In something as time-intensive as digital marketing, it’s very easy to become stuck in your ways. With live campaigns requiring your urgent attention at nearly all times, you have no time or headspace to step back from your strategy and analyse it. You simply carry on doing things the way they have always been done. After all, who has the time to start changing and reinventing things?
In such an incredibly fast-moving world as digital marketing, this kind of approach won’t take you very far. According to independent business consultant and social media trends specialist Larry Alton writing on CIO.com, diversity really is the key to success in today’s online marketing landscape.
Brands need to be fearless in experimenting and striking out on new platforms, all in the attempt to reach new customers. It can be risky, but not as risky as deciding on one strategy for the foreseeable future and closing yourself off to new ideas.
How to diversify
Diversifying your digital marketing is a gradual process, involving loosening your grip on your current strategy and dipping a toe into new areas. Here are some tips and ideas to get you started:
- Try a different type of content. Always post the same old things on your blog or social media? It’s time to shake things up and invest some time and effort into original content creation. Conduct a poll and turn the results into an infographic, produce an informative whitepaper for your subscribers and turn some serious attention towards video. Crucially, trying something new is vital if you want to keep audiences engaged with your brand. Jenna Gross, the CEO of Moving Targets, explained to CIO.com:
“By leveraging a diverse arsenal of content, a brand will keep things unpredictable and exciting for its consumers, which is very impactful in this age of multimedia stimulation,”
“As long as a company continues to deliver fresh and unique content types, audiences will surely remain engaged.”
- Cross-pollination and channel integration can yield big results. Rather than seeing each marketing channel as a separate entity, use each channel to strengthen and support the others. Integration is often heralded as the best tactic for improving digital marketing results – for example, recent research showed that combining PPC and organic SEO can result in an increase in conversion rates of up to 200%.
- Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. If you’ve only ever used one platform to reach out to new customers, it’s very easy to become dependent on it. But what if the platform changes its terms, rules or the way it works – or closes down altogether? Your dependence becomes a major liability and a risk for your brand. It’s time to spread out to new platforms.
- Measure what works and what doesn’t. Of course, experimenting with new content, platforms and strategies is no good if you don’t measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
What have you done lately to diversify your digital marketing? Please feel free to share your thoughts.
