3 Red Flags In Your Digital Strategy

3 Red Flags In Your Digital Strategy

First and foremost lets be clear on one thing, simply having a Facebook page for your business is not a digital strategy.

Many small to mid-sized business owners who aren’t as immersed in their company’s online marketing don’t understand this and this lack of realization adds to their concern of why they aren’t getting the attention or conversions they want in the digital space. Digital is all-encompassing and succeeding in digital isn’t a hobby. It all boils down to actually having a clear strategy, or roadmap, to be able to achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

So, say it with me now: I will not set goals without creating a strategy to reach them in the first place. Great. Will there be bumps in the road? Inevitably. That’s why our overall strategies also need to be constantly monitored, adapted, and analyzed along the way.

So with that in mind, here are three red flags that it may show up indicating it may be time to update that digital strategy of yours.

Numero Uno: Your Digital Strategy Doesn’t Address Your Website Being Mobile Friendly

If you haven’t heard, Google is about to drop the bomb on websites that aren’t mobile friendly and give higher rankings to those sites that are. This is happening. End of April to be exact. Why?… because mobile is everywhere and user experience is one of the main driving factors in Google’s overall algorithm. If a user visits your site from a mobile device and doesn’t get a good experience, that user will ultimately leave. Nobody wants that… not the user, not the business, and not Google. This doesn’t mean that we need to create multiple versions of your website for each and every potential device that may visit.

Get ahead while you still can, convert or create your website in responsive code to ensure your website is optimized no matter where the visitor is coming from and across all devices. You’ll not only be delivering the best user experience possible to your visitors but you’ll also avoid the wrath of the Google mobile update.

2: Not Seeing PPC ROI In Your Digital Strategy

Google AdWords is a fantastic advertising platform that is set up to help you succeed in online marketing. The problem is that far too many businesses find themselves spending hand-over-fist without seeing much in return in the form of direct revenue. Just having an account and running ads on this platform doesn’t guarantee you success in this space. Both your campaign and your landing pages that you’re driving traffic to need to be optimized to achieve an optimal ROI.

Budget, audience identification, keyword targeting, ad copy, analysis… all of these are variables in the equation on the campaign side. Even if you nail every one of these aspects directly on the head, your campaign can still fail to deliver the results you seek if the destination you are sending the visitors isn’t on point. You must optimize your landing pages to run in tandem with the ads that point to said pages. All the impressions and clicks in the Google-sphere won’t translate into conversions if the landing page isn’t optimized to meet that end.

Three: Content Not A Concern In Your Digital Strategy

We’ve all hear that Content Is King. This remains true in our current digital state, but content alone is useless unless it has a purpose and is driven strategically. We need new, fresh, and engaging content to continue feeding the beast (Google) but also to help build our brands as thought leaders and as trusted resources in the online marketplace.

When you think about it, content drives every interaction online. Every single one. So we need to content, good content, to play an integral role in our overall digital strategy. But what is content? A common way to break it down is to view content as either Published, Reactive, or Proactive.

• Published Content: This entails the content you create directly such as blogs, infographics, email, videos.
• Reactive Content: Content created as a response like comments or tweets regarding your published materials.
• Proactive Content: Off-page and away from your own branded material content such as commenting on other forums, blogs or social platforms.

You should have your hand in each of these areas of content in the digital space to be able to engage, enlighten, and possibly evangelize visitors to your online branded material.

To Sum It Up

Your digital strategy should be a living, breathing, and adapting part of your marketing endeavors. Don’t be relieved that you created a strategy, be aware of possible changes that may need to take place to keep you at the top of your game instead.