Although we live in a civilized society, the business world remains a jungle.
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Digital is new; everyone is excited. The CEO wants to tick all the items in the digital checklist. He wants a great website. The traffic target has been set. A Social media team has been created. Even a large part of the marketing budget has been allocated to digital.
In this enthusiasm, most marketing teams fall into some pitfalls, which could be avoided with minimal effort.
THOU SHALT not do your own website
Websites are simple. You check the competitor website; this looks nice. Let’s do something similar. Search for the cheapest available web designer around. Give him instructions. Rest will be taken care of. Right? WRONG !!!
Your website is the first and most devastating major digital marketing mistake you can make. Rather than micromanage the look and feel of your website, the management needs to focus on the big picture.
Ask the right questions. What can the website do for you ? Find a team that can deliver the full potential a website can offer.
WHAT ARE THE RIGHT QUESTIONS ?
- What Are your Objectives ?
- Do you intend to do e-commerce through your website ?
- Does the website represent your company or product ?
- Have you done in-depth analysis on competitor websites apart from look and feel ?
- How critical is the website for your business success ?
When you start asking these right questions, your way forward becomes more clear. If your business depends on the website to succeed, you will need to put sufficient resources behind it. In today’s world, any business needs a website. How much you spend on the website should be justified by your business case.
THOU SHALT NOT STEAL
Creating original content is hard work. Stealing is easy, especially if you will never be caught. AI has eyes on you , search engines and social media companies punish you if you steal content. Being inspired by someone else is not a sin. You need to create systems to make sure your digital platforms avoid plagiarism.
HONOR your customer’s interests
Most websites and social media brag about themselves, it becomes disrespectful. Internet is a crowded place. All kinds of people come to your website. All of them have something in common. They are looking for something valuable. Information that can help them while pursuing their goals.
I am your Brand, Thou shalt not blindly follow any competitor
Your competitor may make more money than you , that doesn’t mean what they do digitally is the right way to go. Blindly following your competitor will put you in a deep pit. Be original, show the guts to be original. Follow the best practices, not your competitor.
Thou shalt not bear false measurement of your results
Not measuring your success or failure is a grave mistake in the digital world. Make sure you measure what matters to you. Do not measure silly metrics as Facebook likes. What matters is sales, quality inquiries, genuine customer reviews, everything else is just vanity. These are the matrices which matter.
Cost/sales
Does your digital marketing expenditure make your product/service loss-making? Stop what you are doing. In the beginning, you will need to make some investments, but at some point of time, your sales should sustain your marketing expenses. Allocate a percentage of your product price as marketing expense. Your digital marketing expense should not exceed those limits. This is common sense isn’t it ?
You can measure an improvement in digital marketing if you see a sustainable reduction in cost/sales.
sales/enquiry ratio
High sales/Inquiry ratio is a clear indicator of the quality of your digital marketing operation. It is pointless to generate inquiries which do not convert to sales. Such inquiries reduce the effectiveness of your sales team.
Engagement
Indicators such as Bounce Rate, Social Media Likes/Share/Comments indicate that your visitors are satisfied with your digital platform contents.
