It's crucial to present a convincing business argument to invest in digital marketing because if you cannot convince your team members or yourself to invest, your business's future is in danger. The reason is simple: you will not be able to draw more customers to your business shortly. I offered this list of 10 advantages to investing in online marketing 20 years ago. However, they are still relevant, so I've kept refining my methods to design digital strategies that are in tune with current trends in digital marketing. In case you're not yet implementing an action plan, or perhaps you're trying to figure out the most critical business issues to be included in the strategic review, we've laid out the 10 most frequent problems that we've observed we've observed arise when you don't have a plan.
1.You're directionless
I've observed that companies that don't have any digital strategy (and the majority of those that have) do not have a clearly defined strategy in mind for what they'd like to accomplish online to gain new customers or develop more relationships with their existing customers. Suppose you don't have objectives that are based on specific digital marketing goals, likely. In that case, you don't have enough resources to achieve your goals, and you do not evaluate whether you're reaching these objectives using analytics. Our templates will help you make more accurate projections for spending money on digital marketing with suitable constant contact image sizes and increasing conversion rates. Use the online marketing tool RACE to streamline your monthly report on Google Analytics targets for reviews.
2.You won't be able to determine your audience online or market share
Demand for online services from customers might be underestimated if you aren't researching this. In addition, you'll be unable to comprehend your marketplace online. The marketplace dynamics will differ from traditional channels and will have different customer profiles and behavior, competition, ideas, and alternatives to communicate with customers. Our templates come with a customer persona guide as well as a template to assist you in creating more precise, real-life personas that track the content and messages required throughout the customer's journey. There are marketing tools available to help you conduct your planning and research. The popular module for competitor analysis included in the RACE Practical Digital Strategy Learning Path comes with templates and matrixes that allow you to evaluate the performance of your top competitors. Also, discover more about your target market's intentions using the Google Keywords planning tools.
3.Start-ups and existing competitors will expand their market share by improving their constantly-on marketing
Suppose you're not dedicating enough resources to digital, or you're using an in-the-moment approach that doesn't have a defined strategy. In that case, your competition is likely to eat their digital meals! Always-on marketing describes the expenditures in owned, paid, and earned media required throughout the customer's lifecycle, as illustrated in figure 2.1. These are essential to keep their visibility and continuously aid in retention and conversion when people look for and choose items online. We suggest using a 90-day plan (template) to prioritize your tasks with the RACE process, which identifies 25 crucial digital initiatives that you need to refine, focusing on the most important ones. As members of Smart Insights, we'll also keep you informed of the most recent trends and developments in your field. This will help you remain ahead of the curve and not get behind.
4.There's no compelling online value proposition
When determining the opportunities available to you in a strategic approach to digital marketing, it's beneficial to consider how digital experiences can enhance your brand's appeal. This means improving your online offerings, such as interactive tools and customer interaction, to improve service. A clear Digital value-added proposition customized to your unique customers' personas will allow you to make your website stand out and attract new and existing customers to join in the first place and remain loyal.
5.Your online customers aren't your customers enough
It's said that digital is the "most measurable medium ever." However, Google Analytics and similar will only provide you with the number of visits, but not the mood of your visitors and what they feel about it. It is important to utilize different types of research and websites that provide feedback to pinpoint your weaknesses and tackle them.
6.You're not fully integrated ("disintegrated")
It's not uncommon for digital tasks to be performed in silos, whether a specialist digital marketing professional in IT or even an independent digital agency. It's simpler to bundle 'digital' into a compact chunk. However, it's not as efficient. All agree that digital media perform best when combined with conventional media and response channels. We recommend putting together an integrated digital marketing strategy so that your digital marketing is working for you! When your integrated plan is implemented, digital will be a part of your marketing strategy and business as usual.
7.Digital isn't able to attract enough people or budget considering its importance
Insufficient resources will be allocated to the planning and execution of electronic marketing. There's a chance of the absence of expertise in e-marketing, which could hinder the ability to deal effectively with threats from competitors. As a Smart Insights member, you'll be able to use strategies and planning tools, including benchmarking of digital maturity and performance and regularly updated marketing data reports to keep track of your place in the highly competitive market.
8.You're wasting your time and money because of duplicate work
However, even if you have the resources you need, they can be wasted. This is especially the case for larger organizations where different areas of the marketing department use different tools or companies to perform similar tasks in online marketing. That's why it's essential to put money into a strategy for marketing that is effective for both you and the team to manage, plan and optimize your online media and channels. You can achieve the results you require to meet your goals for the business and improve your marketing ROI.
9.You're not quick enough to keep up with the competition or keep up
If you look at the most popular online brands, such as Amazon, Booking.com, Dell, Google, and Zappos, they're all constantly exploring new ways to grow or retain their online customers. The 90 days of our RACE Growth system will help you develop similar processes to boost your performance.
10.You're not optimizing your performance
Every business with a website is likely to have analytics. However, many top managers do not ensure that their teams create or take the time to evaluate and implement the results when your digital channel strategy lets you master the fundamentals and then move on to the continual enhancement of critical elements like branding, site user experience, and nurturing leads.
