Setting clear goals will help put brands on the path to digital marketing glory – Experts
By Olatoyosi Oladapo
Employing digital marketing tools and strategies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paid ads, link posting, video marketing among others are impactful engagements for brands’ visibility and growth when properly utilized. However, understanding who the target audiences are, setting clear business goals and pin pointing the most effective strategies are better ways to successfully deploy digital marketing to increase Return on Investment (ROI).
To further buttress this fact, MARKETING EDGE took time off to interact with digital marketing experts on how digital marketing can be successfully engaged or adopted.
Daniel Chukwu, Senior Digital Strategist, Yellow Brick Road, emphasized on the need to first create an enabling environment for digital marketing to strive. He added: ”Digital marketing is still relatively new in our market, and leveraging it means that brands have to create an enabling environment for their businesses to fully reap its benefits. Firstly, brands need to have a top-down approach to innovation. With this in place, decision makers are able to quickly and efficiently define and decide on the best digital approach to adopt.”
Mr. Chukwu further explained the need to articulate business goals and hire experts.
“Secondly, brands need to clearly articulate what their business goals are. By doing this, they can gain clarity on how best digital can help them achieve those goals. What we have seen oftentimes is a fire brigade approach where brands quickly decide to adopt digital because ‘other brands’ are doing it. This should not be the case. Brands, which jump because their competitors are jumping, may jump one day and land inside hot water. Articulating business goals will help brands to answer these questions: How will digital help me achieve my goals? Which digital channel is best for me? Are my target audiences on this channel? Finding answers to these questions and so much more will put brands on the righteous path to digital glory.
“For instance, a Susan with sales background cannot do digital because she runs a personal blog. Neither can an Emeka do so because he can setup Facebook ads. Blogs and social media platforms are useful touchpoints, but will need the coordination of an expert to help brands fully maximize them. Having an expert is not enough; brands need to also listen to them when recommendations are made. You don’t go to the doctor when you’re sick, but go back home to a bus conductor for your drug prescription after diagnosis. Having to listen to a digital expert will help brands focus on digital channels that will boost their Return on Investment (ROI).”
In the same vein, Founder of Hustle Africa, AyeeSha Omadibi, stated ways in which brands can successfully engage digital marketing.
“For brands to win at the digital marketing game, they need to first understand digital marketing. Digital marketing is basically brands using tech and digital tools to amplify their marketing efforts. The customer is still king. Any marketing effort based on an intimate understanding of the customers and their needs will surely win. A brand who takes digital marketing seriously will do everything it takes to keep courting, seducing the customer.”
Ayeesha noted that the need to set clear goals goes hand in hand with data analytics.
“Next, there has to be clear goals. What is the brand trying to achieve and by what time? These will contribute greatly to the success of their digital marketing efforts. One thing most brands do not do is leverage multiple channels. This is important for success. Each of the platforms working together will deliver a robust set of results. For instance, while the SEO is delivering on that front, let social media be delivering on another front, and email marketing working its angle.
“This contributes greatly to the success of a digital marketing campaign. Thanks to data analytics, brands can personalize the experience of each customer/audience, which is key. A personalized experience does wonders for conversion. Finally, measure the progress. I like to think of it as listening back. Listening back will give you insight on what to amplify and what to do differently. The customer is always speaking. To succeed in your marketing efforts, you must have a listening strategy too,” she stated.
Fridel Makun, Head of B2B Marketing, mentioned that getting business goals clearly set and the right digital marketing professionals are keys to successfully engaging digital marketing.
“First of all, brands need to be clear on what their business goals are in connection to digital marketing, more like what to do, what they want to get from digital marketing. Is it social media, SEO, performance (where you can track and see how much you are spending)? There are a lot of ways to track investments these days. Businesses have to ensure they are working with the right professionals that can advise them correctly in taking their business forward, digitally.”
Abimbola Ogundiran, Deputy Director, Playhouse Communication, also emphasized on understanding online audience and giving a new insight to experimenting platforms to discover the most effective for the brand.
“Get to know your online audience because the bedrock of any successful marketing campaign irrespective of channels is to deeply understand the target audience and how they align to the brand values – demographics, preferences, behaviours and pain points. That way, you get quality reach and impressions, which is the groundwork for potential conversions and ROI.
“Experiment and iterate, as this is important. A digital marketing professional will experiment and test different strategies around the content, platform audience targeting, ad creative and so on. To get the best and the most returns, it is imperative for digital marketers to test to the point that they know what works.”
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