The outset of the internet era has given rise to multi-industry revolutions, and the PR and marketing sector has not been left behind. As more businesses shift into the digital spaces, the need for online presence and brand publicity has increased drastically. Today, the growth rate for digital marketing is multiple times greater than the traditional offline marketing funnels. However, running digital PR and online marketing has its fair share of challenges. And if not well addressed, these setbacks can cripple your business operations, consequently dwindling your turnover rates.
This post highlights 5 of the trickiest digital PR challenges, and a brief overview of how you can deal with them.
Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile-first indexing is an approach of page ranking that focuses on the mobile version of your webpage and its content. The explanation behind mobile-first indexing is that most Google searches and online purchases are done over mobile pages. This means that businesses with websites that are mobile-friendly have a predominantly high ranking on both their desktop and mobile pages. The opposite is also true.
If you are shifting to mobile-first designs, then your online PR must also be consistent with this approach across all mobile devices. However, mobile-first indexing is subject to crawling and other page content issues that can inhibit your Google ranking. To gain leverage in the expanding mobile market, ensure your webpages are set to prioritize mobile users. Additionally, create strategic SEO PR tactics to optimize your online content for improved page relevance.
Omnichannel Marketing Complexity
Gone are the days when customer experience was viewed as a one-trip journey to an online store. Today, customers are actively toggling across devices and mobile platforms in search of products and services. This has redefined how businesses develop their PR and marketing stances. Essentially, customers are looking for brands offering user-friendly experiences at every touchpoint, which is what omnichannel marketing is all about.
However, applying data management tools in omnichannel marketing and driving them for tangible results can be quite a difficult process. This is because of the insufficiency of resources and technical skills, real-time data processing problems, and the sophisticated data integration requirements associated with omnichannel marketing.
Fortunately, businesses can adopt modern data integration mechanisms to resolve challenges linked to omnichannel customer experience. Such mechanisms include enhancing content relevance, SEO marketing, unified user data systems, omnichannel analytics, and customer-focused advertising.
Privacy and Data Sharing Regulations
Digital systems rely on databanks to collect user data, monitor online activities, track productivity, and anticipate future trends. However, as more economic and social activities move online, concerns about data sharing and the use of personal information continue to solicit mixed reactions globally. More users are looking for transparency in the way their data is used and shared with third parties.
In general, it is illegal to use personal data for any other purpose other than the agenda stipulated by the platform. As a result, privacy and data sharing regulations are evolving by the day, with government agencies increasing compliance requirements on all data users and harvesters. Global data security regulations, such as General Data Protection Regulation, are likely to become tougher in the coming years. Your website can attract users from across multiple territories, and your PR strategy must retain value through such compliances.
Brand Credibility Oversight
Traditionally, publishing an advert with a media channel required a lot of time and financial resources. Individuals and businesses had to work with PR teams to verify ads for professionalism and accuracy. However, with the inception of social media and digital platforms, anyone can create and publish content in any way and at any time. This has given rise to falsified information, including fake stories and misleading click baits, which can easily jeopardize your credibility as a PR-oriented brand.
The complexity of credibility oversight is in the fact that you have to keep track of what goes into your channels regularly. People can say anything and at any time about your brand, and you want to ensure everything is under your control before negative publicity gets out of hand.
You can enhance brand credibility oversight by setting up alerts on Google and all your social media accounts. Also, go for such tools and Meta for Business and Twilert to ensure you get a glimpse of what people are saying about your brand. Of course, you do not have to respond to every comment or query. However, such monitoring will help you remain proactive on all the pervasive claims.
Content Quality
The demand for engaging and high-quality content continues to scale up globally, with more brands investing more resources in content marketing. According to HubSpot, over 82% of marketers are actively involved in building content strategies to revitalize their online user engagements. Unfortunately, most companies are unable to keep up with the growing content consumption trends. As a result, more resources are mobilized on old tactics that cost more for less return.
To remain at the top of the content marketing game, it is critical to measure your brand’s Content Return on Investment (ROI). This helps you redefine content formats and channels where necessary. Also, in addition to generating high-quality content, regularly analyze user personas and curate content that suit their needs. Click here for more details on how you can improve you digital marketing strategies.
