to ask many questions until you find the right answers.
Play With Content Marketing
Content is not just the king today; it’s the whole kingdom! If your fundamentals are in check and you’re still finding it challenging to attract traffic, your content game might not be as strong as you think.
We live in a world driven by content. Be it for entertainment, infotainment, or business promotions; content marketing helps foster trust among people. So check in on your current content marketing strategies and see if they require changes.
You may be using Instagram to generate traffic. However, if you’re making neverending carousals instead of using Instagram’s most preferred format, videos and reels, your social media traffic might not be as high as expected.
Also, ensure your content resonates with the target audience. Good content always makes a difference.
Focus On Increasing Conversion Rates
The end goal of any digital marketing strategy is to convert a visitor into a customer. Content marketing and social media marketing are indirect ways to achieve this.
If you’ve been trying these for some time and haven’t found satisfactory results, it may be time to focus directly on the pain point, i.e., increasing conversion rates.
‘Retargeting and remarketing’ is one way to do so. Remarketing is essentially bridging the gap between the potential customer and a customer. Retargeting prompts a potential customer to complete an action.
For instance, a user may have added items to their cart but haven’t gone through with the purchase. Send them reminders to complete the action.
Sending newsletters and showing relevant ads to customers who’ve visited your website a number of times are ways to target potential customers and prompt them to make that action that would make them a customer.
The abovementioned moves offer simple ways to start auditing your existing digital marketing strategy. However, these may not be enough to keep up with technological advances.
In the second part of this post, we’ll take a step further and understand a few ways to level up your digital marketing game to keep up with the ever-growing field of technology.
How to Create Digital Marketing Strategies Amidst Some Massive Changes?
Google’s latest helpful content update announced last month focuses on creating more people-friendly content than SEO-friendly ones. This update certainly hit businesses that did not focus on creating meaningful content but stuffed their pages with keywords, making it impossible for readers to find what they were looking for.
Similarly, last year the tech giant announced that it might reduce the use of cookies given the concerns about user privacy.
Businesses are certainly shaking up their digital marketing trends, given these changes. However, the most ironic yet exciting thing for businesses to stay afloat is keeping in mind that customers’ preferences and technological advances keep changing. Focusing on just one aspect will not be enough in the long run.
Keep Up With the Latest Tools
Each day, an endless number of digital marketing tools enter the market. While it’s essential to remain up-to-date with them, don’t jump onto every shiny new tool, as it may do more harm than good, causing you to lose precious time that you can instead invest in growing your business in sustainable ways. Before clicking the download button, Identify the loopholes in your existing strategy and choose a tool that helps eliminate that loophole.
Encourage Ideation at the Workplace
People are at the core of any business.
AI and machine learning have taken over digital marketing. These concepts help companies better analyze data and predict customer behaviors. However, creativity is at the core of marketing in any industry, so it’s crucial to listen to people at your workplace.
When employees feel heard, they are more likely to discuss ideas openly that can aid your business to grow. To achieve that, you can employ some of the following techniques:
- Create an inclusive environment where every employee feels safe to communicate their ideas. Don’t stonewall them.
- Meet regularly to discuss ideas about revamping your digital marketing strategies.
- Create decentralized decision-making processes.
- Reward and appreciate employees for participating in meetings.
- Recognize your employees’ strengths and encourage them to play by their strengths.
Don’t Shy Away From Experimenting
Hit the pain point of the consumer, but creatively. The crux of marketing creatively is addressing the consumer’s pain points; however, this calls for experimentation and risk-taking.
For example, storytelling is gradually becoming the most beneficial marketing tool.
When you want to sell something, you want to provoke curiosity among your customers while creating a sense of urgency at the same time. It’s about striking the right balance between focusing on technical aspects and giving your product life of its own. Your brand should have a story that resonates with the audience.
Apple’s digital marketing strategy is an excellent example of using storytelling in marketing its products. On analyzing its strategy closely, you will realize that it primarily focuses on creating an experience for a customer and not just selling a product that looks good.
Build a Safety Net
Experimentation is key. However, experimenting in a trusted environment before implementing your strategies on a larger scale is a less risky road.
Take some friends, business partners, and your employees onboard to test your ideas. Collect their insights and, if necessary, adjust your actions accordingly before jumping in with both feet.
This way, you ensure that your service or product not only makes it but also thrives in the new era.
Cheers!