People in this industry can have a very hard time staying on top of their game – there are no exact rules, you can make mistakes even if you follow everything on the list of current trends, and the minute you get a grip of it, everything changes. So, if you’re in digital marketing or you want to be a part of it, it’s almost like you secretly want yourself to fail.
All joking aside, it’s really hard to get ahead of your competition in the online world. Currents are changing by the minute – customers, consumers, clients and online audiences in general are hungry for innovations, and if you don’t fulfill their needs, your business will perish like many others did. You need to stay up to date and make a careful selection of the latest trends that you want to adopt.
Google Is Your Frenemy
Its search engine is unavoidable, and they know it. However, everything the Google team does goes towards improving the quality of digital marketing, which is a good thing. They do their best to put an end to spamming and shortcuts in general – each new algorithm they implement into their search engine is an improvement when compared to the previous one.
However, in doing so they are also making a huge problem for everyone working in marketing, because just as we get used to certain rules (and just when the spammers find the fastest way to spam), they change them.
On the up(ish) side, a need for diversity appeared. People are not satisfied with Google holding monopoly over online browsing, so other smaller search engines finally have an opportunity to prove their worth.
It’s All about Smartphones
If you’re not mobile responsive, you’re not on the map. Smartphones are getting bigger and bigger, and no matter how weird it sounds – they are, in a way, becoming a natural extension of the human body, like a newly evolved appendage for communicating and taking selfies. If you are going to go through the trouble of building and marketing a website, make it mobile-friendly – it won’t significantly affect the cost, but it will attract a lot more visitors.
Boost Your Ads
Sure, you could take your time to build a fanbase on Facebook, for example, and gather one follower at a time, but doing that will definitely give your competition a huge advantage. Paid ads are a part of digital marketing, and it doesn’t really seem like they are going anywhere, so you will either have to accept them or wait for eternity until you get anywhere near the top of the SERPs. This an important investment that can yield excellent results, and it should be treated as one.
Content Continues to Dominate
You simply can’t expect your marketing to work if you don’t have quality content, no matter how much money you invest in your campaign. First things first – in order to be considered trustworthy, capable and experienced, you need to show these traits through your content, but that needs to be done subtly.
Strategically placed and well thought out calls to action and subscription forms are an excellent way to improve your conversion rate, but just plastering “buy now” in every blog post and on every single page will come across as spammy, and will actually diminish the quality of your content.
Consider the fact that you will be sharing that content from now on, so make sure that you give it a fresh approach and include text, pictures, animation and videos. Once again, make sure that everything you implement in your website is done subtly – this needs to be repeated, because there are a lot of people who bend the limits of this word’s meaning until it practically disappears.
Improvements via Analytics
By evaluating your work, you’re able to improve it – it’s that simple. If you divide the process needed to complete your goal into stages, you’ll be able to easily keep track of what’s done more efficiently. You can analyze each stage individually, in order to correct your mistakes and do better during the next one.
It’s a common misbelief that this costs a fortune. Google analytics, YouTube and social media in general allow provide you ample insight into your progress. Naturally, you can have additional perks if you sign up for their premium accounts and invest some money in it, but that’s really not necessary when you’re just starting out.
User Experience Optimization
The success of your business depends on whether or not your visitors are satisfied with their experience. Sure, everything you do to get them there is important, but if they give up on a purchase because your website is outdated and hard to navigate, then all your marketing efforts will have been in vain.
Other than following the latest web design trends, you should communicate directly to your clients or customers. Including their suggestions and demands into production of your products and performance of your services will definitely reflect positively on your business. Besides, creating a loyal circle of clients or customers is practically based on showing them you care and that you appreciate their opinion.
Visualization Enhancement
Visualization is your most powerful tool. That’s exactly what brings your customers to you and what makes them stay. Even with content in the form of text, if not attractively structured, it will be difficult to read. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, but you need to pay attention to everything – finding the right font, using the right shade, implementing the right percentage of header transparence, etc.
Try to look at it from things angle – your website, no matter what niche of business you’re in, needs to tell a story, and every single item you decide to use should help you emphasize your focus point.
This may seem like a lot to take in at once, but that’s only because all this information is new to you. If you keep yourself updated and find a way to keep track of the latest trends, you’ll be able to master digital marketing. However, that interest you develop needs to be continuously fed – currents and trends are constantly changing. You either accept those changes by applying them, or you’ll become outdated in no time.
