Five Biggest Digital Marketing Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

Every entrepreneur knows that the days of marketing their business or brand online being optional are long gone. Nowadays, no matter what sort of company you own, having a strong online presence is essential if you want your business to grow and thrive.

However, marketing your brand online isn’t easy. As they say, if it was then everyone would do it. Too many times, entrepreneurs make some classic blunders when it comes to trying to build their online marketing presence. To help ensure that you become a success rather than a disaster, here are the five biggest digital marketing mistakes that entrepreneurs make.

Hiring Shady Marketers To Do Their Work For Them

This is a mistake that those who aren’t technologically savvy sadly make far too often. There are many firms and individuals out there who claim to be online marketing professionals, but in reality don’t have the skills or expertise necessary to really take your brand to the next level. What they will do, however, is charge you a lot of money for work that you probably could have done yourself after watching a few short tutorials on using social media. Avoid falling for these scams by really researching any marketing company with whom you do business.

Not Marketing To Their Demographic

When you market your brand online, your priority should be reaching your target demographic. For example, if you run a translating website, you’d want to really reach those businesspeople who do a lot of work abroad with foreign clients. When you market online, don’t just try to push your brand on everyone. Instead, make a concerted effort to really reach your core demographic. It’s better strategically to really go after your core audience instead of just casting a wide net and hoping that you catch a few of the right people in the process.

“Spamming” Social Media Instead Of Using It Wisely

If you’re using your Twitter and Facebook accounts to just send non-stop blasts that don’t say much beyond just linking to your storefront, then you’re using social media completely incorrectly. Not only that, but you’re alienating your potential customers. Don’t “spam” Facebook and Twitter. Instead, put in the time and effort to have a real dialogue with your followers and to evolve as a brand that has interesting things to say.

Being Too Gimmicky

It’s always great to have something that really catches the eyes of potential customers. However, those brands that are obviously trying to “go viral” are exhausting and unattractive to the general public. Avoid anything that feels gimmicky or insincere. If you’re recording a YouTube video or uploading a picture to Facebook that feels like a cheap, forced ploy to get views, don’t do it. Always strive to be sincere and to create something genuine that customers will organically love.

A Lack Of Originality

In today’s competitive digital landscape, the worst thing that you can be is reductive. If you’re creating your online marketing strategy by just observing the strategies of your competitors and stealing from them, you’ll never stand out in the crowded landscape. It’s a good idea to see what successful people have done and use it as inspiration. It’s a terrible idea, however, to simply rip people off. You should see what similar brands are doing and use it as inspiration, but ultimately come up with something completely original and unique.

It can be hard to stand out in this day and age, where just about every entrepreneur is doing his or her best to really stand out in the world of digital marketing. However, if you can avoid the above blunders, you’ll be halfway there to creating a successful online marketing strategy. Don’t expect your brand to take off overnight. A great online marketing campaign can take years to really get attention. But if you stick with it and create something organic and truly great, eventually customers will indeed take notice.