When It Comes To Digital Marketing, Don’t Always Follow The Hype

Have you ever seen this commercial from Adobe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr_EtMhM3fg

It’s funny, but there’s a sad truth behind it all: many business owners don’t know what to do when it comes to digital marketing, and so they blindly follow the advice of others without actually knowing whether or not it will benefit their business.

I remember having a conversation with a business owner – who was told he needed to be investing time and money in a certain social media channel – who decided to completely give up on social media altogether. While social media is certainly valuable to a company, this business owner hadn’t been taught how to use it properly, and his expectations were unrealistic. He had simply heard, “you need to be on social media!”… and so he followed the hype (and ended up very frustrated and disappointed).

Hype (verb) = promote or publicize (a product or idea) intensively,
often exaggerating its importance or benefits (source: Google)

We hear every day about the latest and greatest social network, software tool, or digital platform we ‘need’ to be using. In most of my meetings with prospects and clients, there is always some software tool, new social media channel, or other digital platform they heard of that they think they need to be using.

I’m a huge fan of digital marketing, but different businesses will utilize different channels, sometimes in drastically djfferent ways.

A B2B company selling $10,000+ industrial equipment to other businesses is going to have a very different strategy than a local chiropractic trying to reach patients in the towns surrounding his clinic. One may want to use real-time marketing software, while the other may not.

What works for one business or industry, may not work for another.

How can you avoid wasting time and money on marketing that doesn’t pay off? How can you approach digital marketing the right way, without wasting a lot of time and money? Here are four ways:

1. Know your customers: Who are your customers? (Age, gender, income range, location, psychographics, problems, demographics, desires.) If your customers don’t listen to podcasts, then your business probably doesn’t need one. If your customers are on Twitter, then you should probably be there.
2. Research: Are other companies in your industry using that digital marketing channel? Are they seeing success, or not really? Are your customers using/listening/reading the digital channels you’re considering using? Be sure to research your industry, competitors, and customers before you dive into a digital channel, so you know whether or not there’s a reason to be there.
3. Test and refine: Ultimately, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t work without actually testing your ideas and hypotheses. Keep a control and monitor on your campaign budget, launch your marketing campaign(s), and test. Then, review the results, and refine your strategy and tactics accordingly.
4. Track the return on investment (ROI): Make sure you are tracking your conversions (i.e. sales, leads, signups, phone calls, etc.), cost per conversion, and be sure to know what each conversion is worth to your organization in total lifetime value. If you don’t do this, there is no way to know what is and isn’t working in your marketing.

Follow these four steps above, and you’ll ensure that you and your team won’t get sucked into a trend, tool, or strategy that isn’t right for your organization.

Want to discuss your goals and the best ways your organization
could utilize digital marketing for greater impact, reach, and revenue?
Schedule a digital marketing consultation today!

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