By Kristin Lennarz, Digital Strategist
Today is Groundhog Day, which always reminds me of the movie by the same name. In the movie version, Bill Murray plays a self-centered TV weatherman named Phil Connors, who, to his disdain, must again cover Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney. After delivering a woefully uninspiring account of events on Groundhog Day, Phil wakes up on Feb. 3 to find he is reliving the previous day. He is forced to repeat Groundhog Day--and, ultimately, his same mistakes--over and over again. It takes many miserable repeats before he reexamines his priorities and decides to change them.
Sometimes we digital marketers do the same thing. We look up from our devices, scan the horizon, scratch our heads, and realize that, the more things have changed in the last 15 years, the more things have actually stayed the same. We all know that our programs need to be steeped in consumer relevance, powered by consumer insight, have clear goals defined so we can objectively evaluate afterwards, and be integrated across all touchpoints to surround the consumer in consistent and purposeful way. But somehow, like Phil, we relive the same moments and the same frustrations over and over, getting distracted by business goals, trends, hype, and sometimes, too many cooks in the kitchen.
So in honor of Groundhog Day, here are five of the most often-repeated digital marketing mistakes…and tips on how to avoid them.
1. Not getting user insight.
The consumer/customer is where it all starts, right? It’s always a good idea to put our ideas or interfaces in front of real users and get their reactions, to observe behaviors and see what works and what doesn’t to make the product better. But if you miss this important step it’s still not too late to research after the fact. There are tools that can deliver user insight quickly and give you first impressions on your site design. It’s never too late to learn and evolve your work by identifying a consumer problem and defining the right digital solution.
2. Not defining success in advance.
What I mean by that is not defining what success means and not defining how to evaluate whether an effort was a success by predetermined, objective criteria. How many times has a good-looking campaign gone out to rave reviews but when we are pressed to answer, we don’t exactly know why? A little time invested up front determining (and gaining cross-functional agreement on) program objectives and corresponding KPIs to confirm objectives, is time well spent.
3. Not using a creative brief.
The project seems so simple and straightforward that a creative brief seems like overkill. Or your team has worked on the project for so long they feel they no longer need a creative brief because they know the client or product so well. Hold on! You’ll nearly always end up paying for this the hard way. Outlining communication priorities early on, even by way of a simple Word doc or email, can save you more costly, repeated creative rework later.
4. Not adequately planning.
Often armed with a tight deadline, clients and account managers alike forego the planning--from briefs to requirements. So everything becomes an urgent fire, which sucks the air out of any additional planning. It’s a vicious, looping cycle. Although there’s never been a project with enough time to think things through as much as we’d like, we often spend too much time marinating on the wrong things due to unclear objectives, decisions unsupported by insight or ambiguous roles and responsibilities. On the other hand, you don't want to get burned by someone who's doing it looser and faster. So how do you navigate optimally between the appropriate level of planning and speed to market? You evolve. (It worked for Apple. It can work for the rest of us.)
5. Not assigning clear roles.
Website build is still a “red-headed stepchild” in many organizations. Marketing wants to own it because it’s a channel. IT wants to own it because it’s code. Legal and compliance want to be involved to make sure no one says anything stupid. Customer service is concerned about increased traffic to the call center if the website isn’t working. The website still touches every department in the organization, but not everyone can be a chief.
Tired of stepping on toes or worse, watching everyone take two steps back and having something important fall between the chairs? This is one of those rare occasions where we might actually want a leadership committee (Marketing and IT) to set the strategy and execute against it, with all other departments informed about it.
So, even though Punxsutawney Phil told us today that there will be six more weeks of what has thus far been a pretty unwintery winter (at least here in Rochester, New York)…use these Groundhog Day tips to further hone your next digital marketing program. And may all the days you relive be great ones.
P.S. Thanks to my Catalyst colleagues and friends at P2 Media and the Ad Council for the inspiration (and commiseration) that led to this blog.
