3 Reasons Why Digital Marketing Is So Difficult For Beginners

There are thousands, if not millions, of articles online which tell you how easy digital marketing is. Whilst I don’t believe the sheer mechanics of any particular platform are tremendously difficult, finding the right balance of time and money invested to return generated can be extremely difficult for beginners.

I’m not saying that you can’t master certain, if not all the different marketing platforms. With the right focus and determination. But first you need to understand what it is that makes digital marketing so difficult in order to do it effectively.

I’ve found there are three factors which make digital marketing in 2019 more difficult than you may have previously believed it to be.

Attention Spans Are Low… Seriously Low

In this day and age, people don’t have the attention spans they once had. This is because it is increasingly easy to get what you want when you want it.

You can have your favorite foods delivered to your door with a couple of taps of a button, or Google any question and find an answer near immediately.

This means that people are not willing to wade through masses of text unless it captures their attention right away.

I myself have found that I am guilty of this, especially with television and movies. If it doesn’t grab me in the first few minutes, I find it hard to stick around until the end. I usually end up moving onto something a bit more productive.

So, how do you combat this in order to generate leads through digital marketing? First and foremost you need to get their attention and then keep it. For many businesses, this means creating niche content which appeals to a very specific target market. If the information you are offering speaks directly to the consumers you are trying to attract, they will take a moment out of their day to pay attention.

By creating niche content, you will strengthen your message and give the people who matter what they want when they want it. You want everything you produce online to resonate with your target market because then it is far more likely you will increase your chances of generating leads and encourage conversions. Putting a message in front of an audience has a costs whether it is time or money so it is so important that you increase your chances of conversion as much as possible.

Trust is hard-earned

It takes time to build trust. Imagine walking up to a stranger on the street and trying to convince them to hand over their money for any service. That’s going to be a hard sell and they likely won’t want to hand over their cash to a stranger right there and then.

Now imagine you are the one being approached on the street and someone wants to sell you something, but they are wearing a paper bag on their head! Why are they hiding their face? what have they got to hide? This is how people can feel online. As you are not often dealing with people face to face there’s a level of cautiousness that people operate with when it comes to the internet.

People are more likely to offer up their hard-earned cash to someone who they know and trust. This is why big companies spend so much time and effort developing brands, because people come to know and trust brands. Its why people will throw money at anything apple pumps out and go to McDonalds repeatedly despite saying they ‘dislike’ it. It’s the same with digital marketing, you need to earn people’s trust before they are willing to hand over their money for your goods or services.

A great way to build trust in the beginning is build a personal brand and don’t be afraid to put videos and pictures of your self on your website. It shows you have nothing to hide and people find it easier to get to know a person than a logo.

You also have to nurture your relationships with potential customers. You need to invest your time and resources in order to get them to convert to your brand. This cannot be stressed enough. It takes six to eight points of contact before people are generally willing to do business with you. Cultivate your relationships and remember to keep following up where your competition gives up. This is where you will start to see a bigger returns.

Competition

Finally, but most importantly, there is an obscene amount of competition out there. You cannot simply turn up, do an average job and expect a high (or even moderate) ROI. You need to be the expert that potential clients know and trust. They need a reason to believe, a reason to choose you over the competition.

Think of it like poker, you can’t just learn the rules, turn up and expect to win. In order to make money you need be better than the competition. At least the better than the average!

If you are not an expert, you need to either commit the time to learning it or hire an expert.

Above everything, be persistent, follow up, add value without expecting anything in return. Use your highest converting digital marketing strategies first. This is organic one to one conversation with your target client and for B2B businesses, you need to be using LinkedIn.

Final thoughts

You need a strong message and a follow-up strategy in order to succeed in your digital marketing efforts.

Work as hard as you can to become the experts that people know and trust. Best of luck with your digital marketing efforts. If you think I could help with lead generation for your own business then head to RyanCaswell.com and organise a time to chat or feel free to message me on Linkedin.