ach day, businesses globally compete for their portion of market share. As more companies enter the online space, the arena only becomes more and more competitive. At the time of writing, 50% of small businesses have a website. Given that there are more than 2 million small businesses in Australia alone, the logical next question is: how can your company stand out in such a crowded arena?
One thing that can separate your company from its competitors is a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Even if your offerings are differentiated and solve a specific problem, your customers won't ever know if they can't find out and you will remain one of the market's best-kept secrets along with many others. So, how can you tell if your digital marketing strategy (or activities if you don't have a documented plan) is working or not, and what are the signs it needs a makeover? Read on.
4 Indications it's Time to Rethink Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Behind every successful business is a bulletproof strategy. To remain successful, companies must create, implement, and manage their strategy on an ongoing basis because the online world is dynamic and unreliable.
If you notice any of the following signs, it's an indication that your company needs to reevaluate and modify its digital marketing strategy:
1. You've fallen off Google's radar
When you first launched your website, you were ranking well. Google was indexing your pages, and your company was enjoying its fair share of organic traffic. Recently, though, your rankings have dropped off. If this happens, it's a sure-fire sign that your SEO isn't working as well as it should.
Generally, this happens because businesses fail to notice and react to trends and changes. They build something that works at first, and then they don't update it. Things like the technical aspect of a website, site speed, structure, usability, and Google algorithm updates that affect the marketing landscape can all impact ranking. Because of this, it's critical to take another look at your digital marketing strategy any time you notice a big dip in your organic traffic.
2. Your conversions have decreased or died
You're getting qualified traffic, but nobody is converting. What gives? When people are searching for your site's specific products and still not buying, it's a huge red flag for your strategy and a good indicator that you've got to take another very close look at your conversion rate optimisation. The first step here is to track your customer's on-site behaviour. This will give you the information you need to figure out what on your site is driving them away, and what you can do to address it.
If you've updated content, navigation, or your shopping cart experience in recent months, these are good starting points. When your conversions decline, the solution is to identify and target initiatives that will resolve the problem. Instead of taking a random guess at the source of the problem, gather some data and make an informed decision.
3. You do not see results from social campaigns
Over 50% of Australian businesses have an active social media presence, and many have run a Facebook ad at some point. Unfortunately, most small business owners know what it feels like to put a Facebook campaign out there and see no results in return. As a general rule, the problem isn't the platform, though: it's the digital marketing strategy behind it.
Depending on your goals, business, and metrics, there are dozens of possible reasons a social campaign isn't performing. In some cases, it's the wording of the ad, the graphics used, or the target demographics chosen. In other cases, poor campaign performance is a sign that a company simply isn't executing their strategy effectively, or that they don't have one in the first place.
4. Your mobile traffic is quick to bounce
When qualified mobile traffic starts leaving your site in seconds, it means your website itself is missing the mark somewhere. As a general rule, this issue comes down to two primary causes: slow website load time or a site that isn't responsive enough to perform well on all platforms. According to Google, mobile users will leave a site within seconds (typically choosing to visit a competitor site, instead) if the page they're viewing on your website doesn't load quickly.
If this begins to happen, your team needs to sit down and take a look at things like page design, with a specific focus on the number of keystrokes it takes users to get from an entry point to a shopping cart or call-to-action, and overall site navigability.
Finding Your Marketing Sweet Spot
It's easy for marketers to do too much when it comes to their overall strategy. And this is understandable - it's a crowded marketplace out there, and the pressure to stand out is immense. Doing too many things at once, though, guarantees poor outcomes across the board.
Instead of focusing on keeping dozens of balls in the air simultaneously, companies who notice any of the four signs listed in this article will do well to scale back, get intentional about determining the optimal strategy and activity-mix they need and take steps to resolve pain points where they exist. undefined
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