16 simple ways to become better at digital marketing in 2016

Nothing in digital marketing is simple, the title is well just to make you click and read on.

There’s almost nothing that changes as fast as the digital industry. New ideas, new technologies, new companies, they all make changes happen drastically. Users want something today, and something completely different the day after. While there is no one sure shot way of being sure about what the future holds in store, one can always look back, connect the dots, witness what is currently happening and plan for the future.

Presented here are some thoughts and perspectives which can help you shape your digital marketing strategies better for the year that lies ahead. Here are ’16 simple ways to become better at Digital Marketing in 2016′ –

1. Never forget the 3Cs

The 3Cs of digital marketing are these 3 pillars, 3 commandments, 3 rules which you should never break. The sad reality is that most brand managers and digital marketers tend to make the usual mistakes of not abiding by these 3 Cs, and as a result, most campaigns suffer.

a. Content
..is king they say, and they are right. But just to clarify, content doesn’t just mean what we write, it is about the very thought that goes into creating something valuable. Write well, produce well, but most importantly think well on the drawing board to make sure somebody finds your ‘content’ worthy of ‘consumption’

b. Creativity
Creativity doesn’t mean Photoshop, or that video editing software, or Canva for that matter. Creativity is the creation of something interesting, something enticing, something that makes people come towards it, something that draws attention. Be creative at the very core of what you do, right from the time you think of that product.

c. Common Sense
Now it’s one thing to have great content and be innovative, but another to go overboard. Don’t let creativity and content get the better of you, and make sure your ideas do end up catering to the very people they are meant for in the first place. Make things simple for the user they are intended for. People don’t want to see the best creativity and content, they just want something they can understand and relate to, try and give them that.

2. Research before you begin

Digital marketing gives us the power that traditional marketing never could, the power of instant search and research. No matter if it is a campaign in Africa or a video that is doing really well in Australia, you can watch it all, and find it all on the internet. If only we would start investing 10% of our marketing efforts in doing due research, analysing existing case studies, studying different models, our ROI of all sorts would naturally improve. Research before you invest, and the returns will surely be better.

3. Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket

2013-2015 practically belonged to social media, but there seems to be a shift already. Brands are realising that Facebook can’t just be their entire digital marketing strategy. Digital Marketing needs to go beyond social, and needs to mean much more than just Facebook and Twitter.

4. Digital Marketing is not free. You need to start spending money.

One big problem with many people’s perception towards digital is that they hope and expect it to be affordable if not outright free. Yes, there are stories of people having made it big online simply with brilliant content, but those examples are few and far between. If you really want your brand to do well, you need to get serious about spending some serious money in 2016.

5. Build something concrete

So you have a facebook page, and a twitter handle, maybe even a LinkedIn or an instagram account. But do you have something concrete that actually supports all this? Is there something sturdy where you try to redirect all this traffic to? Is your website up to date and responsive? The problem is we have got so consumed by the fluff, that we have almost forgotten to concentrate on that which is concrete. Let us go back to building rich and beautiful websites whose content gets discovered and shared on its own.

6. Learn. Even if you outsource.

The thing with digital marketing is that it keeps evolving practically every day. Now no matter who takes care of your digital marketing, you need to remember that digital marketing is so vast that nobody can truly know everything. In such a scenario, it becomes important for you as an important stakeholder to try and stay up to date, and know what the industry is up to.

7. Define what you want to measure. Stop shooting in the dark.

So a lot of people invest in campaigns and then complain that they didn’t work. Whether or not something will work entirely depends upon how you define success. Before you go on to investing any time money or other resources on a campaign, define what you want to get out of it. Branding/Leads/WalkIns or Sales? A campaign without an objective is much like a football match without a goal.

8. Analyse. As much as you can.

Many a times, simple analysis of where your customers are coming from, what are they clicking on, why are they no visiting a page can be enough to help you optimise your campaigns better and earn better ROI. Just start analysing. And if you are the kinds who get scared by Google Analytics, try installing something simpler on your WordPress Website (like Jetpack Stats), or try shortening your URLs using bitly.com and then track different clicks on different sources.

9. Think visual. Think video.

Facebook is hell bent on becoming a strong YouTube competitor, Vines and Periscopes are already generating buzz, 3G has moved to 4G and smart phones are becoming smarter. No matter where you look, video creation and consumption is rising.  

10. Capture data. Capture email ids.

Subscribers through followers on social networking sites, remarketing data through pixels, email ids through data capturing forms. Capture everything, capture it all. Email ids are set to play a major role in the times ahead, because in addition to email marketing becoming more relevant, you can use email ids to target customers on facebook and Google.

11. Write for people and not for brands or search engines

While many a people recommend and suggest to do in depth keyword analysis before writing every article, we don’t do it. While part of the reason for that is that we are lazy, the other reason is that if certain keywords or key phrases don’t let my content feel fresh, interesting or exciting to read, then what is the point of writing it in the first place?

If a news app like InShorts (News In Shorts) does so well, it is because of the reason that people don’t like reading too much these days. We are in fact a headline reading generation, if people click and actually read, then you are mighty successful already. 

12. Invest in mobile. Start with a responsive website.

Flipkart Lite was launched after much hullabaloo about Flipkart going app only. Apps were the talk of town all through 2015. What famously started by Myntra going app only and Flipkart announcing that it is following suit ended in Flipkart backtracking from their stance (with the launch of Flipkart Lite) and last heard, Myntra is also slowly going back to the mobile website version. Apps are great, but they aren’t the only answer. People don’t need your app if they don’t need it at least once a week if not everyday.

13. Don’t ignore the new platforms. Don’t try to be on every platform.

This is one big challenge actually. Every now and then I hear a query, “So what should we do on Snapchat?” Don’t refer to random researches that suggest that a random platform is rising in popularity and therefore you invest on it, try to instead see how your audience is behaving and in which direction are they moving. Look globally, localise that information and then act. What works in America doesn’t necessarily have to work in India.

14. Partner. Collaborate.

Maggi tied up with Snapdeal.There is only as much one can do alone. While companies are getting acquired left right and centre, another important trend is partnerships. Not like it’s a new concept, but you can go a long way digitally if you partner with people, with brands, with online properties.

15. There are no miracles. There is no secret. Pure hard work.

Miracles happen every now and then, but to build and sustain campaigns over a long term, you really need to invest all your energy in demystifying the various mediums, demystifying your audience, demystifying patterns and constantly learning while you do all that.

16. Stop Marketing

Sell when you sell, but please stick to marketing when you do the latter. Nobody likes people to be in their face anymore, and the same applies to marketing. Let us respect people’s space and privacy, and start telling instead of selling. 

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This article was originally published here, click to read the complete story.