7 Cringe-Worthy Digital Marketing Mistakes Your Brand Should Avoid

Making mistakes in the wild west of digital marketing is a bit of a given. But it helps when you’ve got some navigation cues to help you sidestep the worst of them. Even big brands don’t get it right every time. Why does that matter to you? Because there are no failures in business, only learning experiences. Thankfully, many businesses have gone before you, resulting in some tough lessons learned that you can use to improve your own digital marketing campaigns.

Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Though this list isn’t exhaustive, it’s a good baseline to help you make the best decisions for your business.

Failing to Identify Your Target Audience

An unidentified and undefined audience is probably the biggest cringe-worthy mistake that brands make when it comes to digital marketing. Without knowing whom you are supposed to reach, how can you tailor your content to them? Brands should identify their target customer profiles using their demographic information, figure out what their weak points are, and design their digital marketing strategy accordingly. Just look at AOL and Time Warner. They were titans in their industry, but each had two very different audiences. Failing to recognize that meant billions of dollars were lost.?

Failing to Create a Well-Defined Digital Marketing Campaign

While you need background information to make a plan, if the plan or concept itself is faulty, no amount of information can help you. To succeed in digital marketing, you must put in the time and effort to develop a well-defined digital marketing campaign. This should include setting goals, creating a timeline, creating a budget, and brainstorming the main concepts and ideas you plan to use in your campaign.

Failing to Develop a Content Strategy

Breaking things down a bit further, another marketing blunder a brand can make is not developing a proper content strategy. Throwing a bunch of content up on a website without any real endgame or goal in mind muddies your brand’s messaging. A well-defined content strategy helps clarify your messaging and assists you in reaching your target market.

Failing to Make the Most of Social Media

Digital marketing is incomplete without social media. Your website and social media often work synergistically. Social media allows you to reach your audience in an informal way, while your website is your online business storefront that people can visit for more in-depth information.

Failing to Prioritize the User Experience

When developing a digital marketing strategy, a key factor is how your user perceives the information you provide and perceives their experience with your business.?

No matter how good your products or services are, if customers become annoyed because you send too many emails and messages, or there are too many hoops to jump through to use your website, or you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, their experience falls flat. Take lessons from Meerkat.?

They put more time and money into celeb endorsements than user experience and Twitter ended up essentially blowing them out of the water with Periscope. User experience is paramount.

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