3 Common Digital Marketing Fails (And What To Do Instead)

Is your digital marketing failing to raise your bottom line and outshine your competition? While it’s not uncommon to see campaigns miss the mark, there are ways to quickly turn the tables.

Done well, digital marketing delivers great results from more quality leads to strong business growth. Examine the latest stats and trends for yourself. Yet while some SMEs are getting ahead, others scratch their heads in frustration.

In this article, Online Marketing Gurus have exposed the three common mistakes B2B marketers make, why digital marketing fails and how to turn these blunders into your biggest learnings.

1. Not Having a Clear Strategy

This is the most common mistake marketers and small business owners make, and most don’t even realise until it seems too late. When you’re focussed on the day-to-day, it’s easy to get reactive rather than proactive in your marketing.

You do a “little bit of this” and a “little bit of that” in sporadic bursts of activity. You’ve mastered doing a few things like event sponsorships, a couple of blog posts, and a little SEO to keep your website ticking along.

And you’re not alone: 45% of marketers report having no clear documented strategy despite doing some digital marketing.

You need a strategic plan to achieve your revenue goals. This means planning out your seasonal marketing activities and offers alongside your “always-on” evergreen campaigns. Focus on long-term planning and the channels that are the most likely to deliver greater results. Create clear steps, timelines and budgets for what you’re going to do in the future.

2. Not Using Automation Tools

If you’re trying to do everything manually, then you’ve underestimated the scale of the job. Despite your best efforts, this marketing fail means you’re missing out on opportunities to win new leads and customers. Rather than getting a lap on your competition, you’re struggling to get out of the gate.

There’s an answer: marketing automation tools.

The global marketing automation spending is set to surpass $23 billion by 2023, with a 14% year-on-year growth rate.

Most B2B marketers say the ability to generate more high-quality leads is the number one benefit of marketing automation and companies that automate lead management report an increase in revenue by at least 10% in 6-9 months.

Which tool to invest in? Get the ball rolling with something like Zapier or HubSpot, which easily allow you to automate everything from sales and marketing to customer relationships using a central platform.

3. Not Knowing What Your Market Is Searching For

How much do you really know about your customers? Even if you don’t know a lot, your leads potentially go through multiple stages before they become customers. This is your marketing funnel.

Customers at different stages of the funnel have different search behaviour and search intent.

With 61% of B2B buyers starting their research with search engines, you need to make sure you can meet them where they’re looking for information by crafting your website content with the entire customer journey in mind.

When it comes to lead generation, you need to know your target market and target what they’re searching for at every stage (from awareness through to advocacy). So you need to do keyword research for each stage and target these keywords in your search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) strategy. This is one of the best ways to make sure you are serving the right sales messaging, at the right time, for maximum conversions.

Digital marketing can and will deliver huge B2B growth, new sales opportunities, and tangible revenue impact when you’ve created a strong framework. Do away with these fails for good and skyrocket your small business to success. Skip all the obstacles and speedbumps in the road, and download your Digital Marketing Game Plan now.

Author: Andrew Raso

CEO and Co-Founder of Online Marketing Gurus, Andrew has had a long, illustrious career in the SEO and SEM industry. After years of working for agencies, Andrew started OMG to remove the complexity of SEO and provide simple, transparent results. He has recently won a B&T 30 under 30 award in the Entrepreneur category. Andrew has featured in and contributes to Entrepreneur, CMI, Jeffbullas, Search Engine Journal, and more. Andrew has also been featured on Sky News Business and Foxtel’s ‘Industry Leaders’.

Be sure to check out Online Marketing Gurus at the B2B Marketing Expo at Booth #1017 April 6 & 7, 2022 at the LA Convention Center!