Industry News

Our industry is always buzzing with news and updates. We are pleased to share some of the most relevant articles and posts. 

Top 8 reasons digital marketing efforts fail

May 27, 2020

SAN ANTONIO - With the economy starting to reopen, a lot of local business owners will be launching your summer digital marketing plans. Here are the top reasons why some digital marketing plans can fail bigtime. Read on and you’ll know how to get the most out of your next digital campaigns.
1. Lack of campaign planning around your business goals
The number one reason why some digital marketing failed miserably is that there was no strategy behind it. Running through some marketing activities without proper planning is just throwing good money out the window. The absolute best way to achieve marketing success is to determine your exact business goals and build a digital marketing strategy that will help you get to where you want to be. And it’s a good thing to break down BIG goals into smaller “micro-goals” to make achievement more attainable.
2. Not listening to your customers
When is the last time you’ve talked to your customers? When is the last time you’ve picked up the phone or met them in person and actually talked to your customers and understand what’s going on in their lives and businesses? 
Always stay in-touch with your customer base. Find out what their pain points and needs are. It’s critical that you understand them so you can craft your digital marketing messaging and efforts to attract the right people or businesses.
3. Not using the correct type of digital campaigns
Reaching your customers before they need you is good practice. Why? Because when they actually do need you, they’ll remember you - and they’ll call you. But if you’re marketing through a channel that your potential customers don’t use, they won’t get the message.
For example, if you’re offering ice sculptures for weddings, but there are only ten Google searches a month for “ice sculptures,” you can’t rely on Google Ads to bring you new customers. You’d have to use mobile phone digital display ads or OTT digital TV commercials to get in front of consumers who are planning weddings with a message that will make them remember you. It’s important to discover where your audience goes to get information and be in the right place at the right time.
4. Incorrect targeting
Sometimes your marketing doesn’t work because you’re targeting the wrong consumers, or your targeting isn’t narrow enough. You might be using the right channels, but your marketing isn’t getting to the right people. This is quite common with digital advertising.
Modern digital targeting methods make it quite easy to reach the exact group of consumers you want to be in front of. In fact, you can now target consumers by age, gender, interests, credit score, income, housing situation, marital status - almost anything you can think of. Targeting reduces marketing budget waste which is good for your wallet.
5. Not being patient
Sometimes marketing doesn’t work because you gave up on it too quickly. It can often take six to 12 months for marketing to generate results. Why? Your company can’t show up out of nowhere and instantly win new customers. You have to walk with them through the buying journey; be there with them until they trust you enough to buy from you. This doesn’t happen overnight.
6. Your customer reviews are poor
If your business lacks service issues or has a faulty product line, the backlash can often echo in the form of poor online reviews. If you have an average of one-star reviews online, no amount of marketing can help you.
You must listen to your customers and fix the problem first, then start repairing your online reputation by gaining new, positive reviews. Then you can get great results from your digital marketing. Always listen to what your customers tell you when they review you. If anything is wrong, they are tattling on you to your next customers. Always remember this.
7. Digital marketing budget is too low
Having a tiny digital marketing budget is like using a teaspoon of mayo on a 6-foot sub. It’ll be spread so thin, you won’t taste it!
For example, if you want your pay-per-click ads to show high up and often enough for certain keywords, you might have to spend more to get the visibility and click-through-rates you’re after. Hoping won’t get you where you want to be. You can’t expect massive results if you’re not putting in an adequate digital marketing budget to get there.
8. You make it hard to buy
Your business can be awesome, and your marketing might be great, but if you make it difficult for people to buy, they won’t.
How many times have you found a great product online, but didn’t purchase it because the buying process was too difficult? Or how often have you tried to hire a company or get more information, but the process took too long?
We live in a world where people want instant solutions to their problems. You must keep this in mind when designing your buying process. And remember that people (in this new normal world we live in) want to buy in different ways. Some may want to text you, book online, pay online, etc. instead of swiping a credit card.
Don’t ever assume that everyone wants to buy exactly like you want to buy. Everyone is different. Make it easy for everyone to buy from you -- and you’ll get more sales.
Summary: Make sure you plan your digital marketing carefully and use media that makes sense. Digital marketing isn’t rocket science, but it does take some careful planning.
With successful digital campaigns, local businesses can grow their bottom line fast. Our team at Sinclair Broadcast Group and Compulse Integrated Marketing can help your business grow by developing smart digital marketing campaigns based on research and data. Call us today and start your company’s journey. We’ll help you navigate to a successful future in a cost-effective way.

3 Common Mistakes Companies Make With Their Social Ad Strategy

April 9, 2020

With 97 percent of digital consumers on some form of social media, you can’t afford not to invest in social ads. And with the latest forecasts predicting a 20 percent rise in social ad spending (up to $4.3 billion) in 2020, you also can’t afford to make mistakes on your social ad strategy. Just because everyone is jumping on the opportunity to advertise socially doesn’t mean it should be done hastily. First, acquaint yourself with strategies that will ensure your ad spend is successful. 

One of the best ways to make sure your strategy is sound is to know what not to do. The following are the most common mistakes that companies make with their social ad strategy. Avoid them and you'll see the ROI you’re looking for. 

1. Investing the bulk of the ad spend upfront without audience testing 

Once a company has decided to invest in social ads, they usually create their audience targeting based on what they already know about their consumers. They may have data about age range, geographical location, gender and interests. But even if they've done extensive market research, audience testing is still imperative for social ads. Many companies believe they already know how to target their audience for the highest ROI, and invest the bulk of their ad spend budget upfront, hungry for quick results. 

Thankfully, Facebook makes finding your ideal audience easy with a split testing feature that enables you to split test up to five advertisements at once. If you’re building ads on Twitter, TikTok or Pinterest and can’t use a split test feature, start a small test budget on an educated guess, then adjust accordingly. Keep the ad consistent, but change key factors in the audience and see what happens.

2. Loss of sales and potential customers from negative ad comments

Social ads, especially backed by a large ad spend, are exposed to thousands, if not millions of people and are therefore also exposed to chances for negative comments. It could be a disgruntled former client or someone who just doesn’t like your ad, but negative comments do lead to a loss of sales.

Think about it: if you saw an ad for a product you were potentially interested in and a comment on the ad said that the product didn’t work or that they had a horrible experience, you likely wouldn’t follow that first instinct to purchase.

Joseph Lazukin, founder of Facebook ad campaign manager Pixelsmarter, explained that one of the common ways companies seek to fix this is by hiring a virtual assistant. “Even with a virtual assistant watching for them, there's human error,” Lazukin says. “Missing negative comments is a costly mistake, and it should ideally be managed by software.” 

3. Not having a clear call to action

Finally, the ultimate goal of a social ad is to spur action. This won’t be easily done if it’s unclear to the viewer how to take action. Simply educating them that your product or service exists might lead them to click on your link, but be crystal clear on what you want them to do. Is it buy? Subscribe to your newsletter? Follow your account?

Global Web Index reported that 13 percent of social media users say that a “buy” button increases their likelihood of buying something they see in a social ad. It’s about making the call to action as easy as possible for your target consumer — that one easy button saves them the trouble of searching for your website online, and the ease of purchasing guides them through the sales cycle on the impulse your ad initiated. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. 

Although these are three of the most common mistakes, others can include changing brand feel and strategy frequently, forgetting strong visuals and bold language and not making tweaks as the initial performance data comes in. Make sure to assign someone on your team to manage ads: They can be a full-time job, but they also have a significant ROI.