4 Digital Marketing Resolutions You Can Make in 2020
Wasn’t 2019 a blast? Between going to the gym everyday and never picking up another soda, those resolutions from January held up wonderfully… right?
Yeah, probably not. If you’re anything like me, a resolution, particularly one the pertains to my looks or eating habits, just isn’t going to last long after they start breaking out the Valentine’s Day chocolate.
What’s the point in making a solemn pledge to be better at the start of every year if it just leads to guilt and frustration?
I’ll give you a hint… There’s not one.
So, instead of asking your loved ones to pry cheesecake out of your iron grasp or dragging yourself to Planet Fitness at 5:00 in the morning to cry on the treadmill, make digital marketing resolutions that you can keep.
Not only will it bring your brand more prominence and your website more views, it’s measurable enough that creating attainable goals is as easy as picking a target CTR, organic view count, or sales number. And, you can still celebrate with a dummy thicc slice of pie.
Resolution #1: Create a Story and Tell It Well
Everyone likes to make fun of the fact that country music tells the same stories: lost love, lost trucks, lost football games, lost nights spent throwing back Bud Lite on a tailgate… The list goes on.
While that might be true, I’ll still bump Jolene when someone slides into my man’s DMs or What Hurts the Most when I forget to pull the chicken out of the freezer for dinner.
There’s something alluring and relatable about knowing someone’s whole life story in the span of a three-minute song. It helps us connect to the media that we’re consuming, especially if we can see ourselves and our reactions reflected in the singer’s.
That is exactly why brand stories are so important. Your followers are bombarded with messages everyday telling them to buy this, subscribe to that, and click here to find out more. It’s overwhelming, and our brains way of processing it is to shut it out completely.
Make one of your digital marketing resolutions finding creative ways to reach through the noise to tell the story of your brand, your followers are going to perk up and listen. They are craving humanity and connection in a world increasingly run by AI and automated marketing. Those are good tools, but they will never replace the power of emotion, transparency, and good storytelling (see more on this topic below).
Resolution #2: If Something’s Not Working, Stop Doing It
A really smart guy with a super fancy beard said, “Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.” That guy was Aubrey De Graf, and he makes a great point. We’ve all had that project, significant other, or pair of skinny jeans that we just can’t let go of. The investment of time, money, and energy that we put into making it work puts us in the mindset that giving up would make all the efforts a total waste.
I’m here to tell you that’s not true.
If you’ve invested $7,000 in Facebook ads, but your ROI is still at a few cents on the dollar, you’d be better off just giving me the money to dance on the sidewalk and scream your business’s name.
Embrace your mishaps because mistakes are the best way to learn. If we were always good at stuff, we’d never have a reason to find creative solutions. Sure, we’d avoid some humiliation and a few slices of humble pie, but the best lessons in life come from making a huge, unforgettable oopsy.
In 2020, one of your most important digital marketings resolutions will be telling yourself that it’s okay to take risks, and that it’s even more okay to drop that risk when it’s not working anymore. It might rip your heart out. You might get frustrated and angry. Your families might look at you with silent desperation as you cry in the corner. But, honestly, who cares? Once you get over this hump, you can take what you’ve learned from the bad risk and turn it into experience that will help you find safer, more effective bets down the line.
Resolution #3: Use Automation as a Tool, Not a Foundation
Automation is all fun and games until your smart house overrides its prime directives, locks you inside, and forces you to play Leave It to Beaver.
Nothing will ever be able to replace human connection. That fact is becoming increasingly true as consumers deal with more chat bots, AI, and “smart” devices. Despite Google, Amazon, and Apple’s attempts to give their assistants more humanity, they will never be able to recreate the nuance and rapport of a conversation.
That fact is reflected in a study done by Arm Treasure Data, in which 80.5% of people said that they prefer human interactions to electronic systems. Why?
- 72% said that humans understand concerns better
- 59% said humans provide more thorough explanations
- 42% said that humans are less likely to frustrate them
- 52% said that humans address problems faster
Does that mean AI doesn’t have its place? Of course not! But even companies like Amazon, where 99.9999% of all customer interaction is done without a representative present, it’s nice to know that I can call to discuss a late shipment or an overcharge to my card.
Don’t rest your laurels on automation. Use it for things like sending out scheduled emails, answering common questions through Facebook messenger, and getting customer feedback, but don’t ever let it remove with the human element of your brand.
Resolution #4: Trust in the Work That You Pay For
One of the hardest digital marketing resolutions, but also one of the most important, is to trust in the experts you seek out to do a good job for you.
As a hired service, digital marketers already know the stigma associated with their field. Many clients believe that we’re creating a co-dependency that they’ll be paying for infinitum, or risk losing all of the gains that were had over the term of the contract. In general, though, that’s just not the case.
We’re not naive. The world is not always sunshine and daisies. There are firms out there that are looking to wring out your marketing budget for all it’s worth, then leave you high and dry when the money runs out. In fact, a few of us have WORKED at firms with that mindset.
But, that’s why we left.
A great digital marketing company is passionate about seeing growth in their clients until they are self-sustainable. We want you to spread your baby bird wings and fly straight into the great blue yonder of success.
Great digital marketing firms don’t need to hold on to the same 10 clients over 20 years. Their reputation will allow them to find new clients as veteran clients get the hang of marketing on their own.
We understand that it’s your business, your money, and your success at stake, but there’s a reason that you sought out help in the first place. For the same reason that you wouldn’t ask your surgeon to stay awake during the procedure to “make sure she’s doing it right,” let your digital marketers do what they’re good at. That’s not to say that we don’t value your ideas, but we’ve watched several client’s ROI plummet as soon as they started pulling the strings. It’s a sad story, and one that we wish we didn’t have to tell.
Alas… you can lead a client to water, but you can’t make them leave the ad settings alone.
We hope that our list of digital marketing resolutions helps you find peace and success in 2020!