Marketing encompasses a broad sphere of ideas and tactics, so broad in fact, that misinformation about marketing sometimes sounds like it could actually be fact. Maintaining this misinformation can be dangerous to your sales efforts and ultimately hurt your marketing in the long run.
Below, we’ve outlined some of the most common misconceptions about marketing. Find out if you’ve been misled and prevent it from continuing to hold your marketing efforts back.
Myth #1: Marketing is easy and can be done by anyone.
Fact: A lot of people think that simply putting up an ad and posting updates on your social media is enough for a marketing plan. This idea couldn’t be further from the truth. Marketing takes an enormous amount of time and dedication if you want to see your efforts pay off. In marketing, quality is more important than quantity. Thoughtful marketing produces results, time and time again, without fail. If you don’t market, you may be saving money and time, but your audience decreases considerably.
Myth #2: If my product or service is good enough, I don’t need to market it, it will sell itself.
Fact: According to the 2018 Census, there are around 27.9 million small businesses in the United States. That’s not counting large businesses. With so much competition out there, marketing is essential to let prospective customers know your business exists. Every business needs marketing.
Myth #3: The larger my target market, the more I’ll sell.
Fact: Marketing to a wide customer base may work for big companies with large budgets. However, even for these businesses, it’s not as effective as it used to be. The narrower your small business can target its market, the better your results will be, and the more customer loyalty you’ll build.
Myth #4: Marketing is only to acquire new customers.
Fact: Acquiring customers is only half of the battle, the other half is holding on to them. If your focus rests solely on collecting customers, they’ll leave as quickly as they came. It’s crucial to generate some level of lifetime value that you can offer your customers, so you can show that you’re still useful to them after the initial interaction. Incentivize them to engage with your brand and continue spending money. If you don’t, they’ll go elsewhere.
Myth #5: Marketing is a waste of money.
Fact: Marketing is only a waste of money if you don’t do it wisely. Create a marketing plan and marketing budget to control your spending. Monitor what tactics bring in the best results. Once you know what is working, you can dedicate more of your budget to the marketing methods that really pay off, and reduce your spending on the rest.
Myth #6: Good marketing will get results right away.
Fact: Digital marketing is more likely than traditional marketing methods to produce quick results. If someone clicks on your online ad, for example, you’ll know immediately. In general, however, most marketing methods take some time to pay off. For example, it will take a few months at a minimum to see results from improving your website’s SEO, or launching a content marketing campaign.