Digital marketing is a delicate science, and it is drastically different than advertising in any other media. There are factors that simply never existed in television, radio, or print advertising, and these factors are incredibly important to the success of your campaign. Three Digital Marketing Mistakes
- Failing to promote your content You may create the best digital marketing content, but if you do not invest in promoting your ad, your time, money, and efforts will be lost. One great example of a successful digital marketing campaign is Turkish Airlines’ “Kobe vs. Messi: The Selfie Shootout” ad. Turkish Airlines is not a particularly large operation, but their global reach is greater than any other airline, as they fly to more than 100 countries worldwide. They invested in promoting this online video and not only was it viewed more than 140 million times, but 77 million of those views took place within the first week of the video’s online debut. This is astronomical in comparison to Virgin Airlines’ flight safety video, which was viewed just over 10 million times with no significant promotional effort. Approximately 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and there are over 100 billion global searches being conducted each month. Without proper promotion, you simply won’t get the views you need.
- Ignoring the research Smart brands will learn from an experimental launch of digital content, collecting data that determines what their audience responds to best. This data includes volume of views, viral distribution, comments, and audience retention. Procter and Gamble, for instance, does a great job of learning from its previous online videos. They release videos and measure their success based on the aforementioned data. From that feedback, they then create new videos that cater to the online audience. Their Always #LikeAGirl campaign originally launched online in 2014, and only after receiving more than 50 million views did it appear on television during the 2015 Super Bowl.
- Trying to be something you are not Authenticity is essential. Your audience is smarter than you might give them credit for. For instance, Free People ran a digital marketing campaign for its dance inspired clothing line. However, the ballet dancer featured in the ad was not a real trained dancer, and professional dancers caught on right away, slamming the company for its lack of authenticity. The reality is, in the digital world, the audience has a strong voice and they are not afraid to use it.
Especially when it comes to digital marketing, the user experience is essential. How does your audience engage with your brand? Is your online content accessible? For example, studies show that 40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load. One of the greatest mistakes you can make in regards to digital marketing is creating a low-quality piece of content. This can easily be avoided when you hire a professional digital marketing team. No piece of an ad campaign stands alone. Today we receive our information over a number of interconnecting platforms, and each part must fit together in smooth cohesion. This is called integrated marketing and it is more important than ever. Websites, mobile apps, YouTube videos, print ads, television commercials, etc. – all must work in harmony and demonstrate consistency.
