For many us it, it feels like spring is already here! With the warmer weather, the high pollen counts and with flowers already blooming it’s hard to believe we just started March! And just like when the weather starts getting nicer and you can open your windows to freshen up your house and start on that spring cleaning it might be time to do the same with your digital content!
I am sure you made some big goals, set some new KPIs and were ready to go all in in January but we know how easy to is to get sidetrack. Three months into the new year you might have put off a few of those things you promised yourself you would start doing. Good news is, it’s not too late and we are hoping the below information will inspire you to get started on those digital marketing goals you set sooner rather than later.
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Start By Listening To Your Customers
How do you know what needs to be improved? Is it feedback from your superiors? Something new you saw your competition doing? Have you tried listening to your customers?
The actions our audience takes or does not take can tell us so much about the content we are producing! Especially on digital where data is so easily gathered, measured and then visualized for us- the answers we have been looking for are often right in front of us (most of the time it’s the stuff we ignore ). We just have to know what we are looking for!
While we often use marketing metrics to show how great we are doing we also need to use it to look for red flags. Those metrics, charts, and graphs that track your consumer’s actions (or inactions) that you are purposefully leaving out of the report you send to your boss. Yeah, you can’t hide that forever! It’s time to take a look at those areas and dig in. Use that to motivate you to make some real changes.
We can’t know for sure what your audience is asking you to do (or to stop doing) but below we took a look at three areas that could probably use some of your attention ASAP!
1. Connect All Your Channels Through Content
Your consumers are no longer just listening to the radio or watching the TV. It’s not this or that, it’s everything at once. They are most likely a passenger in an Uber, while the radio is playing and are probably scrolling through Instagram or Tweeting about their ride. They are no longer just tuned into their TV. They most likely sitting on the couch with the TV on while surfing the web- maybe catching up emails or online shopping while also listening to music through their Amazon Eco. That is why it’s more important than ever that your brand’s channels seem fluid and connected, not spare pieces all thrown together and so obviously run by different teams.
Now, don’t take what we are saying the wrong way. We don’t think you should put the same headlines on Facebook and Twitter and then email the same coupon you might send in a text. But we do think everything should feel like it is coming from the same place.
It’s all about creating one piece of content and then formatting it for each channel. The way you would let your audience know you have a new blog post should be shared differently in your weekly newsletter email then how you might use Twitter to post about it multiple times a day. You have to understand how your audience communicates on each channel, when they are using each platform and what text or headlines gets them to click or actually take action.
2. Focus On Personalization
The goal of email used to be to get these massive lists and then blast everyone with the same information but what we have learned is that personalization still needs to be a part of automation! You can’t choose one or the other and expect great results.
People open emails when the content seems relevant to them- seems simple right? So how would the same email be revenant to 50,000 people? It’s not ever going to be. That is why segmentation in the email automation world has become so important. As marketers, we are getting better results by emailing a few 1,000 people content that identifies with then rather than emailing 50,000 people the same thing.
Now, in 2017 I challenge you to start creating smaller lists, segments within your email lists, people who fit certain criteria. Maybe it’s people who go to events? Use coupons? Like your Instagram posts? Read your newsletter every week and download your lead magnet? Whatever you are able to use to make them identifiable provide content in your email that they want and will use. There is no way to know what 50,000 people want but there is a way to cut that into pieces and get real results. It’s all about identifying those segments and then sending them relevant content so they engage with it!
3. Invest In a New Dashboard
We have been telling you that you need to measure your marketing for a long time. So what is holding you back? Is it because you are the one who has to log into each digital account and create endless amounts of excel spreadsheets with data that no one else reads? Is it that the marketing dashboard you do have access to doesn’t really give you what you need? Does your dashboard only measure social? Are the graphs and charts still confusing? Then stop doing all the above!
Technology has improved so much in the marketing measurement space and there are affordable tools that can solve so many of your problems. Whether you have to provide monthly reporting to your boss or clients, need a view for C-Level Executives, have to be able to effortlessly pull the data from the dashboard and put it into a presentation or just be able to easily compare different channels whether it is PPC or CPC campaigns. Measuring marketing doesn’t have to be hard, it should actually make your job easier so find a tool that does that. This could be on of the big piece that keeps you from accomplishing the rest of your goal!
The best tools help you find and understand your target market, so you can make smarter decisions- both in marketing and in business!
Wrap It Up
Do any of these sound like processes you need to spend some time on? Remember you have BIG goals you want to accomplish this year, don’t let the three things above keep you from that. It’s never too late to dive into the red, fix problems, try something new and measure measure measure! We know these are some of the things brands and agencies are struggling with, now you know what you need to do to fix them!
Check out what else you need to be doing in our FREE e-book, How Marketing Will Change In 2017. Download it here.