How To Tackle These Top 3 Digital Marketing Challenges

by Marielle Reussink

As marketers, we’re constantly keeping an eye on what’s happening in our industry. While the digital marketing landscape is always evolving, lately we’ve noticed changes that seem to suggest we’re on the verge of a major paradigm shift.

Is it just us? To find out, we recently organized a roundtable for marketers from across the globe. Together, we explored the latest trends, shared our challenges and offered tips on what's working for us in digital today.

Here are the top challenges that digital marketers are working through right now, along with handy tips to help you take a proactive approach.

# 1: Go-to strategies are no longer working

Many brands have built up a marketing playbook that they can count on to achieve predictable, scalable results. With the latest changes to social media algorithms, coupled with new digital marketing trends and channel policies, many businesses are finding those strategies just don’t work as well as they used to.

If you’re experiencing this, you of course can’t continue to do more of the same. What to do?

Test, test and test again!

Try to understand the trends, discern how you can apply them to your strategy and test new approaches. For example:

Refine your target audience or test new ones.
Try new creatives like experimenting with video.
Experiment with new features.
Test different messages or different ways of delivering your message.

All in all, don’t be afraid to take small risks. You might just find a new strategy that puts you ahead of the curve.

On that note, while your instinct may be to follow exactly what’s working for others, this may not always be the right fit for you. Staying true to your brand is key. So, make sure your new strategies make sense for your brand universe.

#2: VIDEO!

Arguably the most important trend this year is the shift to video. YouTube and TikTok are of course leading the way but even Instagram and Facebook love video. But how do you execute this as a business?

For businesses with smaller budgets or limited experience with video, the idea of diving into this medium can be daunting. Here are a few thoughts to get you started:

Before obsessing about production value, think about how you can provide tangible value to your audience through your content. Can you teach something, inspire or answer questions? What unique story or point of view can you offer the world?

Second, think about how to create your video content and what tactics you can use. Video content can include lives, recorded webinars, even image slide shows, GIFs, timelapses and of course videos made simply using smartphones. In today’s world, it doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect. Unless your brand genuinely thrives on perfectly curated visuals, a more authentic, behind-the-scenes approach may be just as effective - if not more so.

Lastly, before you jump in, just because something is trending, doesn’t mean you have to do it. If something feels inauthentic for your brand or product or you feel your audience will not connect with this type of content (for example trending Reels and TikTok videos), you can put your own spin on a trend or test out a different strategy.

#3: Facebook advertising has changed

While Facebook ads are still a powerful tool for building awareness, due to the iOS 14 update, they are more difficult to track and thus scale. This poses a big challenge for ecommerce businesses that have depended entirely on Facebook advertising to drive sales.

This means, you can no longer ignore diversifying your strategy and building strong direct to consumer channels:

Make sure you have a great website that’s designed to convert.
Ensure your site has strong SEO.
Focus on building up your email database and email marketing strategy.
Consider experimenting with Google Adwords or other advertising platforms, depending on your audience and goals.

The New Rules of the Game

We've always known it’s risky to put all your eggs in one basket, but until now, social media has been such a powerful tool that it’s been easy to ignore the idea of diversifying your strategy and perfecting your site. Well, now is the time to really take control!

While it may seem like everything is changing, one truth remains: it always pays to focus on your audience first. What do they want? Which needs aren’t being met? How can you appeal to those needs?

These answers should be at the heart of your marketing strategy, no matter what channels you’re on.