Compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing is more challenging as it requires constant evolution. Companies deploying digital marketing tactics can never rest easy on existing strategies and should always seek to reinvent themselves with the transient nature of digital marketing.
The digital marketing challenges which marketers currently face are many. As more and more companies start incorporating digital marketing practices in their long term strategies, competition is getting tougher than ever.
Of the many digital marketing challenges, we have made a list of nine every marketer should be aware of.
Enhancing Content
The world may change, but content is not going anywhere for now. A perennial digital marketing challenge, content remains a key part of a successful digital marketing campaign.
Despite where a digital marketing trend may be headed, the importance of content always increases. The current trend in content is focused more on audio and video content. More people are spending hours upon hours watching videos on YouTube and listening to podcasts.
Soon, companies will have to adapt and focus on creating useful and crisp video and audio content to find new potential customers.
Do check: Top 5 Books For Content Marketers
Brand Consistency
Customers respond very poorly to muddled messages from companies. There are many examples of companies deserting brands which lacked consistency and coherence in their marketing message.
Consistency is a significant digital marketing challenge currently faced by marketers. Brands which operate in a number of different industries simultaneously have to work very hard to present a unified brand image.
It has become increasingly clear that a brand needs to have a distinct and unique voice. Content creators and digital marketers need to work in tandem to make sure there is a high level of consistency in the content put out by the company. Even the smallest of defection in a brand’s voice and values can have a calamitous effect on the company.
Do check: Strategies To Establish Yourself As a Brand
The Rankings Rat Race
This may not be a recent digital marketing trend, but marketers nevertheless relate to this.
One of the greatest digital marketing challenges for a marketing professional is to get his/her company’s content on Google’s top search results. Anything landing on the second page of Google search results is as good as nothing.
With a number of top companies vying for a few top spots on some popular keywords, the scramble for getting a higher rank is tougher than ever before.
For small businesses, the task is even more difficult as they do not have access to the kind of budget bigger companies do.
The key to overcoming this challenge lies in overhauling the keyword analysis and investing in producing different forms of content. For instance, if landing on top search results on Google is difficult, companies should instead focus on developing video content for YouTube and find new customers there. Find new types of keywords which are much easier to scale and are not as competitive. Content optimization to improve ranking is not an easy job and requires constant persistence.
Do check: Secrets To Improve Ranking
Personalizing Content to the Last User
Every user is different, not just in terms of demographics, but also with regard to their behavior patterns. Companies today are looking to digital marketing to radically transform their outreach strategy and strike a personal bond with their customers.
This presents a new digital marketing challenge in itself. Through new trends like Big Data and Machine Learning, marketers are accessing key sets of data to predict user pattern and behavior. The challenge lies in mastering the art of analyzing vast swathes of data and creating an appropriate digital marketing strategy accordingly.
Do Check: How To Write Content that shines
Data Privacy
As marketers are getting access to more and more data, new privacy laws such as GDPR and others are establishing clear boundaries for digital marketers to adhere to.
The digital marketing challenge this presents is identifying how to work within the given legal framework and maximize growth at the same time.
Working with new technological advancement
Marketing has been shaped by the technology of its time. This was true half a century back and will probably be true half a century from now. As technology improves and brings new features and devices to the market, it is a challenge for digital marketers to incorporate the advent of such advancement in their marketing plans.
A simple example is the growth of audio search and navigation on mobile devices. As users become more open to audio assistance and the technology itself improves further, companies will turn to digital marketers to optimize their marketing strategies.
This digital marketing challenge will be one which could determine the future of marketing in the years to come.
Improve Marketing ROI
The only way to improve marketing ROI is by conducting thorough analysis using data analytic tools. This presents a perennial digital marketing challenge.
Improving ROI on marketing investment is not merely about directing resources in the right direction, but also knowing which tools to use to analyze whether the returns were any good.
Do Check: Improving ROI In Adwords
Integrating AI
Everyone loves talking about AI, although marketers may be the first ones who would have to adapt to one of the greatest technological achievement of the coming times.
We are already seeing a few glimpses of what AI could do. The efficiency of chatbots has already impressed many businesses, and soon with AI, data analysis and lead generation would become extremely fast. A fully functional AI would be able to find potential customers from places normal marketers haven’t found yet.
The digital marketing challenge for marketing professionals would lie in integrating the strength of AI into their plans. Without the experience of digital marketers, AI will never reach its true potential.
A Long Term Vision
Even in changing digital marketing trends, there is a growing demand in the market for professionals who have a long term vision about the landscape of marketing.
A good digital marketer will react smartly to current trends and deploy a strategy which helps the company succeed in the short term. A great digital marketer will react to short term problems, while simultaneously working on a long term plan which would help the company achieve unprecedented growth.
