Digital Marketing in 2020 (And 5 Mistakes That Can Ruin Campaigns)
Before the Coronavirus pandemic, 2020 had all the potential to be a spectacular year for digital marketing, with so many new trends emerging.
With the Covid-19 crisis affecting every aspect of our everyday lives, the way we do business has changed as well.
Lockdowns and other preventive measures, such as physical distancing, have amplified the importance of our digital marketing campaigns and increased the expectations of our customers.
As their digital devices are the only safe communication point with their favorite brands, customers want all the support they can get to go through these challenging times.
Identifying changing needs and pain points of your customers due to the current crisis, offering them timely and adequate solutions, and following the latest trends in digital marketing are the best ways to help your business get through this rough patch too.
Here are six crucial mistakes to avoid in 2020, preventing them from ruining your campaigns.
1. Not Reaching Out to Your Community
While the pandemic brought significant losses to some of your customers — a loss of income or even someone close, it has made life harder even for those that were not personally affected in this way.
Solidarity and care for their customers is something that can humanize businesses, so it’s essential to find creative ways to reach out and support your community through these challenges.
A clothing business could produce face masks and give them out for free for those who are in need. If you’re running a local brick-and-mortar store, you can offer free home delivery for your elderly customers, or arrange special hours for them to shop and help them stay safe from the virus.
Besides the fact that this is the right thing to do, it’s also what will distinguish your business from all the others.
Digital channels can be used effectively to reach out and offer this kind of support. Consider giving your customers something for free — a free consultation, a course, or an educational webinar, and use your website, social media, and email to promote it.
As long as the crisis lasts, increasing the price of your products and your services might give an impression that you’re trying to take advantage of somebody else’s misfortune.
Your customers will appreciate your care and thank you by staying loyal to your brand.
2. Underinvesting in SEO
Fine-tuning your SEO is one of the best ways to promote your business even if you’re functioning on a shoestring budget.
SEO is evolving all the time, and your strategy needs to be adjusted and improved accordingly.
Besides basic SEO, in 2020, there are so many new things to try out when it comes to optimizing your content for search engines, starting with video, voice SEO, and featured snippets. This could help you position your products and services right in front of the people that need them.
Due to the current crisis, you might also need certain tweaks in the way your content is optimized. With putting a focus on delivery or offering an online shop as an alternative to your brick-and-mortar store, even businesses that carry non-essential items can thrive in these difficult times.
4. Not Being Mobile-Friendly
Maybe the worst mistake digital marketers can make these days is forgetting about optimizing their content and campaigns for mobile devices, as they are the source of half of the overall online traffic.
Most people use their smartphones every day to keep in touch with their friends and family, browse the internet, search for products and services, make their purchasing decisions, and shop.
You can’t afford to have a website that doesn’t display well on mobile devices, as it will make your customers leave and shop somewhere else.
Unless you’ve already designed your website in a way that runs smoothly on mobile devices too, set it high on your priority list!
5. Not Improving Your Customer Sevice
Focusing your digital marketing efforts on the existing customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Especially when times are tough, such an investment will help you keep your business afloat.
The math is simple — some estimates say that 20% of the revenue comes from your new clients, while 80% comes from the existing or repeat ones.
Think about the things you can do to improve your customer service, increase their satisfaction, and make them loyal.
Bear in mind that customers’ expectations have increased in this area too. For example, if they’re on your website browsing through your offers, they want to get the information and help right away, when they need it. If you can’t afford 24/7 customer support, AI-powered chatbots can be there to greet your customers, provide them with the information they need, and help them complete some basic tasks.
Improving your customer service will bring your business to a whole new level and bring you more revenue.
6. Underestimating the Importance of Email Marketing
Even though they may seem outdated to a layman, email campaigns are still very effective both in terms of their effectiveness and cost. Statistics show that the expected ROI is $42 for every $1 that you invest in email marketing. Furthermore, half of customers like to receive promotional emails from their favorite brands, so it’s up to you to figure out what kind of content your prospects want you to send them.
However, to achieve your marketing goals, your email campaigns need to be segmented and personalized, so that your customers receive only the offers they find relevant. With the use of AI-powered email automation tools, you can create, customize, and schedule your campaigns, as well as monitor their performance.
By showing care to your local community and avoiding the mistakes above, you’ll manage to keep your business afloat or even make it flourish, despite the crisis.
Author Bio: Jennifer Wilson is a writer at She knows business processes and operations management inside out. As she understands all the challenges of running a small business firsthand, it’s her mission to tackle the topics that are most relevant to entrepreneurs and offer viable solutions.
Originally published at https://www.unboxsocial.com on July 14, 2020.
