What to Do When Online Marketing Efforts Hit a Proverbial Wall
Written by Derek Edmond on May 19th, 2009There are times when an online marketing initiative’s results seem to plateau. Ideas grow stale, ambition and motivation might wan or it seems like all of the opportunities have been covered. This happens in every online strategy, be it SEO, PPC, blogging, and building a presence in social media.
More importantly, this doesn’t just happen with unsuccessful strategies. Productive online marketing initiatives need the occasional refresh to keep things moving in the right direction.
Here are some of the things I try to do when it seems like I’ve ended up “hitting the proverbial wall”.
Get Reorganized
There are so many new opportunities (applications, communities, articles) in the online marketing space that it is easy to get overwhelmed or simply off track. Regularly try to take a step back and reorganize “free time” spent with research and execution.
For social media exploration, dedicating fifteen minutes to a particular channel or strategy (on a daily basis) may be what is needed to get back on track and feeling productive. For blogging, consider setting up an editorial calendar.
Reorganizing efforts also provides a way to self assess where opportunities may be being missed and if something is not working well or needs to be improved.
Set Mini-Goals
While lofty goals certainly provide strategic motivation, setting smaller benchmarks can provide the necessary fuel to sustain the day-to day tasks that deliver long-term results. This can be as simple as putting together goals for a set number of interactions or tasks per day.
For example, if building an improved blog presence is a core strategy, perhaps setting a specific goal for the number of comments made (on others’ blogs) per week will help motivate the effort.
Optimizing a PPC campaign might mean putting together a review of five sets of ad copy and/or re-evaluating one or two landing pages per week based on historic performance and analysis.
Participate Only
Sometimes I can get re-energized by just participating in the conversations and helping with the contribution of others that work or have related initiatives. When it pertains to social media, that could mean focusing more on dialogue and conversation. Make sure to listen first.
For revitalizing an SEO strategy, spend time and offer assistance in online communities and take time to read and comment on others’ blog posts and articles to gain some needed inspiration.
Finally, remember that a strategy refresh doesn’t need to happen solely online either. For me, attending a networking event or offsite seminar might be enough to get the creative energy flowing.
Expand Your Comfort Zone
A key takeaway from last month’s presentation at SEO Meetup was Amit Mehta’s opinion that to really succeed, one must be 99% competent in the business they are in. He felt that most people give up when they know 90% and only break even when their 95% competent.
The point is that to truly be successful, it’s important to expand out of a comfort zone. This requires taking the knowledge and experience gathered and figuring out a way to apply it in a new or different manner.
For this reason, many online marketers recommend gravitating out one’s comfort zone to network and learn from others in complementary fields. This may provide new perspective and ideas to help build upon and extend already successful strategies, hopefully taking them over the top.
Turn the Computer Off for a While
Finally, when all else fails, maybe it’s just time to get away from the computer screen. Spend some time with friends and family offline and make sure the computer is nowhere in sight.
Get out of the house or office and take a breather, even if it’s only for thirty minutes because of deadlines. A quick reprieve may be enough to clear one’s head and provide the necessary time to refocus and make adjustments.
Getting Past the Proverbial Wall
These are suggestions that have worked for me from time to time. While everyone is different we all know that there is no room for complacency in the online marketing space. You have to keep moving forward. Strategies and techniques that work should be constantly refined and can almost always be improved. Sometimes it just takes a change of pace and quick refresh to get back on track.
