When it comes to digital marketing, you’ll hear a lot of advice about what you should do. But sometimes it’s also worth remembering what not to do. In this article one of our digital marketing and SEO trainers, Ela, will cover a few pitfalls and how to avoid them.

One of the most common refrains I hear from frustrated digital marketers is that they spend huge budgets with campaigns that don’t bring enough conversions (if any).

If you’re not getting the ROI you want with your campaigns – but have no idea what you’re doing wrong – it’s time to go back to the basics and make sure you’re not making the following classic mistakes.

1. You Don’t Have a Target Strategy

The most effective way to increase your conversions is to target your ideal customers. Make sure you are targeting the right people at the right time. Test different audiences (ex: gender, age groups, locations, interests, interactions with site, devices, relationships, spendings) and target to reach the most motivated people (ex: life events coming up, days & hours etc.). A study of 37,259 Facebook ads found that “most companies only have 1 ad, while companies with the best results had 100’s”.

2. You Keep Targeting the Same People

Even if you have targeted what you think is an ideal audience, an ad that keeps targeting the same people can quickly stall your efforts. The 4th time people in a group see your ad but don’t even click is a clear sign you should change the audience. Create new audiences, test different lookalike percentages, and don’t forget to add frequency cap to your campaigns.

3. You’re Wasting your Budget on The Wrong Channel

There are so many options when it comes to channels. If you doesn’t see conversions with one of them, it’s time to test different advertising sources and mediums (try different affiliate platforms, advertorials, banners..). But first make sure your budget wasn’t too low and that you haven’t used the wrong bidding options. And don’t be too impatient – for example, ad relevancy rankings need at least 500 impressions on Facebook, and it takes up to 48 hours for Facebook to optimize your ads.

4. You Send People to Generic Pages

When I see an ad that sends me to the homepage of a website, it usually indicates that the marketer hasn’t tailored his ad to a specific audience. While you may think that sending an user to a homepage allows you to show off more of your products and services, in reality, it usually causes your reader to become confused about why you sent him there instead of what his most interested in, and close the page.

5. You Expect Others to Do the Math

I’m sure you’re promoting some good stuff. But if you don’t tell a potential client what your product means to him or her, it won’t mean anything. You have to do the math for the potential client and specifically show how the product will create value for the company. Make sure your ad is attractive enough – test ads types and creatives, match the ad content with the page content. That your products are attractive enough – A/B test images of products, identify and change the “exit” site images. Improve texts, emphasize the benefits, cover any pain points, add a FAQ. Make sure the call to action button is not missing or hard to find and simplify the ordering process.

If you don’t pay close attention to these details, you could be losing a lot of conversions. Nail the basics, and you’ll be on your way to a dream ROI. Join our courses for practical in class information on how to take care of every aspect mentioned in this article.