If you’re faking your way through the digital realm, you’re not alone. A recent survey by Adobe on “What Keeps Digital Marketers Up at Night?” shows that “less than half (48%) of professionals who consider themselves primarily digital marketers feel highly proficient in digital marketing. A majority of digital marketers haven’t received any formal training in digital marketing: 82% report learning on the job.”
Outrageous? Not really. Getting up to speed, assessing new platforms, deciding whether to jump in and how to execute on brand is time-consuming, and most marketers a) didn’t grow up with digital media and b) have other calls of duty.
It’s our job to make your job easier. To that end, here are 6 quick Do’s and Don’ts to know right now.
No faking required.
1. DO: Get up to speed with marketing automation : “marketing automation” turns your customer data points and activities into automatically personalized emails, letting you move every customer down the funnel based on their interests. Want to know more? Get up to speed here.
2. DON’T: Get in the “silo” trap: Silos happen when you think of your marketing as discreet platforms and assign a vendor for each: a social media vendor/a pay per click vendor/ an email management vendor/etc. This not only adds huge complexity to managing the brand messaging, it kills productivity and efficiency. And silos don’t just eat up your time and budget — message integration falls apart every time you add a new vendor, so you’re getting less effective communication with your consumer as well. Instead? Consolidate with a multi-channel agency that knows your sector and can represent your point of difference.
3. DON’T: Get star-struck: What’s going to be hot this time next year? It may not even be invented yet. There’s a fine balance between jumping into every platform and avoiding them altogether. Assess each new miracle innovation as a media choice, and look at the cost of entry and the payoff. Ask yourself if you have the assets – in time and materials – to execute it well.
For example, we set up Pinterest boards for our client because we were already creating beautiful recipe shots. Low cost of entry was rewarded with a platform that became the client’s biggest driver to the site.
4. DO: Get mobilized: Your site is format-responsive? Good, you’ve made it to step one. Now scrutinize your current content through the lens of the on-the-go consumer, and customize specific mobile content.
In other words? No one’s going to read the history of your company while they’re standing in the grocery aisle. And make those buttons bigger, boys.
5. DO: Get video: As streaming gets faster, video gets more popular, so smart marketers are looking at what they can produce that moves. Not all of it has to be a Michael Bay production. Presentations can become Slideshares, stills can get a voice over and find a home on YouTube.
6. DON’T: Get stuck talking to yourself: If you’re lacking social engagement, it’s likely that you’re hogging the conversation and talking about yourself and your products.
Instead, think about how your product or service relates to your consumers life and talk about them. Ask relevant questions. Relevant questions. Not random quizzes that scream, “please someone comment or I’ll lose my job.” Consumers go to your Facebook page because they want to tell you something. So listen and respond as a person.
Got all that? Of course, a blog can’t make you an expert, so feel free to let us know how we can help.