Generating profit with your business largely depends on your marketing strategy. An effective marketing strategy will go beyond making sure the orders are fulfilled and your bills are paid so that you can live comfortably.
Whether you are handling the marketing on your own or have an entire department prepared to handle anything that comes their way, there are several marketing challenges that a business will face that can make or break their success in a digital marketplace. Here are a few of them:
1. Finding Your Target Audience
While large enterprises can sometimes effectively market to broad audiences, most businesses are more successful when they can find and define who their target market or audience is. After you determine these demographics, you can create content and advertisements that are specific to, or target, a specific demographic in your audience. This strategy means that you are spending your time with those who are most likely to become customers. Business owners and marketers can use Google Analytics to gather data about the people who click on your business links. Social media pages also have analytics that can give you insight into the people who like your page or join your group.
2. Return on Investment
Measuring the return on investment is a challenge for marketers because if there is no ROI tracking, there is no argument to increase the marketing budget or develop new strategies. The marketing department and sales department need to have clear and effective communication to analyze return on investment when it comes to the marketing budget.
3. Website Management
When surveyed, marketers put website management in the top 5 of challenges they face day to day. Every marketer wants the website to perform well, which means operating smoothly and being up to date 24 hours a day. Content must be continuously updated, new products added, advertisements changed. Managing a website can be a huge job and requires multiple people, even for small businesses. Mobile friendliness, cyber security, search engine optimization, and design of webpages all fall under this challenge as well.
4. Content Optimization
Marketers need to produce content that is effective; otherwise, you won’t have customers. Content is what brings the internet browser to your website and hopefully entices them to make a purchase. Developing an editorial calendar to schedule posts on social media, email campaigns, blogs, etc., will help marketers stay organized. Use free software through Google Analytics to ensure you are inserting the correct keywords and make sure to measure the performance of your advertisements.
5. Email Campaign
Emails are the best way to convert a customer who has abandoned their cart, bring back an existing customer, or entice them through a call to action. Sending out coupons through email is one of the top marketing strategies used by retailers to bring existing customers back to the website for an additional purchase. Not all content is going to persuade all your audience, however, which is why knowing your target market and website personalization is so important. One of the biggest marketing trends in the upcoming year is using Artificial Intelligence to create a personalized shopping experience for customers.
6. Integrating Social Media
Having a website and a blog is not enough for most businesses. In 2016, Facebook reported over 2 billion active monthly users with 1.32 billion of those people logging in every day. Companies that do not integrate social media into their marketing strategies will be missing out on a huge market. Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram also have their own analytics and advertising campaigns that can help you grow and define your business.
All six of these challenges can be easy to overcome if your marketing team stays on top of current trends and new technologies. The digital age and Internet of Things is upon us and marketers must be willing to dive deep into the realm of digital marketing to ensure a successful business.