The article was published in the Entrepreneur magazine ( the shorter version). Here's the extended version
If growing businesses is David then to win over the market, digital can become the sling shot but getting it right takes time. Here are some mistakes you want to avoid in 2016.
1) Mistake #1:
“I want you to do SEO for my business” - Jumping directly into DM Channels ( be it SEO, PPC or Social Media ) without analyzing the basics of marketing, and more importantly business basics. Use http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc http://playbook.samaltman.com/ for business modeling. Example: Products with low margins can’t sustain through lead ads, it needs to push ads for organic/branding growth like campaigns. On the other hand, research-based decision products need to rely on SEO and Google Search Ads particularly for B2B. There is a mix of digital marketing channels that will work for you but it should start from following questions:
a. What’s the business metrics that we want to achieve, Branding (what %), Organic (what %), Quick Leads or Business Leads (what %)
b. What is the expected conversion ratio (visitor to lead, lead to sale etc)
c. How much of re-engagement efforts are needed - for businesses with repeat buys and long buying cycles it’s the key to success.
2) Mistake #2:
Related to #1 but this is one of the reasons for failures. Business owners are too focused on explaining their team on what to post, how much budget to allocate etc but very less discussions on business metrics and marketing documents. As a top level metrics owner, you must prepare the business document keeping digital in mind. The areas the document should focus on include-
a. Target Group(s), Messaging - Different TG will have different messages, the era is about specific message for specific TG.
b. Competitor analysis – Messaging analysis, Traffic, Presence, USPs, Pricing analysis etc to see the options
c. Competition for each Market Analysis – Search, Contextual, Profile, Mobile, Marketplace etc. It is more like the BCG matrix analysis for digital space.
3) Mistake #3:
Wrong person, wrong agency or wrong team – Often we see that companies hire people who speak some part of digital and they end up interfering in day to day work with their limited understanding of digital. Whereas the person should focus a lot on roadmap correction, business message correction etc (a lot to write here). Also often companies feel that a 2 to 3 member team can take care of digital, it may not be correct all the time. You need around 12+ different skills-set people to come together to make it work. Getting it right with weekly meeting, right dashboard is important. Even agencies like ours we hire consultants to keep adding new know-how to the system along with our own R&D work at http://techshu.com/apple . Don’t expect a readymade team or agency, select the one which has its base correct and build on top of it. Take control of dashboard, weekly meeting and roadmap. Show respect, grow team to earn ROI. There is no perfect team, you can make it work for you, look for basics and look at the team that is working. While selecting an agency ask for the team that will be working on it. Also don’t leave it on agency fully, you need to chip in with business knowledge and strike the right balance. Must watch Video 14, how to operate http://startupclass.samaltman.com/
4) Mistake #4:
Getting digital spending wrong, we have seen companies spending too much money on one day for roadblock ads and then not having funds for hygiene ads. We have also seen companies spending 3 to 5 hours for a FB post (and hiring external agencies) and not having funds to boost it. Without boosting the post fades out whereas a good post with a good boost can do wonders. Plan with budget to achieve your goals. Don’t spend on vanity metrics like FAN base or traffic, spend on right traffic, conversions, brand recall etc. Start slow, understand the ROI and accelerate, it takes time to sink in. Again have a short term and long term roadmap.
5) Mistake #5:
Not getting ready for digital before going aggressive with investment – You being the best offline doesn’t make you best online, you need to understand online behaviors https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ http://uxmastery.com/resources/
a. For Paid ads, prepare for conversion ratio, prepare with A/B Testing and end-to-end tracking. One big part of it is lead to offline conversion ratio (using right CRM entry)
b. For organic growth – Referral tracking system, content plan for SEO, user-to -user growth system etc
c. For Branding – Having campaign follow-up & content series in place.
Digital market is viable market for all segment of businesses be it local, Micro, S&M, Enterprise or Brands, it is must for Micro, Small and Medium Companies. If Small and growing businesses are David then to win over the market, digital can become the sling shot. Wishing a successful 2016 to all.
About Author:
Aji Issac is co-founder CEO of TechShu (Shu means reciprocity). Tech + Shu = use technology for others the way you would use it for your own business. TechShu is one of the leading digital marketing agencies in India and one of the largest in eastern region offering end-to-end digital solutions for brands like HP, Greenply, ABP, BJP Bengal, SRMB, IIHM, Macroman, LinenClub (Aditya Birla Group), mjunction to name a few. The idea is to improve digital success % by selecting the right company and doing the right mix for them to get the right business metrics met. Before digital, marketing was tough to scale, now a marketing company can become the next Infosys or Wipro in IT sector.
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