If you’ve just started a business, you’ve probably encountered your fair share of curveballs. No one starts any business endeavor as a master, and mistakes are part of the learning process for every startup. While it’s great to learn from mistakes, wouldn’t it be even better if you could avoid them altogether? When it comes to digital marketing, the more mistakes you can sidestep, the better. With this in mind, we want to share these five digital marketing mistakes every startup should avoid in order to save time and money.
Not Deferring to an Expert
Many first-time business owners start out with a lot of enthusiasm and a “can do” attitude. This is marvelous, but not if it gives you a false bravado that dupes you into thinking you know how to do everything on your own. In truth, the best startup success stories are born from business owners who hire professionals to help them with crucial tasks such as digital marketing and advertising.
The fact is, digital marketing is a complex, multifaceted process. That is why you should defer to an expert who specializes in digital advertising services. By partnering with a specialist, you can save yourself loads of costly errors and put yourself on the fast track to winning more customers with a professional digital marketing expert by your side.
Underestimating the Power of SEO
We know that as a startup, you’re likely consumed with an endless laundry list of tasks. Most startup owners are preoccupied with production or drumming up sales leads. While this is admirable, many business owners fail to recognize the power of SEO when it comes to boosting sales leads and leveraging their online advertising strategy.
SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the most effective ways to get your customers to find you online. Make full use of keywords, and optimize your website so that it can be ranked better on search engines. You should also make every effort to keyword-optimize your advertisements. The more you optimize for search engines, the better results you’ll see in traffic, customer attraction, and sales.
Not Leveraging Social Media
Don’t make the mistake of thinking social media is just for sharing selfies or posting funny memes. In reality, social media can be your best digital marketing tool. When using social media for marketing, aim to provide value to your audience. Of course, you’ll want to promote your business too, but do this in such a way that is meaningful and useful to your followers. Engage your users. Ask them about their thoughts and opinions. Set up polls or surveys. The more you can interact with your media followers, the more opportunities you have to build your customer base and build your sales lead list.
Ignoring Mobile Users
You might wonder what mobile devices have to do with digital marketing. When you realize there are over 5 billion mobile users worldwide, and over 92% of these mobile users rely on their phones to go on the internet to shop online – you’ll see that marketing with mobile users in mind is crucial. Because smartphones are the standard when it comes to doing business, it’s imperative that you tailor your digital marketing strategies to accommodate mobile users.
Make sure your advertisements are responsive (able to display on both desktop and mobile devices). Also, design your business website around mobile users. Most content management systems and website themes are programmed to be mobile-friendly today. However, always test your site design and ads on mobile devices to make sure everything is presented correctly on the user end.
Having a Stagnant Website
One of the biggest ways to stall your digital marketing efforts is to neglect your website. Many startups make the mistake of thinking that once their business website is up, that’s the end of the story. In truth, you’ve got to keep building that story so that your customers and followers are continually reminded that you are present and relevant. This is why you should have a blog on your website. A blog allows you to keep your brand fresh, which lets your followers know that you’re very much in the game of satisfying their needs with your business offerings. A blog keeps your business evergreen and keeps your customers connected to you.
The Last Word on Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
In closing, some of these mistakes might not seem directly related to digital marketing. The reality is, digital advertising entails many different factors to be truly successful. Ultimately, digital marketing is more about paying attention to your audience than it is about advertising and promoting. While that may sound counterintuitive, a successful startup can’t survive without catering to its customer base.
