In case you’ve retreated from society and have been living under a rock since 1999, we are currently living in a digital world. The ways in which businesses market themselves across various industries are continually evolving and what may have worked just two to five years ago might not work today. Newspapers and billboards—while still important—are now taking the backseat and making way for marketing campaigns run solely on the internet.

With over 4 billion internet users worldwide and an average of 3.5 billion searches carried out each day, your business depends on a well-developed digital marketing strategy to stand out from the competition. Today, internet marketing and online advertising are no longer considered options but necessities.

If you’re new to the world of digital marketing and don’t know where or even how to begin, then you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, we’ll list a few do’s and don’ts of digital marketing that every business should be aware of.

Do: Know Your Brand as well As Your Competition

Spending significant sums of money on digital marketing campaigns will be a waste if you haven’t first developed a strong brand strategy that sets your business apart from the competition. Branding is, quite literally, the most important aspect of doing business and the best way of conveying your message to the target audience.

Without a strong brand image, it’s increasingly difficult for prospective customers to engage with your business. However, creating and marketing a brand varies greatly from one industry to another which is why the digital marketing campaigns of a law firm will differ significantly from, let’s say, a local steakhouse. Consider the following points when defining your brand and business:

• What is your company’s mission statement?
• What traits do you want your audience to associate with your company?
• What benefits do you want your products and services to offer?

Do: Engage and Personalize the User Experience

One aspect that makes digital marketing so effective is how it allows for a high degree of customization. Businesses can use this aspect alongside consumer knowledge to develop strong and personalized marketing campaigns.

A good example is email marketing. It enables businesses to create dynamic content which has changed the way how people connect with emails and has led to increased customer engagement levels. According to the Email Marketing Industry Census of 2017, email marketing was found to generate the highest level of ROI of any marketing channel.

Whether you’re communicating with the audience via social media pages or email marketing campaigns, an engaged digital community lies at the cornerstone of online success.

Do: Create Original Content

Once you develop a solid brand image and get to know your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, it’s now time to start creating original content. We say original because posting rehashed or copied content from another source will fail to attract new customers and retain existing ones.

You’d want to post something your audience can remember and connect with. This includes everything from the website content to social media posts, ads, and blogs. Google’s own search quality ratings report states how quality content is a top priority when it comes to positioning webpages high on its rankings.

Here’s a tip to keep in mind: review your content from the customers’ perspective. Does it provide insights, solve a problem, or answer a question? If yes, then you’re on the right track.

With that being said, let’s move on to the don’ts of Digital Marketing.

Don’t: Ever Resort to Spam

Spamming should never be a part of any of your marketing campaigns. Digital marketing is successful only when it reaches and is accepted by the audience with consent as customers tend to avoid spammy brands like the plague.

Despite the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns in enhancing your company’s digital footprint, clogging the audiences’ inboxes with spam is likely to tarnish all of your efforts. The same rule applies to social media. When your posts start to appear in the followers’ newsfeed every 10-20 minutes, they’ll soon lose interest and will most likely unfollow your page.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue aggressive marketing strategies when the time is right, just remember to respect the boundary between what’s acceptable and what’s downright annoying.

Don’t: Neglect Your Audience

Coming back to our point of keeping the audience engaged, many businesses do maintain active social media profiles or send routine email messages but that’s about it. Some companies hold an incorrect belief that by interacting with the audience online or answering queries they’ll be giving away potential secrets.

However, by interacting with the audience you’ll solidify your position as a trustworthy authority in the industry. Don’t just post relevant content and then forget about it, make an effort to answer any queries as this will show your concern and care for customer satisfaction.

Don’t: Leave out Live Video

While recorded videos are still powerful tools to grab people’s attention, the popularity of live video for internet and mobile audiences has skyrocketed in recent times. According to a survey carried out by Livestream in association with the New York Magazine, 82% of consumers would prefer to watch a live video rather than read social media posts whereas 80% would do the same as opposed to reading a blog.

Incorporating live video streaming on your social media pages or websites is a powerful tool and one that should be utilized at a time when most companies are still unaware of its importance.

Don’t: Limited Yourself to a Single Digital Outlet

There’s an old saying that’s appropriate for digital marketing: never place all of your eggs into a single basket. With so many media outlets currently available, it’s best to diversify your online marketing efforts. Better yet is to identify the outlet which creates the most buzz and then directing your efforts towards that outlet for the highest rate of success.

Digital marketing is still a developing field and there’s no one size fits all solution for success. Just as businesses differ in their operations, so does the effectiveness of each marketing campaign. However, seeking out the expertise of digital marketing professionals is a sure-shot way of enhancing your online presence and boosting your sales.

Devebyte is a Edmonton SEO company in Alberta that offers a range of services including Facebook advertisement, Content Creation, SEO Optimization, and Google AdWords. They’re experts in the field of digital marketing and have helped countless businesses climb the search engine rankings and achieve online success. Contact us today for more information.