You’re thinking about a career in digital marketing. Congratulations! We are in the era of digital marketing, and building a strong online presence is necessary for any business. However, it is easier said than done. Running a successful digital marketing campaign is not an easy task, more so if you’re to go down that road by yourself. With so much to consider, starting your online marketing path can be daunting.  

If you’re just starting your career in digital marketing, it’s relatively easy to make mistakes. However, at times these errors can be quite costly to the business. Many businesses feel like they are on the right track, only to realize that they do not get the desired results. 

To prevent mistakes from damaging your brand, one of the best things you can do is understand what most beginners do wrong. Here are the five biggest digital marketing mistakes and how you can avoid and correct them today:   

  

Mistake #1: No clarity on audience and goals  

Before running any digital marketing campaigns, the first step is to have a clear understanding of your target audience and the specific results you wish to achieve. For your target audience, you should have a clear view of who your ideal customers are: What problems do they have?; Where do they look for solutions to those problems?; What are their interests?. This is the first step to identifying who to invest your marketing efforts into and will help you tailor your message and strategy. Knowing the right people to target helps you curate content that resonates with their interests, increasing your chances of conversion. 

You should also set up clear, measurable goals that will offer you the direction to take and know whether your campaigns are a success or not. Goals should be S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).   

 

Mistake #2: Failure to document the strategy  

Now that you have established who your target audience is and what your goals are, it is important to clearly map out all the key details of the strategies you wish to undertake. Even though your team has a clear picture of what to do throughout the campaign, you’ll have to put it all down in writing.   

Studies have proven that over 65% of all successful marketers have a documented strategy. These are high numbers that demonstrate the importance of having a clearly mapped out plan throughout your marketing life cycle.   

 

Mistake #3: Ignoring SEO  

Search Engine Optimization is a top digital marketing strategy used to increase the online visibility of a brand through the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). When small business owners hear about SEO, they may get a little scared as the acronym itself sounds technical. The truth is, SEO is something that even a beginner can comfortably do.

Once you have a website, ensure that it is fully optimized for search engines by conducting an in-depth SEO audit. This audit will help you identify any errors within your website that would prevent search engine crawlers from indexing your website.   

SEO is an ever-changing field, and whatever may work today may not work tomorrow. This is why it is prudent to keep up with the algorithmic changes by following up on industry influencers and keeping up with relevant online course platforms.   

   

Mistake #4: Overlooking quality content   

The first lesson you’d get when you enroll in a digital marketing class is that content is king. People will follow you and subscribe to your digital platforms only when they find your content useful to them. You need to ensure that you understand what your audience wants to see on your platforms and invest more time and other resources in that.    

Furthermore, do not limit yourself to only one type of content. You should try to diversify your content by publishing for multiple forms of content, such as videos, infographics, social media posts, and blog posts.     

Finally, focus on quality in your content. People care less about how many blog posts you have or how many social media posts you’ve published and care much more about how helpful that content was for them. So when producing content, ask yourself: “Is this something that my target audience is going to find valuable?”.

  

Mistake #5: Relying too much on social media  

Whenever we talk about digital marketing, the first thing that comes to mind is social media. Social media is great for some businesses, and much less valuable for others. Again: understand your audience. Do they even spend time on social media? We encourage you to think very carefully about this to determine resources to put into social media and other channels.

That’s it!

There you have it, five common digital marketing mistakes to avoid as you embark on your career in digital marketing. So go ahead, identify who your target audience is, know your goals, and don’t over-rely on a single medium.