The world of marketing can be large and confusing at times. That’s why unLOCKEd is here to help. From digital media to interior branding to offering tips and advice, we do it all! Today, we’ll be going over some common myths and misconceptions about marketing and setting the record straight to help make it a little less confusing. Let’s get into it!
Truth: Marketing can be effective and affordable for every business – big or small! Many strategies, such as social media, email marketing, SEO, website design, and more, can be utilized on a scale that is tailored to your business needs. Marketing is essential to grow your business and engage your audience, no matter how small or niche!
Truth: It’s all about quality, not quantity! If your small business is engaging a small following, you can see just as successful results. Large numbers that do not translate to strong, loyal customers will not have effective or sustainable outcomes.
Truth: Although positive word-of-mouth can be valuable, it is not enough by itself. An effective marketing strategy utilizes multiple tactics, such as social media, email marketing, and more, to reach a wider audience. In other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket!
Truth: SEO is still an essential part of a small business’s marketing strategy. Ensuring your website is optimized to show up in the search results can help attract more customers. Especially locally, setting up your Google Business Profile can do wonders to get your business in front of people.
Truth: Marketing is a much broader set of activities than advertising. Advertising is a company paying for space for promotion in order to reach an audience. This can be part of your marketing activities. However, marketing also includes your owned media, such as your website and branding. It aims to foster connections between a brand and its audience, understand how and why campaigns are successful, and create a meaningful brand identity in the eyes of consumers.
Truth: There are a very small number of products and services that appeal to everyone. Whether it is simply because they do not need it or because they connect more with another product or brand, your business cannot attract everyone. It is more effective to identify your target markets, tailor your products and marketing tactics to appeal to them, and focus on creating long-lasting, engaging connections.
Truth: While the focus of online marketing is increasingly based on the dream of “going viral,” this often does not lead to long-term effects. Quick results can bring you your fifteen minutes of fame, but a company that can create long-term connections and sustainable success will do much better in the long run.
Truth: Running a business social media account is not as simple as scheduling a post and watching the notifications stream in – that’s why we need social media managers! Creating content tailored to your target audience, crafting captions that have intention behind them, analyzing your metrics and results, and implementing your knowledge to continue growing your company and improving your social media strategy is no walk in the park, even for an experienced marketer! It is essential to devote the time and consideration necessary to create an effective social media presence – or hire someone who can!
Truth: It is important to diversify your marketing strategy, even if one part of it is doing well! While social media can be a great way to connect with and grow your audience, websites offer many tools that these platforms do not. Different types of information are communicated most effectively in many different ways. Websites provide a stable digital location for information that may be useful to your customers, whereas social media may not. Social media is also better for shorter content; websites are a great place to expand on this and offer more information. Websites provide powerful SEO tools that help your business show up in search results, as well.
Truth: Once again, information must be communicated in the most effective medium to reach your audience. Digital and traditional media can both be used to create creative marketing messages, and can often be used together to create a more successful strategy. Be sure to check out our blog on why printing is still an effective medium for communication.
We hope this clears up a thing or two, but we are always here to help! Contact us today for marketing expertise and services!
Author: Sarah Murphy