With all the developments that have taken place in this age of technology, it’s impossible to think of a sector that hasn’t been improved. The same holds true for marketing, which is why many companies are embracing digital marketing to increase revenue.
However, a recent study by Smart Insights found that almost half of businesses (49%) are engaging in digital marketing without a clear plan. The other participants either maintain a digital marketing strategy as a stand-alone document (17% of the sample) or include it in their main marketing strategy (34%). While implementing a digital marketing plan yields significant benefits, not having one can lead to the consequences outlined below.
1. Disjointed Marketing Efforts
Without a well-thought-out digital strategy, your company’s promotional activities can be compared to shooting in the dark. A digital marketing strategy aids in market research, client identification, and the selection of effective promotional channels. Developing a marketing strategy also involves looking into and comparing different advertising prices. Without this, your marketing strategies may fail.
2. Inefficient Tracking
The best marketing plans include more than just outlining how you’ll get the word out about your company; they also include ways to monitor the success of your advertising campaigns. Without a marketing strategy in place, you will have no method of formally tracking the origins of your leads and consumers. This could result in you adopting or retaining inefficient marketing strategies while pouring resources into less-productive ones.
3. Ineffective Budget
A digital marketing strategy isn’t complete without a marketing budget. The budget allows you to determine how much money you have available to invest in various marketing strategies, and if it includes a monitoring feature, it can help you calculate the number of consumers generated by each marketing initiative. If you haphazardly position ads, write website content for SEO purposes, and make social media posts without a specific objective in mind, you will likely overspend and receive poor results. A digital marketing plan that investigates and outlines the most effective digital strategies enables you to coordinate your ad campaigns, purchase advertising in quantity, and saturate your target market for the greatest possible profit.
4. Reactive Approach
A well-developed digital marketing plan helps a company identify its objectives, target audience, messaging, and tactics for reaching that audience. Without a digital marketing plan, it seems as if you’re always playing catch-up, having to respond to unexpected marketing opportunities rather than proactively seizing them. As such, a company may miss opportunities to reach its target audience, fail to differentiate itself from competitors, and struggle to achieve its marketing goals.
Like all aspects of life, failing to make a plan will inevitably predispose you to failure. However, you can easily avert these problems by creating and implementing a proper digital marketing plan. The main reason for implementing it in the first place is to ensure that your company has some structure and accountability in how it reaches out to its customers. And even if you’ve been operating without one for some time, it’s never too late to start. So make the change today and watch your company prosper to untold heights.
