Running a digital marketing campaign can be like playing a game of Snakes and Ladders. You can plan till your heart’s content, but with a roll of the dice, you could find your campaign flying high, or your fate could change and you find yourself slipping backwards.
The question is, just how well equipped are you to deal with the ups and downs? Are you making the most of opportunities and minimising the damage? Take our quiz to test your digital marketing prowess!
Here’s my tips for how you can be best prepared the game!
Remember: there’s a time and a place
Context is hugely important, each part of the web has its own rules. Positive feedback on a consumer forum for example, might not translate so well if you decide to share this on your website, and equally, if you were to go onto that discussion forum and give it the marketing speak then you’d probably get banned!
Think about your target audience and what their expectations are for the space they’re in. One marketing message does not fit all. What tools do you have at your disposal to reach this audience?
Can you spin a negative into a positive?
With the speed of social media, news of any shortcomings can unfortunately spread very quickly. Start with solving the issue – this isn’t just a marketing problem, it’s a customer service issue. Once you have a plan, that’s where your digital strategy will come into play, use your digital channels to get your message out there, and who knows, you might see a surprising conversion rate for your apology email, maybe the brand PPC campaign to your apology landing page diverts traffic away from negative reviews.
Remember – how you deal with problems in the public sphere can set you apart and help you weather the storm.
Plan for your campaigns to fail
What’s the worst thing that could happen? You probably don’t want to think about it, but go beyond the worst case scenario and think about how you’d deal with it. You probably won’t have to put your “worst case” plan in place, but you’ll be better equipped to handle setbacks if you’ve thought through what you’d do. I’d recommend keeping a cross channel mindset for your backup plan – lay out where the intersections are between your campaigns. If something doesn’t work for one channel, can it be helpful to another?
Plan for your campaigns to fly
Prepare for the worst case, but also prepare for the best case. What if your campaign is so successful that you get more budget signed off? How would you keep the momentum up? Keep your goals and objectives in mind all the time so if/when you do have a win, you’ll know where to use it to get you to your goal quicker!
How to turn your snakes into ladders
If you take just one thing away from this article, my final piece of advice for playing the digital marketing game of snakes and ladders is to make sure your marketing channels are working together.
By all means, your campaigns will have individual objectives, but all should be working towards a larger overall marketing objective and you should know where the crossover lies. So if you find yourself halfway up a ladder, you’re not limited to what you can do because you’re stuck in an SEO mindset. Equally, if you find a snake in your path, the answer to your problems may lie in the wider marketing space.
Don’t let your fate be decided by chance waiting to see if you’re going to land on a ladder or a snake. Line up your team and resources so you can avoid the snakes altogether and rise up those ladders.
Leave a Reply