10 Signs Your Digital Marketing Strategy Needs an Overhaul via @jasonhennessey

One of the surest signs that your digital marketing is falling flat is if you’re not seeing the results you want from your marketing campaigns.

But determining whether your marketing needs an overhaul isn’t always that simple, as there can be many holes in your existing strategy.

The truth is, you may not know whether your marketing is effective if you don’t know what metrics to track or how to track them.

Further, you might see some revenue coming in, but how do you know if you’re generating the best results possible?

If you’re looking for a sign that your digital marketing could use a makeover, check out this list.

1. You’re Not Maximizing Your ROI

Seeing tangible results from your marketing efforts is always the goal, but are you getting the best possible return on your investment (ROI)?

This all comes down to determining your cost per acquisition (CPA) – how much it costs for you to acquire one new customer.

In tracking the success of your marketing campaigns, you’re likely to discover that some channels are more effective than others.

Your goal should be to acquire the maximum number of customers or clients for the lowest cost possible.

You’re only able to determine your true ROI by comparing the results across channels and campaigns, seeing which methods yield the best results.

If you aren’t confident that you’re maximizing your ROI, it may be time to give your marketing an overhaul.

2. Your Social Campaigns Are Falling Flat

One of the biggest mistakes brands make when it comes to their social media marketing is taking a “post and pray” approach – meaning they post content and pray it generates the engagement they want.

In actuality, brands should be posting content they know will resonate with their audience based on existing data.

Every social media platform has its own version of analytics or at least its own performance metrics.

Likes, comments, social shares, and clicks can all be indicators of follower engagement.

If you’re posting social media content and hearing crickets, something has to change.

Whether you’re investing your own time or have hired an agency to post on your behalf, that’s an investment that should be yielding money-making results.

Your social posts falling flat is surely an indication that your marketing needs a revamp.

3. You’re Seeing Traffic But No Conversions

Traffic generation is only one part of the equation when it comes to running successful marketing campaigns.

You could be attracting thousands of website visitors every week, but if they aren’t converting into paying clients or customers, you won’t see the ROI you deserve.

So whether you run your own marketing or are working with an agency, you’ll want to be sure that your marketing is translating into conversions, not just website visits.

This means using analytics tools like Google Analytics to track conversions on your website, attributing them to the right channel, and determining ROI on each of your campaigns.

For example, many businesses invest in search engine optimization (SEO) in order to drive organic traffic to their website, but this is rarely the end goal.

You’ll want that traffic to be highly targeted so website visitors are interested in your offers, subscribe to your newsletter, buy your products, or otherwise reach out to work with you.

4. You’re Seeing Little or No Traffic at All

If you’re seeing little to no traffic at all, this is also a bad sign.

No traffic means your marketing efforts aren’t actually working to drive users to your website or social media platforms.

Most platforms have their own unique algorithm which determines what content gets shown to users.

For Facebook, this means brands banking on organic reach to get noticed by potential customers.

When it comes to Google, this means optimizing your website so it gets displayed to users in the organic search results.

If you’re seeing little traffic from your primary marketing channels, this is a clear sign that your marketing needs a fix.

The right marketing strategies – and/or provider – will help you take advantage of these complex algorithms and drive more traffic to your business via the appropriate platforms.

5. The Returns on Your Paid Ads Are Abysmal

Pay per click (PPC) ads can be a great way to generate more leads fast, but they can also be crazy expensive if done incorrectly.

Many brands end up seeing poor results from their paid ads because the targeting is off, users aren’t converting, and/or the cost per click (CPC) is too high.

The key to effective paid campaigns is targeting the right audience with the right content.

Whether you’re running Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, or others, you want your campaigns to be laser-focused on your ideal audience and displaying content that’s relevant to them.

While cost per click can be highly variable, you want to be sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

That means testing ad groups, ad copy, keywords, targeting, and more to get the lowest CPC possible and maximize your ROI.

