Running a digital marketing campaign is a concept that everyone in 2020 is familiar with. Still, even though they’re aware of the fact that digital marketing is incredibly important for the success of their enterprise, there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who are unwilling to invest enough research in the subject matter. This makes them repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Oftentimes, they are even completely unaware of the fact that these are, indeed, mistakes. With that in mind and without further ado, here are six mistakes that you should avoid in your 2020 digital marketing campaign.

1.Missing your target market

One of the biggest mistakes that a marketer can make is completely missing their target audience. You see, a lot of inexperienced marketers don’t want to focus too narrowly on one group out of fear that they’ll miss out when it comes to reaching out to everyone else. However, narrowing down your scope allows you to optimize your outreach and personalize it in order to improve its appeal. Simply put, by trying to appeal to everyone, you will universally minimize the appeal of your brand.

2.Trying to stay neutral

A lot of brands are afraid that their audience is far too easy to offend in 2020. This means that a single wrong stance or statement may make them notorious in the industry and cause a proper PR disaster. However, taking a strong stance is never a bad thing. You see, as a business, it is your duty to develop a certain set of corporate values and by trying to remain neutral, you’ll fail to clearly state what they are. Remember, it’s better for 50 percent of your audience to love you and the other 50 percent to absolutely hate you than to have everyone be indifferent towards you.

3.Underinvesting in SEO

In 2020, no one can deny the effectiveness of a good SEO campaign. The problem, nonetheless, lies in the fact that a lot of businesses question where SEO is on their priority list. In other words, they’re dubious about the cost-effectiveness of their potential investment. Due to the fact that, in this hyper-connected age, any firm has global talent access, your North America- or Australia-based company could easily look for experts in search engine optimization from Hong Kong. This ability to filter digital marketing agencies according to their offer and not their location is a major boost to everyone in the business world.

4.Setting unrealistic goals

The easiest way for one to get disappointed is to set unrealistic goals. The problem with avoiding this in the world of digital marketing lies in the fact that people don’t really know how to tell the difference between KPIs (key performance indicators) and vanity metrics. They also have difficulty understanding that industry averages vary depending on the situation. For instance, e-commerce has unusually low conversion rates, seeing as how people prefer to check out numerous options before committing to make a purchase. Therefore, if an e-commerce business was to pursue the conversion rate of a law firm, they would be bound to meet disappointment.

5.Ignoring old-school marketing

Digital marketing is definitely incredibly important, however, it’s definitely not the time to pull the plug on old-school marketing, either. In fact, guerilla marketing, brochures, promotional merchandise, TV commercials and billboards can all be leveraged to improve your standing in the digital environment. Therefore, ignoring old-school marketing is definitely not the right move. There are a lot of people who try to compare digital and traditional marketing but what they fail to realize is the fact that these methods work best in unison.

6.Inability to optimize your resources

Finally, as a small business, you will work on a tight budget. On average, we’re talking about a figure that’s anywhere between 10 and 50 percent of your average annual revenue. Still, not all marketing methods are made equal and the efficiency of these methods mostly depends on the industry in question, as well as the preferences of your target audience. This means that, with your limited resources, you need to ensure that every single dollar goes to the right place.

At the end of the day, the topic of digital marketing is not nearly as complex as some make it out to be. All it takes is for you to do your research, set realistic goals and look for reliable partners. Also, keep in mind that the world of digital marketing keeps evolving and expanding. Needless to say, it’s your job to keep up with these changes.