Online Marketing Mistakes

It’s true that to achieve success in internet marketing, you need to learn every little detail there is to learn about it. And while it sounds easy at first, considering that all the things you need are found online, what you have to understand is that internet marketing in its entirety is always changing, which means the things you probably have learned today may no longer be as significant come tomorrow. Simply put, engaging in online marketing is something you need to do full-time, provided you are committed to success. Because of this, many people just decide to hire professional online marketing services to make sure that the investment they put in building presence for their brands online won’t go to waste. But aside from guaranteeing a return of investment, another reason why it makes more sense to hire experts is because doing it on your own could lead to very costly mistakes.

There’s no denying that doing your own online marketing is possible, but succeeding in it is quite unlikely, unless of course you’re a professional or expert yourself. The reason why a do-it-yourself campaign won’t succeed is because you’re prone to making mistakes along the way; the same mistakes pros won’t be making simply because they’ve been through it over and over again.

Mistake 1 - Building a website and not marketing it.

First, many business owners think that by simply building a website that showcases their products and services is enough for them to build presence and lure in possible customers. In reality, creating a website is just one of the many other steps to succeed in internet marketing. If you don’t figure out a way to launch a specific marketing campaign, your website won’t do you any good.

Mistake 2 - Unrealistic goals and expectations.

As the owner of a business you’re trying to gain exposure online, you have the right to expect a return of your investment the soonest time possible. That’s why you’re hiring online marketing pros so as to increase your chances of success. However, one crucial mistake you’re bound to make if you plan on doing the marketing on your own is setting unrealistic goals; or goals that are impossible to reach without the help of a professional online marketing agency. Remember, there is no such thing as an overnight success in internet marketing, especially if you’re a start-up.

Mistake 3 - You choose to engage in shady and even prohibited marketing practices.

Finally, once you begin realizing that succeeding in online marketing is easier said than done, you eventually succumb to the pressure of not having positive results. Consequently, you have no choice but to go to the dark side and figure out a way to give your campaign a boost, and what you’re doing right in an instant is you begin engaging in shady marketing practices. In fact, there even are some shady companies that cheat their way to impressing their clients. While you might get that much needed boost in your campaign, keep in mind that once you get either penalized or banned by Google, it might eventually lead to irreversible damage to your entire campaign and your business.

What Are The Qualities of a Good Marketing Agency?

Choosing the best Pittsburgh marketing agencies that will help your business or company reach your goal of building reputation online takes more than just a look at their portfolios. It’s easy to get impressed by agencies, especially those that have years of experience in the industry. However, you have to be mindful about a marketing company’s dedication to improvement since not all of them out there are good enough to be able to keep up with the constant changes happening in the world of online marketing.

If you wish to work with the best out there, you first must look for these qualities in them:

1 - Expertise in anything digital.

Since marketing online is dominated by digital channels and tools, it makes the most sense to hire a marketing agency with expertise across several different digital marketing strategies. But you’re not just supposed to ask them about it; instead, compel them to show you proof that they’ve driven a lot of sales and generated leads in digital space in the past. This includes having applied strategies like email marketing, social media, content creation, marketing automation, and others in building online presence and reputation for their past clients.

2 - Driven and motivated by data and facts.

Even with digital marketing having developed quite substantially in the past several years, it still is true that it still follows several original concepts of traditional marketing. This means that for a digital marketing agency to be referred to as the best, it needs to acknowledge the importance of using data, analytics, and measurements in figuring out the right marketing campaign for its clients.

3 - Emphasis on content creation.

As you always read it online, it’s quite true that content remains king when it comes to internet marketing. And taking this into consideration, you must hire a digital marketing agency who knows a thing or two about telling a good story. After all, every website built for business must tell a good story for it to appear interesting to its visitors. The fact is the lack of good, relevant, and compelling content is the primary reason why digital marketing campaigns fail.

4 - Focus on design.

But content alone won’t cut it. A reliable and experienced digital marketing agency knows how important the design of your website is in increasing the chances of luring in potential customers. The same holds true for all the other platforms they plan on using, such as social media profiles, web 2.0 accounts, blogs, and others. The focus on design also means that websites are created in such a way that the design easily resonates what the target audience will fancy or be interested in.

5 - Good people.

Finally, a good digital marketing agency is made up of good people. Everything wouldn’t make sense if the people you’re hiring can’t even manage to interact and respond to you like how professionals should. Remember that any marketing campaign online will only be successful if you are comfortable working with the agency you hired. 

Online Marketing Trends You Must Be Aware Of

Every year, there always is hype over the next big thing in online marketing and it is something every experienced marketer out there acknowledges. The fact is the entire industry is always changing and progressing, which in turn can either be good or bad, depending on which side of the competition you’re in. For well-established businesses and companies that already built online presence, keeping up with the changes could be easier compared to start-ups and inexperienced marketers.

But if you happen to own a business and still haven’t showcased it online, there always is the option of looking for the best Pittsburgh SEO agency. Hiring the right professional internet marketing agency will help you fast track the process, more particularly in building and designing your site. However, succeeding in online marketing today means doing more than just the typical search engine optimization. Here are the latest trends you should be aware of:

1 - Augmented Reality

Even if you’re not a fan of mobile gaming, it’s safe to bet that you’ve heard a thing or two about Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game that took the world by storm several months back. Now even if your business or brand isn’t into gaming, the fact that mobile users got hooked up to a whole new augmented reality experience via an app only means that augmented reality could very well become an important tool in online marketing sooner than later. Since many brands, even those start-up ones are now using apps in marketing, it is expected that they finally will figure out a way to incorporate augmented reality in them.

2 - Live Video

Almost a decade ago, social media began influencing how online marketing was carried out and no other marketing tool has been so influential ever since. Today, social media is always considered an indispensable component of whatever type of marketing campaign and there’s no stopping it. Well, the same could also be true for live video streaming, which by the way is a product of social media. The reason why internet marketers will eventually use live video streaming as a staple method is because in-the-moment content is becoming increasingly in demand these days.

3 - Data Visualization

For every single internet marketing expert, nothing is more important than data in terms of reaching out to potential customers and clients. There is no way to figure out what they want, why they want it, and how they want their products or services delivered if there is no quantitative data or information. While all sorts of data is readily available, the challenge of processing it is what makes it difficult. But thanks to technology, there now are a handful of data visualization tools ready to be used for businesses and companies that intend to remain competitive.

4 - Niche Markets

Finally, if you want to excel in your first-ever internet marketing campaign, you need to start realizing that competition is so fierce and that even if the internet is the largest marketplace out there, it too is becoming crowded. Simply put, there are so many businesses and companies competing for the same group of consumers. To address this issue, there now is an emerging trend in which marketers are targeting a more specific niche, thereby effectively narrowing down the range of demographics. With a more targeted approach, you might find yourself leading the competition, especially if your very specific group of consumers aren’t within the sights of bigger and more established competitors.