6. Your Campaigns Are Usually Thrown Together Last Minute

We’re all guilty of having thrown marketing campaigns together at the last minute, but if this is your go-to strategy, it may be time to take a different approach.

Effective marketing campaigns take time to put together, especially since you should be analyzing existing data, segmenting your audience, A/B testing your ads, etc.

If you want your digital marketing to be cohesive, then you should be planning most of your campaigns in advance.

This means taking the necessary steps to set up your campaigns, like conducting keyword research, setting your ad targeting, hiring copywriters, and more.

Imagine the relief of having your campaigns laid out well in advance, without the scramble of throwing them together last minute.

How much more effective would your marketing be if you had a clear plan of action from the beginning?

7. Your Website Is Being Buried in the Search Results

People use search engines like Google to find brands, services, products, and information every day.

If your audience is using Google to find brands like yours, but your website isn’t ranking high in the search results, you’re likely missing out on tons of potential customers.

Some websites will rank naturally but many will not.

This is because the competition is likely investing in their own SEO in order to rise to the top of the search results.

Again, you can’t follow the “publish and pray” method if you want to be competitive in Google.

To dig yourself out of the bottom of the search results, you should have an effective SEO strategy.

This involves optimizing your website for search, publishing high-quality content, targeting the right keywords, and attracting valuable backlinks to your site.

Don’t leave your Google rankings up to chance – make sure you have an SEO strategy that’s actively working to drive your website to the top.

8. You Don’t Know How to Analyze Performance on Your Campaigns

Many of the signs above involve analyzing whether your marketing efforts are actually yielding results.

But what if you have no idea how to measure results?

If that’s the case, then your approach to marketing may need an overhaul as well.

It isn’t enough to simply run a campaign and have a vague idea of how many leads or customers you’re generating as a result.

With this approach, you won’t have the information you need to determine your cost per acquisition or how much revenue you’re generating as a result.

For every marketing platform you use, make sure you have analytics set up to track key performance indicators (KPIs) for each of your campaigns.

These KPIs should be based on which metrics you’ll look to in order to measure success.

• For SEO, this may be page views, bounce rate, or conversions.
• For social, this may be likes, comments, shares, or clicks.
• For ads, this may be clicks, CPC, or click-through rate.

Setting these KPIs and knowing how to track them will help you assess whether your campaigns are actually yielding the results you want and whether you’re maximizing your ROI.

9. You Don’t Have a Cohesive, Multichannel Marketing Strategy

If you’re relying on a single marketing channel, you’re essentially putting all of your eggs in one basket.

If that channel dries up, you risk losing out on new leads and customers.

At the same time, if your marketing strategy is disjointed – meaning you don’t know how each campaign fits into the bigger picture – you’re likely to experience gaps in your marketing.

This may result in missing out on potential customers, having prospects drop off during your sales cycle, or communicating an incohesive brand identity.

Your goal should be to have a cohesive, multichannel marketing strategy that reaches potential customers across multiple touchpoints.

That way, your brand value is communicated effectively across every channel and you have multiple opportunities to attract customers.

What’s more, you can be confident that your marketing campaigns are all working together to attract your ideal customers to you.

10. You’re Not Hitting the Revenue Numbers You Want

The final and perhaps most important sign that your marketing needs an overhaul is if you aren’t hitting your revenue target.

If you’re funneling time or money into your digital marketing, you should be yielding real results in terms of revenue.

Assuming your marketing ticks the boxes in terms of driving traffic and leads, you’ll need a way to determine what’s driving your revenue numbers.

• Which channels are yielding the best results?
• Are your marketing dollars actually paying off?

If you aren’t confident that the results of your marketing are worth the cost, it may be time to go back to the drawing board.

Blindly channeling money into your marketing without the ability to measure results in terms of revenue numbers is risky, as you’re likely to dry up your budget or even put your business in the hole.

So, whether you’re running your own marketing or working with a company, step back and take a good look at whether your campaigns are yielding the results that you want.

If you’re not seeing the traffic, leads, and dollars rolling in, it’s likely time to take a different approach.

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