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5 Marketing Myths We are Sick of Hearing

By 10th May 2017 No Comments

Online marketing is a big world – full of tips, techniques, facts, and figures. But with all this information comes misinformation. For every useful piece of content I find, five articles of gibberish pop up.

 

It can be quite a nightmare – especially for business owners who aren’t marketing experts. Some of these gibberish articles are so well written that it can be easy to believe.

 

I won’t sit here and bombard you with articles to avoid. If I did that we would be here all day and I’d be constantly updating this post. Instead, I will give you 10 marketing myths that I’m sick of hearing. Some of these you may have come across, some of them may be completely new to you – but either way…they’re complete bull!

 

You’re not posting at the right time

Let me keep this short and sweet, there is no ‘perfect time’ to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media network. It baffles me when I read articles from marketing professionals suggesting businesses should post their content on Facebook at 8pm as that’s when people are chilling out on their phone while watching TV.  It’s just simply not that black and white.

 

I’ve been running posts on social media, daily, for the last 4 years and I have never known one perfect time to post. For a number of weeks we received great engagement when posting three times a day, then other weeks our early morning posts got more engagement. It’s a constant change.

 

The way to discover the best times to post on your Page is to test and to keep an eye on your Facebook insights. Once you determine the best times for your particular audience, don’t just stop there and stick to that plan. Keep track of stats. If you ever see engagement drop, it’s time to re-evaluate.

 

Keep Changing Your Advertising or Your Sales Will Decline

I can actually understand how people can believe this statement but it’s purely myth.

Don’t abandon advertising that’s working – improve it instead. Test new ideas and methods to see how they work for you. If you never make any changes in your advertising, your sales will more than likely decline, eventually.

The main stress about advertising is usually the budget – nobody wants to push money into something that they aren’t sure works – I understand that. So, I recommend allocating 80% of your budget to promotions that are working for you and then using the remaining 20% to test new advertising. This way you won’t be risking your full budget but can still grow your advertising with strong testing.

 

 

Great Products Sell Themselves

Believing in your product is great – you have to for success…but there is a thin line here. Believing in your product so much that you think it will sell itself is a dangerous mind-frame to be in.

 

Obviously, a great product is important, but great product marketing is even more important. Marketing and branding lay the foundations to a company’s potential success. What this does is gives potential customers a clearer understanding of what your product does for them, how much it costs, and if it helps them to achieve their goal.

 

Don’t fall for the myth of just having a great product and then expecting the money to come rolling in. Life isn’t that easy. Market your product, promote it as much as possible. If people don’t know about it, they won’t be able to buy it.

 

SEO Is Dead

I’ve seen a number of articles on this myth recently – well I say myth…there is actually some truth in this one.

 

The truth is that traditional SEO is dead. What I mean here is that SEO is constantly evolving and the way SEO works today isn’t anything like how it was in 2005. You can no longer fool the likes of Google – it’s just too smart now.

 

But, Search engine optimization is far from dead – in fact, I’d say it’s now more important than ever. With the number of websites and content that exist, it’s critical to have a good SEO campaign in place. My advice, however, if somebody guarantees to get you to the top of Google – run a mile! There are no guarantees in SEO.

 

 

Negative Reviews Online Are Bad For Business

It’s one of the biggest hates for business owners – negative reviews. Back in the day, it wasn’t as public – people would just avoid shopping with that particular business again. But with the social media boom, negative reviews can be seen and heard by thousands within hours.

 

With this being said, I totally understand how business owners can flip into panic mode when they see a bad review online. One of the most common actions is to instantly delete it like it never happened. But this isn’t the best practice and there’s reason for this…

 

…Unless you catch the review instantly, it’s more than likely other people have seen it. If they see you just simply delete the review, it will give off a bad impression, to both the original reviewer and the audience. It also makes your business look a bit dodgy, like you’re hiding something.

 

If you flip this on it’s head, however, and tackle the negative review head on it can work in your favour. Not only with your negative reviewer be happy that you’re listening to their comments and trying to resolve the situation, but others will see this too.

 

Always reply in a friendly manner (remember the customer is always right!) and if you can, try to get the negative review to try your business again…maybe with a freebie?

 

Don’t just let negative reviews fall on deaf ears, they can be more useful than you think.