The rapid growth of online marketing in recent years has created countless opportunities for businesses, but it has also presented challenges that weren’t previously considered. For instance, with the rise of influencer marketing, businesses can now reach a much larger audience for their product or service — but how can they ensure that these people will actually see their content? Similarly, video marketing has exploded in popularity, but managing video content and getting it into the proper format for various platforms can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. In today’s world of online marketing, the potential for problems is endless; few industries are as susceptible to digital attack as the marketing industry is.

1. Content isn’t engaging

The first issue that often presents itself is that content simply isn’t engaging. When someone visits your website or opens your mailer, the last thing they want to do is listen to a powerpoint presentation or read an ebook. They want to be entertained, and the moment they arrive at your content, they should feel engaged, interested, and excited about what they’re reading or listening to.

You can’t force content to be engaging. It has to come from somewhere inside of you, the writer, speaker, or marketer. Fortunately, this is a problem that has a solution. The answer is content curation. When you curate content, you are taking pieces of other’s work and presenting them in an engaging manner that appeals to your audience.

2. Search engine optimization is becoming a race to the bottom

Another issue that has arisen due to the massive growth in online marketing in recent years is search engine optimization. SEO trends change and improve as fast as social media platforms do, and thanks to the ever-changing search algorithms of Google, Bing, and other search engines, it can be difficult to stay ahead of the curve.

The basic principle of SEO is to manipulate search results on Google’s platform in order to get your website or blog to rank higher than competitors. Essentially, you are trying to game the system. This is a losing battle for several reasons. First, Google is always one step ahead of you; they want to maintain their competitive edge, so they continue to tweak their algorithms to favor their top performing content — no matter how many businesses try to stay ahead of the curve.

Second, the entire ecosystem of online marketing becomes less effective when viewed from the standpoint of a sole trader. When you are working hard to maximize the exposure of your site on social media, you are losing out on email and organic search traffic, which means you are losing out on potential customers.

Third, it’s extremely difficult to stay ahead of the curve. With every new innovation and algorithm change, it becomes more difficult to understand how to produce effective content that will compel Google to rank your website or blog. While the changes are designed to improve the quality of content on the internet, it can also make marketing tasks more complicated. This is why it’s important to step back once in a while and re-assess your whole strategy.

3. The cost of acquiring new customers is growing

One of the most exciting aspects of the internet is that it has enabled businesses to thrive online without ever having to physically show up and sell their product to a potential customer. Thanks to online marketing and digital marketing, everyone from small businesses to multinationals can have a presence on the web and attract potential customers to their products or services. This has resulted in a massive shift in traditional marketing tactics and enabled countless businesses to operate on a limited income.

The problem with this is that without having to spend money on expensive ads, billboards, or magazine spreads, digital marketers have to find a way to generate revenue from existing customers. This is where monetizing your audience and collecting revenue through various online marketing tactics comes into play. However, generating revenue is more difficult than it seems. Thanks to the pandemic and the subsequent shift to online marketing, many businesses now rely on the occasional pop-up or affiliate marketing to make a profit. However, even then, it can be difficult to know if your efforts are paying off, and if you’re on the right track to becoming a profitable business — especially when viewed through the lens of Google Analytics.

4. Authentic, engaging content is hard to come by

Content isn’t just entertainment; it’s a crucial element in convincing someone to do or believe in something. When someone visits your website or opens your mailer, they have an expectation of content; it’s what you provide that determines whether they’re or aren’t satisfied with your offer. Your website or blog may not be the best representation of your company or brand, but it’s the only one that you’ve got, so you might as well make the most of it. Your content should engage with and satisfy your potential customers so that they feel inclined to hand over their contact details and become a part of your audience — or at least give you their email address so that you can keep in touch.

With all of the distractions and competing entertainment options available today, people are constantly seeking out ways to improve their experience. One method that businesses can use to attract potential customers is to create engaging content that will cause them to come back for more.

5. Data doesn’t support most marketing activities

Last but not least, we have data. It’s an invaluable tool that can help businesses make more informed decisions and improve performance. While it can be helpful to have specific figures at hand, it can also be extremely tedious to sift through and analyze data that’s not in the form that you need it — especially when viewed through the lens of social media, where your data is scattered across multiple platforms and can’t be easily accessed in one place.

As much as possible, businesses want to be able to access data that will help them make more informed decisions about their marketing activities. Unfortunately, the problem is that not all data is created equal, and it can be difficult to find the specific figures that you need when you don’t know where to look. There are a variety of data sources that businesses can use, but only if they know precisely which one to turn to. Additionally, keeping up with the ever-changing world of SEO, content creation, and online marketing can be extremely difficult without having access to the right data in the first place.

At the end of the day, the proliferation of data only makes our jobs as internet marketing analysts that little bit more interesting. Thanks to the issues listed above, it’s clear that the world of online marketing is changing, and it will continue to change in an effort to stay ahead of the curve — but at the same time, it presents numerous challenges that weren’t previously considered. If you find yourself struggling with any of the issues listed above, don’t feel bad; many businesses still operate under the assumption that the more they do, the better their performance will be. This simply isn’t true anymore, and in order to survive and thrive in a world of increasing competition, businesses will have to change along with the times — which means diving into data, relying on your instincts, and trying new things.