5 Mistakes That Hinder Any Digital Marketing Plan

In a digital market scenario where, in many cases, more is paid for performance measurement than for building brand value, the role of a Planning professional in Digital Marketing companies ends up becoming involuntarily improvised.

Thinking strategically is seen as something intrinsic to communications professionals regardless of the specific area in which they work, but the increasingly frequent presence of positions linked to market analysis and brand planning shows that the execution of specific tasks of this genre highlights the deficit of THINKING in relation to DOING. 

With this in mind, we've listed the five most common planning mistakes made within companies and agencies focused on Digital Marketing that lead thousands of brands to get lost in the "sea of diversions" that is the Internet and Social Media.

1. Not making diagnoses and, consequently, not defining clear objectives.

You know how, after your first meeting with a client, you already know what to do based on their complaints and perspectives? So, be careful! Keep in mind that the reasons behind your clients' communication problems often go beyond what they tell you.

"I'm having trouble increasing the number of likes on my (client's) page." This isn't a problem; it's a consequence of it. It's important to differentiate a trivial complaint from a genuine strategic failure and ask yourself, considering the bigger picture: what factors are preventing people from engaging with the brand's digital presence? These errors may be rooted in poorly crafted brand perception (branding), or even in misguided content formats that don't reflect the client's consumer behavior.

The objectives, naturally, should be adapted to the answer to this question (or several new ones based on it). 

2. Reduce the search to ZERO and ignore the references.

Don't delegate a simple task like Desk Research to Customer Service or the Sales Department. Yes, these departments are also responsible for understanding the client's needs, but it's up to the Planning professional to perform the analytical work of understanding all the macro-environmental factors that influence the client's reality. 

For example, if the brand is in the real estate sector, how is the target audience in this segment behaving on social media? What most influences their decision to purchase an apartment? What types of content are relevant to them, in what formats, and where? What benchmarking can we use?

In short, don't underestimate the value of gathering secondary data on Google, stalking users who are Qualified Leads, calling people, or simply observing who's doing it right to follow suit. Any variable can be vital!

3. Define Content and Format before defining Personas.

Being "hasty" is already a mistake for any communications professional, and for Planners, it's a sin. Establishing content guidelines is fundamental to any digital strategy, a task that can be performed by both Planning and Creative professionals, but knowing exactly who the content is being targeted at is key to avoiding wasted time and effort.

Always keep in mind that a single brand can have multiple consumer profiles, so the type of content and segmentation can vary drastically from one to the next. Identifying user behavior patterns to establish personas comes before, for example, designing an editorial line and, in turn, deciding on appropriate marketing channels. 

"Oh, single parents of young children tend to be impacted by posts like X, in such-and-such a format, on Facebook." Are you sure? Have you tried talking to one of them before? See which Facebook pages of that kind they've been interacting with most?

Pushing any kind of content or action on people based on assumptions has more potential to generate rejection than engagement. And producing decent content takes time, so don't waste anyone's time.

4. Offering the customer things they don't need (sounds obvious, right? But let's take it one step at a time).

Does it make sense to air three commercials a week on GNT if your target audience doesn't even watch television? Of course not. And the same logic applies to the virtual environment. 

However, at certain times it can be a little more difficult, both for clients and professionals in the field, to see what is appropriate for a given client, in a given market segment, in the digital world.

There's a lot of talk these days, for example, about how crucial it is to have a presence on Facebook and build a large fan base. But is this a general rule? Does everyone looking for a particular service necessarily start on Facebook? Think twice, at least.

Continuing with more examples: when your mother or uncle looks for a dentist who specializes in implants, do they prefer the professional who keeps their Instagram account the most up-to-date?

Now, it's not that it's impossible to create relevant content for the dental industry, or that it's not a differentiator for someone to value a brand (most of the time, it is). However, considering the reality of many small-scale clients and the way people search for this type of professional (usually through informational searches on search engines), would content generation for Facebook and Instagram be a priority for reaching the target audience? This is just ONE example.

Establish the PRIMARY paths and what to offer the client to properly spend every penny of the money invested. Anything can be done (a thousand and one services), but you must work within limitations, as they will always exist.

5. Let yourself be run over by the rush.

Anyone who works or has worked in an advertising agency knows how fast-paced the workday can be. And those who work in digital agencies know that the pace can be even more intense, due to the greater number of clients and campaigns to manage simultaneously. After all, people tend to be more rushed online, right?

Ultimately, online and offline realities aside, the focus here is on not getting bogged down by the rush of everyday life. A hastily written post might get deleted, but a poorly executed campaign strategy can result in MUCH more wasted work hours. 

Start by staying aligned with your team, especially since the planning professional is, in many cases, the "mediator" between the Customer Service and Creative professionals. It's not necessary to hold a management position, but being organized and adhering to deadlines for completing tasks is what sets you apart. This applies to any sector (if you stop and think about it), but especially among planning professionals.

Knowing how to optimize your time is also important. In other words, not every strategy will require a fifty-slide presentation with a SWOT matrix as a diagnostic tool. If a service isn't delivering the expected return, review it before trying something new, as the "something new" may take even more time than optimizing the initial idea.

And if, even so, someone presses for even shorter deadlines, always make it clear: strategies made overnight tend to fail overnight.