These are the 5 marketing pitfalls of 2021
The corona crisis brings with it a great deal of stress, and that creates the necessary pitfalls that the online marketing world must take into account. Sebastiaan de Ruiter, director of Comrads, took a deep dive into the matter and lists his five take-aways for you.
1. Don't do too much yourself
A good marketing manager is not a specialist, but a generalist. Therefore, choose the right focus. Many marketing managers want to do everything themselves, even when it comes to content creation: shoot videos on the smartphone, edit videos on the smartphone, upload videos on the smartphone, write blogs, schedule blogs, design blogs, upload blogs. It's all so easy, so you do that on the side. But that does mean you have less time for those things where you make the difference: setting the big picture and your frameworks, screening, coaching, and managing your team, whether internal people or external specialists. Two tips:
Outsource specialist work or work that you only need once, such as setting up your marketing automation, internally or externally.
Automate repetitive tasks and workflows and let ICT work for you instead of overtaking you. Eighty percent of your marketing operation can be made more efficient through automation. Your finance department no longer works with an abacus, either!
2. Start with your customer
That we all need a website is obvious, but does your business need a YouTube channel, do you need to advertise on Facebook and why are you hosting those webinars in the first place? If you really want to put the customer first, it is advisable to map out the customer journey first. Only then choose one or two channels and maintain them consistently. From this base, your foundation, slowly build out.
3. Content, content, content, content
Content. The "buzz word" and headache at the same time. This pitfall actually consists of many booby traps simultaneously and deserves a blog (content) in its own right. In brief, the points of interest.
Create reusable content on different channels. This way, you can maximize the ROI of this content.
Create enough content for the entire customer journey and sales funnel. This is because content needs are different for each stage.
Pay attention to user-generated content. This content is so much more valuable than self-created content!
Implement an approval and editing process for your content to ensure timely, consistent, relevant and "legal" content creation.
4. Marketing is not sales, sales is not marketing
As old as the road to Rome, but perhaps more relevant than ever before. Because things like social media, e-commerce, online marketing, SEO and SEA don't make the difference between these two disciplines any more transparent. What matters is working together, aligning, coordinating, but also remembering that marketing and sales are different specialties. In marketing, you create commitment with your customer to make a sales call. Sales is the process that ensures that customer goes through a certain thought pattern to eventually actually make a purchase with you. Sowing and reaping, in other words. Both disciplines require different content.
5. To measure is to know
Measure your conversions and make sure you're focused on creating leads and adding value. Cliché? Maybe so, but here comes the twist. Don't just focus on positive results that upper management wants to hear during monthly reviews and quarterly meetings. After all, success is a snapshot in time; making mistakes means progress and future. So, above all, look at where things are not going well, where things could be better and create your own marketing test gardens, pilots and concepts. After all, R&D is not a term reserved for ICT or science, but just as relevant to marketing.
Curious?
Want to talk further about how our DAM system or one of our marketing modules can support your organization with these pitfalls such as content management, consistency and automation? Feel free to contact us or request a free demo right away. We like to think along with you. Now and in the future.