Shed Your Bad Digital Marketing Practices

2021 Resolutions for Your Marketing Strategy

Among the many words of wisdom from entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker Jim Rohn is the statement: “If you want things to change, you have to change. If you want things to be better, you have to be better.” During these ever-challenging times, any brand that relies on old ways of doing business will be left behind. In order to grow and stay successful, make 2021 the year you abandon outdated digital marketing practices such as these.  

1.     Text only content
2.     Blogging to blog
3.     Traditional newsletters
4.     Automated social media

Text only content

If you haven’t yet added visuals to your digital marketing efforts, this is the year to leave behind the age old technique. Text only content is no longer enough to drive more customers to your website. Consumers not only expect to see photos or videos, many are now using images in their search queries. The adage that a picture is worth a thousand words has never been truer than now.

Blogging to blog

Make no mistake, content is still king and content marketing still is critically important. In fact, companies that blog get 97% more links to their websites and twice as much email traffic as businesses that don’t.

However, with 43% of people admitting to only skimming blog posts, creating blogs just to have them is no longer a viable marketing tactic. Producing high-quality content that is interesting and attention-grabbing is vital to engage consumers.  

Be sure to use SEO strategically to make sure your blog posts can be found via search, but while it’s important to optimize for SEO, simply putting up a blog post with a string of keywords is really no more effective than not having content at all.

Traditional newsletters

The pandemic has created a wild ride for brands. Not only has business changed, so have your customers. While email marketing has long been a great way to keep in touch with your target audience, falling into old practices or using canned messaging must go away immediately.

Personalizing newsletters and addressing their concerns during these trying times helps build a loyal following, even if those customers may not be able to immediately buy from you. Make 2021 a time of reexamination and take steps to understand your target audience. Be aware of the problems you can solve for them and ways to adapt your business for new problems that may arise. Their needs and problems are most likely different than they were a year ago and will likely change over the next year. Staying informed, asking for feedback, and providing insightful content via newsletters will provide you with important insight on how to best serve your customers.

Automated social media

As it is with other relationships, you cannot make anyone fall in love with you if all you do is brag about yourself. You must show interest in them. While automated social media is helpful, no one gets excited about a generic post planned two weeks prior. 

No matter which platform you are using — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn — make a point of engaging in regular audience interaction. For example:

• Reply to comments
• Engage with trends and use relevant hashtags
• Conduct interactive polls
• Link to relevant content
• Connect to live streams
• Hold contests

While you don’t need to be glued to your social media channels 24/7, being sure to interact with your audience sends the message that you are paying attention and value them. Even if they are not yet a customer, research shows 77% of consumers say they are more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media and 21% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they can reach via social media

Out with the old, in with the new

If you now recognize you can’t let outdated digital marketing practices hold back your business, but you aren’t sure how to step forward, take a look at Top 10 Digital Marketing Practices to Adopt for Your Business in 2021. These strategies will help you boost growth and improve your ROI.

Need further assistance? Contact us and have a conversation with the T.E. Digital team. Let us know your goals and we’ll help you get to where you want to be.