{"id":13649,"date":"2022-05-23T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/biggest-causes-of-stress-digital-marketers\/252845\/"},"modified":"2022-05-23T12:00:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T12:00:17","slug":"7-major-stressors-for-digital-marketers-how-to-deal-via-sejournal-ashleymadhatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/?p=13649","title":{"rendered":"7 Major Stressors For Digital Marketers & How To Deal via @sejournal, @ashleymadhatter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Working in digital marketing<\/a>, stress is inevitable. It\u2019s part of the job description.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t be effective without pushing your personal limits from time to time.<\/p>\n

But, if you\u2019re always stressed out, then maybe it\u2019s time to reevaluate the causes and tackle your biggest stressors head-on.<\/p>\n

Below you will find seven of the biggest causes of stress for digital marketers and some tips on how to deal with them.<\/p>\n

1. Measuring Metrics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Stress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Measuring metrics<\/a> in itself isn\u2019t exactly stressful. The stressful part of metrics comes in two forms.<\/p>\n

First, you have the result of metrics.<\/p>\n

Say you\u2019ve been working on a campaign for the past six months and you\u2019ve put your whole marketing heart and soul into it.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve devoted more than full-time hours to the campaign and have done everything you were supposed to, and then some.<\/p>\n

Then the campaign comes to an end and the results are calculated. The metrics come back to inform you that unfortunately, despite your efforts and doing everything the pros suggested, goals weren\u2019t met.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve utilized the last of the budget and spent the past six months on a campaign that didn\u2019t produce results. Insert sad sigh<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, you take the data that you have from the campaign, and you say it wasn\u2019t a complete loss because you\u2019ve at least learned more about the user behavior or the targeting, or the ad copy, or the keywords.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s time to go plead for more budget and try again. Insert stress.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The second part of metric stress is the part I see digital marketers struggle with the most. This is the part of having no metrics at all! Yes, it happens. Like a lot.<\/p>\n

Take content metrics for example. Fully 81%<\/a> of marketers integrate content into their marketing strategies, but 65%<\/a> of marketers are struggling to measure the impact of their content marketing strategies.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s more than half who don\u2019t understand (or are at the very least having a difficult time trying to figure out) what metrics they\u2019re supposed to measure.<\/p>\n

How To Deal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Set yourself up for success, and not stress<\/em>, right away.<\/p>\n

In the beginning stages of your strategy development, you need to be defining what is the most important part of this campaign.<\/p>\n

Is it direct sales? Increase video views? Perhaps it\u2019s as simple as doubling engagement and not tied directly to a dollar amount.<\/p>\n

Either way, you need to define what the primary goal is, and then the secondary, the tertiary, and so on.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to go past just defining the main goal of the campaign because the primary goal isn\u2019t always met, especially in the first round.<\/p>\n

Plus, you want to have a few other metrics to measure in order to quantify some success or total failure, not just focusing on a primary or secondary.<\/p>\n

2. Low-to-No Budgets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Stress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Oh boy.<\/em> Not having a budget or having an extremely low budget to work with makes a digital marketer\u2019s job extra stressful.<\/p>\n

Lots of times the low-to-no budgets are paired with extra-high expectations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These expectations could be something like generating 10,000 new leads by making a homemade video on YouTube and having no advertising budget to promote the video. Talk about a stressful situation!<\/p>\n

How To Deal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Not everyone is gifted with large or \u201cexperimental\u201d budgets.<\/p>\n

As digital marketers, though, we need to be prepared to work with both players, the big and the small.<\/p>\n

By clarifying realistic expectations from the beginning, you\u2019ll be able to inform your boss or client what they can expect to receive by spending X amount.<\/p>\n

No, we can\u2019t predict the future.<\/p>\n

Yes, we certainly hope and work hard for the best, but by making it known from the get-go what can actually happen with a specific budget range you\u2019re avoiding extreme amounts of disappointment and stress.<\/p>\n

After the budget meeting, head back to your desk and run your own numbers on what you\u2019ve seen as a result in the past.<\/p>\n

Get an idea of how much it took for similar goals to be achieved and how long it took.<\/p>\n

Then, prepare a report clarifying what has worked, under what conditions, and a prediction of what your boss or client should be able to expect to receive based on X budget.<\/p>\n

3. Google Updates<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Stress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Oh, Google<\/em>. We are constantly trying to stay on top of every update that you make.<\/p>\n

We even try to prep before the updates and algorithm changes<\/a> happen. Yet, you still cause us, digital marketers, an insane amount of stress with every new update, Google.<\/p>\n

Within the blink of an eye, a major change could have just happened and our websites or our clients\u2019 websites are affected by it. Most of the time they\u2019re affecting negatively, too.<\/p>\n

So, yes Google, you do occasionally bring on the stress.<\/p>\n

How To Deal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the best ways to deal with the Google stress is to stay on top of anything and everything that happens within the industry, just as Google does.<\/p>\n

Google takes note of things like user behavior, cyber bugs, spam, and a handful of other web issues.<\/p>\n

You should, too. Doing so will help you better predict when changes are going to happen and what kind of changes are most likely to come next.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the top SEO blogs<\/a>. These blog posts are written by the experts, some of which have great connections with Google and long-term histories giving them better chances of predicting, adapting, and sharing strategies with other marketers.<\/p>\n

Take it a step further and follow SEO experts<\/a> who not only know their stuff but are great sources for SEO predictions.<\/p>\n

4. Wearing Too Many Hats<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Stress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Whether you work in-house, agency, or own your own business I can bet all of the money in my wallet ($4 and change) on the fact that you wear way more than just one hat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In-house marketers are generally trying to do it all, acting as the SEO, UX designer, social media specialist, PPC expert, and content marketer.<\/p>\n

At the agency, employees have their unique specialty that they focus on but often find themselves assisting other departments.<\/p>\n

The business owner, well they know very well what it\u2019s like to balance 50 different types of hats on their heads at once better than anyone else.<\/p>\n

How To Deal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Zone in and truly focus on your area of expertise.<\/p>\n

Yes, stay on top of the millions of updates happening in all realms of the digital marketing world, but put your primary focus and research toward perfecting the craft of your niche.<\/p>\n

Prioritize what the main objectives are for your specific niche and then, if time allows, see how you can assist in other departments.<\/p>\n

A good example of this is if you\u2019re a social media marketer to subscribe to both overarching digital marketing podcasts<\/a> like Edge of the Web<\/a> and more focused podcasts like the Perpetual Traffic Podcast<\/a> that focuses on just Facebook.<\/p>\n

This will keep you informed of both the industry and your specific niche\u2019s trends, updates, and strategies.<\/p>\n

5. Lack Of Strategy Development<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Stress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The pressure is always on to hurry up and produce results.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s become common knowledge now that digital marketing takes T-I-M-E, we all still want results to happen yesterday.<\/p>\n

This is why so many budgets are wasted because we go headfirst into trying to produce results and forget about first developing a strategy that will get us to those results.<\/p>\n

How To Deal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Define your goals, what your needs are, and then define a strategy that should be able to get you there. Don\u2019t work backward.<\/p>\n

A new project or campaign flow should look like the following:<\/p>\n