Don’t believe because I am saying it. Just look around yourself. Small or big, businesses of all sizes and segments are consumed by the immense effect of Digital Marketing. The role of digital marketing has received so much appreciation that almost every quarter there is some new online platform that gets introduced to the existing set of advertising platforms. It may sound interesting for a consumer, but as a digital marketer, I am aware of the challenges it brings with it. I have also noticed that when clients are newly initiated to digital marketing, they have an amplified expectation of instant return on investment, which of course is a little away from the actual reality. I won’t term it as a misconception, rather share my experience in dealing with first-timers in digital marketing space – clients and service providers.

Accept it, folks, producing content is easy but producing good content is tough! And this is exactly the first challenge – maintaining consistency in producing quality content. Whether you choose to produce content in-house or outsource it, you have to invest time on it to consistently produce high-quality material. Leave alone burnout time of writers. But, from my experience as a part of running a digital marketing agency, I would brief my fresh hires about generating quality content and to my clients I would suggest settling for quality over quantity, at least sometimes. Next concern is the ever-increasing competition. Let’s say blogging is a part of your marketing strategy. But, are you the only one who is blogging? Definitely not! So, what do you do? Irrespective of your initiation to the digital world, you must keep a tab on the current trend of writing, the attention span of the audience, and expectation of the audience to generate a blog that will be read. And, I would say, with the current trend where images and GIFs tell the whole story, it is worthy to sacrifice the number of words over creative representation. Taking the same thought forward, you will agree with me that too much or too less of anything is bad. And, this is one of the critical marketing issues, we face today – content overload and underload. Believe it or not, but the audience has already reached a level of fatigue due to information overload. That is why I tell my team and also suggest my clients give some breathing space in the publishing calendar. Let’s make enough noise to be not forgotten but not as much to become a nuisance. So, as a digital marketer, I would suggest sparing enough time to reign our thoughts and serve quality content to retain the audience and the client too.

Social media platforms are meant no more just for casual updates and uploads. They have turned into serious business platforms with Facebook, Twitter etc. offering a range of increasingly sophisticated ways to segment audiences and reach the right people, for the right price, of course. Yeah! You have to pay to get your content in front of your target audience. And, this could really work if you are trying to aggressively expand your reach and grow your audience. I would say relying solely on organic social promotion is being unrealistically optimistic! Finally, I want to touch upon one of the most common marketing issues – unrealistic expectation! ‘Impatience’ has become the trend among marketers and clients alike. If I tell my client that a particular campaign or tactic will begin generating profit from the third quarter, I should be prepared for some cold stares. And, unfortunately, I may react the same way if my team presents the same to me! But, I have corrected myself! In the hindsight, we all know that success is not possible overnight. Any marketing strategy takes the time to seep in and grow. So, folks let’s not expect immediate ROI; instead, let’s learn and improvise our strategies.

As a wrap, I would like to clarify that my views were not just limited to the first timers in the digital space. It was for everyone, including me as I think it’s all of us who faces these challenges mainly because we try to extract the juice before the fruit is ripe. So, as the head of a digital marketing agency, I would say, be shrewd enough to present real numbers and figures to your client. Eventually, your clients will accept the true scenario of the digital space.