Digital Marketing Mistakes To Avoid In 2015

While an active user of all things digital and despite considering myself fairly tech savvy, prior to this course, I had not truly considered the impact of the digital marketing landscape or the way this space has changed drastically in a few short years.  According to the article I came across, during 2015, for the first time ever, companies will spend an equal amount of money on TV as they will on digital. As such, I found this article particularly helpful in laying out the key fundamentals of successful digital marketing campaigns while also hi-lighting key strategic decisions to be mindful of over the course of 2015.

As companies become more and more engaged in the digital space, it is important that companies fully appreciate the complexities of this and to recognize that simply having a nice website or fancy graphics isn't enough. I would be hard-pressed to name a company I interact with that doesn't have some form of digital presence, but if there are still companies out there that don't appreciate the digital space or fail to recognize the impact that digital has, I think those companies will fail to exist in a few short years.

What I found helpful in this article were the three simple, but important pitfalls to be mindful with respect to digital marketing. First was the failure to plan properly, or as the author of the piece eloquently phrased from military lexicon: “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.” As with any business strategy, planing is a crucial step to enable success and analogous to your traditional marketing strategy, there should be a clearly defined goal and objectives by which to measure success.

The 2nd mistake hi-lighted was around expectation setting. Too often, companies think that digital means quicker and that is far from the case. As the author states, "the idea that digital equals instant results is one of the biggest misconceptions, especially for companies newer to this practice." Be that on Pay Per Click, SEO, or social media, it is important that firms be patient and realize that change doesn't happen over night. Firms should haven't unrealistic expectations or think that just because it is digital it necessarily changes faster. There is still a timeline that is adhered to.

The third and last misconception the author hi-lighted was not being informed. I honestly find this so obvious I'm surprised that this has to be mentioned. With the volume of information at ones finger tips and the number of qualified people in this space, to not be well-informed cannot be a viable excuse.

At the end of the article, the author does a good job summarizing the salient points of where digital marketing stands in 2015. "Digital marketing, including mobile, will continue to grow and evolve well into the future and will eventually eclipse traditional TV, radio and print.  Now is the time to make sure that you are getting the most for your marketing spend. Be prepared to keep up with the times and have a scalable digital strategy that can adjust with the trends." This point really gets to the crux of the growing influence of digital marketing in nearly every aspect of our lives and the growing important and attention that digital marketing deserves, right along side, if not leading against traditional marketing.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2015/01/13/3-digital-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid-in-2015/