A couple of years ago, I was a guest on Small Biz Radio here in St. Louis and the hosts asked me for the most common marketing mistakes businesses make. They also wanted to know what are the most common strengths or weaknesses in executing a digital marketing plan – and what constitutes a good digital marketing plan for website design, content management, Google ads, email marketing, and more.
We went into detail on this on the program and came out with 6 key points – I have summarized them all for you.
1. Research
When we say research we really mean it. This step is often overlooked or is done incorrectly – for example, researching only what the business thinks it needs versus what clients and potential customers think they need.
Research really means looking. Lots of looking. Look some more. Look and see what is there. Not what you think is there or what you want to be there, but what is actually there.
Then, look some more. The brightest ideas come from looking and observing and digging up information and looking some more.
Marketing research does not mean looking into the best ways to use up a budget that has been allocated for marketing for the year. Research does not mean deciding which digital advertising platform or avenue one will go with. That is the planning phase – it comes after the research.
Decisions to execute on digital advertising or to put in place actions in a company, made too soon and without data, can be more destructive to digital marketing for a business than changing nothing.
2. Simplicity
Okay, research is done. Good. Now, keep it simple. There is only so much you could do. Just look at social media – you could tweet and pin and post and like and comment and share and on and on. Suddenly lots of busyness is happening but no measurable result. Simplicity means picking the highest level, largest impact items to focus on, and doing them well.
It might be as simple as a receptionist who makes every customer feel like a million bucks when they contact you. Or actually attending that Chamber of Commerce meeting you have been meaning to go to to promote your digital marketing services. It might mean real content marketing to ensure your digital marketing really has an impact. The impact of marketing and advertising – whether online or off – is magnified by the real-world actions a business takes in building its brand.
3. Focus
Okay – this one can be tough. It goes hand in glove with point 2. Focus on your plan and get it done. Don’t allow other last-minute “bright ideas” to cloud your focus. Or the focus of your employees.
If a bright idea comes along that isn’t planned take a look back at your action plan. There is a small chance that you or your marketing person have executed so well on your plan, on all your steps of your digital marketing action plan, that there is in fact time to test a new bright idea. Typically not. But, if there is, go ahead and have fun with it. You deserve it.
4. Execution
Alright – execution. This point is actually very easy to miss. It seems like the digital marketing avenues you chose isn’t working. A plan was made and it was simple and your marketing person says things are rolling but one doesn’t see the results. This can be very discouraging.
Take a look at what is actually happening – is the execution actually taking place? I have heard people say a plan wasn’t getting results only to factually discover that 90% of the plan was not being done. And it wasn’t a complicated plan either. It simply was not being done and the owner was being told it wasn’t working.
When it comes to digital marketing, it’s important to have realistic expectations. Some people expect to see results immediately.
In reality, it may take six months for you to start seeing big results!
Before you abandon ship, do an inspection into your execution and get things on track. This is especially insidious with digital marketing.
5. Testing
What’s working? Monitoring key statistics are important in marketing. This includes the easy ones to miss like incoming calls and internet inquiries.
Plans that are working can be abandoned solely because sales didn’t increase. Often in this case other marketing problems exist preventing sales from occurring – the leads are coming in but they are being mishandled. This is normal – fix the mishandling, continue the marketing and watch the statistics rise.
Of course, there are times it simply didn’t work. Recognizing this and changing a tactic while strengthening the areas that did work is vital. Chad Lane has a great marketing checklist for seeing what’s working. You could simply use that for testing.
6. Consistency
Keep it up! Keep doing what is working.
Change management is a beast. The employee (or owner, cough cough) who is so used to doing things the same old way can be a problem that must be addressed. The offline and online marketing efforts are rolling but no internal change has taken place. Consistency in your marketing means doing the plan across the board – and continuing to do that plan. Any good digital marketing plan contains internal actions too – things the owner and employees must do for success to occur.
Well, there you have it. The 6 points where one can misstep or succeed in executing their digital marketing and offline marketing efforts. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me. If you found this useful, feel free to share it with friends.
Ready to execute a successful digital marketing plan? Even if your business isn’t local to St. Louis, Worry Free Marketing can help. We have expertise in website design, content marketing, Google ad management, email marketing, and more!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us today!