To many out there, digital marketing can seem like black magic. The vast majority of digital campaigns fail — or don’t get the ROI that business leaders expect. However, when you find the right agency to take your brand to the next level, you can change the narrative. One of the major stumbling blocks here is that few marketers know why their campaigns are not having the desired effect. When things don’t go quite to plan, you need a solution.
Agency founder and digital marketing guru, Rachel Pickles, has been working in the industry for a number of years. Since launching her successful career in the digital sector, she has aided leading brands in gaining the recognition they deserve. However, like many marketers out there, she has learned the hard way that some campaigns simply won’t take flight. In the following article, she reveals some of the reasons that your marketing is stuck.
You’re trying to target anyone and everyone
Are you casting your net too wide? Failing to identify your target market will mean that your campaign is set to fail. Before you do anything at all, you need to determine which group of individuals are most likely to be interested in and buy the product that you are selling. Trying to sell the whole world a product is a fruitless exercise since people have different interests, needs, and budgets. Narrowing down your audience is essential.
Now, you may need to do some market research to figure out who your target audience is. When you have done that, you can lead into a market segmentation strategy — that is dissecting your demographic into smaller slices, each of which will require its own approach. This process is often the longest part of creating any marketing plan. However, when you work with an agency or professional who follows the best practices, it is a must.
You’re not speaking the customer’s language
Language is everything. Whether you’re creating social media content or an advertising campaign, you need to speak your demographic’s language. Understanding the tone and slang that will resonate with this specific group will change the way that they communicate with them. If you fail at this baseline task, you may find that you alienate your audience before you have even started to pique their interest. That in itself is a colossal error.
To help you overcome this issue, it’s worth undertaking some research into your demographic. The deeper you understand their terminology and phrases, the better you will be able to access them and the wider conversation. Doing this research is the first step in creating a campaign that achieves the results you need. If you dive in headfirst and use language that doesn’t directly target your demographic, chances are, it simply won’t work.
You’re focused on features, not benefits
Let’s say you’re selling a product and you want to tell your audience all about the remarkable benefits it has to offer. As the inspirational speaker and author, Simon Sinek, says, you should “start with why.” What are these benefits offering your demographic and, perhaps most importantly, why should they care? If you’ve been working with the brand since the product’s inception, you will already be well-versed in the features it has.
However, you need to turn things around and consider what each feature offers the customer. For example, if a smartphone has a high-resolution camera, that feature alone will not sell the device. However, the fact that they can now take great quality pictures of their family’s holiday celebrations might do the trick. Whenever you’re trying to sell a feature, think about how the customer can use it and how it may enhance their life.
You’re expecting immediate results
Digital marketing campaigns often take time to achieve any major return. If you are working with eager clients, they may attempt to pressure you to give them immediate results. After all, the CEOs and leaders who are funding the campaigns want their budget to go as far as possible. Still, expecting miracles overnight is unrealistic. It’s important to manage their expectations from the offset so that your clients are not disappointed.
When you first start out with a client, it’s important to set reasonable timeframes. While these will have to be somewhat flexible, they allow the other party to have an understanding of when they can expect results. As standard, you will also report back to them on a regular — bi-weekly or monthly — basis. This approach means that the client can follow the process with you and see the results as they start to naturally occur.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is an art form, and it takes time to master it. If you are new to this field, it’s important to avoid the above mistakes as they may hold you back. The more time you give to honing this skill, the more likely you are to achieve the results that your clients demand. Consider the ways that you can upgrade your marketing strategies today.
About Rachel Pickles & Rachel Pickles Marketing & Design
Rachel Pickles is a freelance marketing specialist and founder of Rachel Pickles Marketing & Design. After graduating from Warwick University in 2019, she has held a variety of positions within the marketing sector before taking the leap to become an entrepreneur.
Her expertise spans widely from search engine optimisation (SEO) to graphic design and copywriting. In addition, she is an expert when it comes to email marketing, outbound marketing, remarketing, and social media marketing. Her track record includes the ability to help clients increase their web traffic by more than 150% and triple conversion rates.
Rachel Pickles Marketing & Design specialises in medical and legal marketing. Since launching the now-successful agency, she has worked alongside well-known medical product brands across the United Kingdom. Aside from supporting clients in improving their search engine ranking, she is a professional at overseeing project management. As such, she has helped clients launch successful websites and rebranding projects.
Rachel Pickles currently resides in London with her husband and two children. She is working on a book that is set to release in the fall of next year and will cover important marketing techniques. The publication will touch on voice search, long-form content, keyword density, keyphrase selection, and additional marketing-centric subjects.
