Is Your Website Doing Its Job? If Not, Revisit Your Web Strategy
December 30, 2015
Writing for Inbound Marketing
January 25, 2016
So your company wants to implement a digital marketing strategy… Congratulations, that’s a really smart move AND you’ve come to the right place! You may already have an idea of what you’d like to accomplish with digital marketing and how, but once you get started, it can be easy to start wanting and expecting results that aren’t realistic. Before that can happen, check out digital marketing’s 7 “deadly” sins so you’ll know what to expect, avoid, and how to react to situations you might experience when you start marketing online.
Successful Digital Marketing Strategies Won’t Include…
Lust (Marketing to the Wrong People in the Wrong Places)
Of course you have deep desires to attract more customers, but it’s not okay for you to just throw yourself at just anybody in unsavory ways. This means no spamming email inboxes, no blowing up social media feeds, and no putting links to your website in seedy forum comment sections, etc. just to get your name out there to anybody and everybody hoping that something works.
Instead, you need to first focus on attracting the RIGHT customers. Not every single living, breathing human needs what you have to offer, so you should only be focusing on the ones that do. Flesh out your buyer personas, then craft your content so that your sharing information that they need in the places they’re looking for it.
Gluttony (Focusing on Quantity of Posts Rather than Quality of Content)
You should absolutely share your content, but you should never post for the sake of posting. Nobody wants to see 8 Facebook updates from the same company in one day, and if you start sharing content that isn’t relevant to your followers just so you can stay at the top of their newsfeeds and timelines, you can expect to be seeing a lot of unfollows.
The Zero Moment of Truth is that exact moment when someone has a need or question they want answered online. For B2B companies, over 70% of buying decisions are made prior to ever contacting a company. With that in mind, stop oversharing and start focusing on the quality of your content over the quantity of your posts. Anticipate the needs of your personas, provide information to educate them, and if your content is awesome, authentic, informative, and ultimately, valuable, you’ll likely win the trust and the business of the people who need your products or services.
Greed (Expecting Results Immediately)
Know that customers won’t be banging down the doors for your service the second you redesign your website or start regularly publishing content. We know that you spent a lot of time and money making all of these changes and implementing a digital marketing plan and that you want to see a return on your investment, but, as with anything, good things come to those who wait.
If you’re new to digital marketing, it’s going to take several months to start seeing results. Over time, once you have perfected your on- and off-page SEO, have researched and started ranking for the right keywords, and have a deep well of information for consumers to draw from, you’ll establish yourself as an expert in your field meaning more people will be able to find you, trust you, and choose you over the competition.
Sloth (Letting Consumers Forget Who You Are)
It’s simply not enough to just create a website and let it sit, or create social media profiles without ever sharing anything on them. If people are looking for answers or solutions to their problems and come across your website or profiles, they’re going to click away and onto your competition if there is no current, quality information there to guide them or meet their needs.
The solution to digital marketing sloth is planning out your content so that you’re regularly posting and sharing it to be seen and enjoyed by your followers. You should be adding fresh content to your site regularly; this means new pages of content or special landing pages quarterly, and blogging at least monthly. When it comes to social media, posting 3-4 times per week will keep you active in your followers’ newsfeeds without getting annoying.
Wrath (Ignoring the Phrase, “The Customer is Always Right”)
Keep your cool if and when you get a bad review on Google, Yelp, or Facebook for all the world to see. If someone isn’t pleased with the product or service they received, calling them out isn’t going to make them feel any better or ever inspire them to suggest your company to their friends and family, nor is it going to reflect well on your business.
Instead of trashing the person who wrote it, try to contact them to calmly discuss their problem and what you can do to fix it. If you make it right, they’ll probably have a more positive view of your business in the end because not only did you fix their problem, but you showed them that you actually care and made them feel special. Remember, it’s easier for a customer to update their review after you fixed their problem than it is for you to have to rebuild your reputation after “attacking” a customer online.
Envy (Getting Jealous of—Rather than Learning from—Your Competition)
Sometimes your competition is going to do better than you… You may see them getting more contacts, more calls, more business, and therefore achieving more success than you. If you see that happening, don’t just get jealous and accept that they’re better than you and “that’s just the way it is.”
If you’re just not quite stacking up to your competition, take the opportunity to evaluate your business and your digital marketing strategy and see how you can improve. What is the competition doing that is attracting all those consumers? Is their content more focused? Are their social media posts more engaging? Do they have more defined personas? Do they have a better list of contacts? These aren’t all necessarily things that you can just observe, but they’re great starting points if you’re trying to improve.
Pride (Saying How Great You Are but Doing Nothing to Prove it)
You can boast that you’re the best all day long, but why should people believe you? Every company says they’re the best, but who even listens to those that say that? Language like this is so commonplace that it is simply overlooked, or worse, a signal that this company is actually not the best.
Have you ever heard the phrase “show don’t tell?” That phrase applies perfectly to this situation. Instead of bragging on yourself and throwing around words and phrases like “#1” and “the best,” prove these things with clear, concise, and compelling content, an impressive portfolio, thought provoking case studies, glowing customer reviews, and relevant awards. There’s no need to say you’re the best if you focus, rather, on proving it.
We’ve been in the digital marketing game for a long time now and we know better than to commit any of these sins. Whether you’re ready to implement a digital marketing strategy for the first time or you want to pass the responsibility from an in-house team to an agency, we can help you out! Give us a call at (864) 288-6162 or contact us online to let us know your marketing wants and needs. You can also click the banner below to get a free guide to inbound marketing!
