Marketing is a critical component of any business’s strategy. When executed well, the right concepts can increase brand awareness, customer acquisition and retention, engagement, and sales. Even with these proven benefits, some businesses hesitate to invest in marketing.
Our team at Green Apple Strategy has compiled a list of the most common marketing myths and misconceptions we encounter as marketing professionals. We hope it helps you advocate for your marketing budget!
Marketing Myths and Misconceptions
MYTH 1: Marketing, advertising, and public relations are all the same.
One common marketing myth is that if your business invests in advertising or public relations, you do not need to spend additional resources on marketing. While the three components work beautifully together and can overlap, they serve different purposes.
Public relations builds positive relationships with your audience, while advertising turns them into new or repeat customers. Marketing bridges the gap by taking your audience from awareness to solid business leads primed to make a purchase.
MYTH 2: Small businesses can’t afford marketing.
Small businesses may have smaller budgets, especially when just starting. It can be tempting to forgo marketing efforts to conserve cash flow. But, without an intentional plan to grow your customer base, your bottom line will eventually become stagnant.
The right marketing strategies are proven to gain new and repeat customers, resulting in a positive, long-term return on your investment.
MYTH 3: My customers will not respond to today’s marketing channels.
Modern marketing channels rely heavily on producing a high volume of quality digital content. This can include web, email, blogs, videos, podcasts, and multiple social media channels. Depending on your industry and customer demographics, it can be tempting to think that today’s best practices will not work for you. It could even be intimidating to tackle new approaches, like the ever-changing landscape of social media. In our experience, every business can form the right mix of digital marketing products. You are a subject matter expert with valuable insights to share with customers. With more than 3.7 billion people on social media and 85% of the U.S. population having a smartphone, your audience is already online – your business can meet them there too.
MYTH 4: Anyone can do marketing.
While it’s true that any business can benefit from a marketing plan, not just anyone should create it. When it comes to popular tactics like content creation, you may be able to tackle the more straightforward aspects on your own – things like an occasional blog post, email, or mastering one social media channel. For maximum reach and engagement, you’ll want to increase your content creation to a level that keeps you top of mind with your audience.
Hiring a staff member to keep up with the content demand empowers business owners to focus on other growth aspects. If a full-time staff member is outside the budget, an experienced freelancer or marketing agency can be an excellent strategic partner.
MYTH 5: Marketing efforts should pay off quickly.
Investing in marketing is like investing in the stock market –a long game. Create a strategy, do the work, and stay consistent, and you will see results. With many of today’s marketing practices taking place in the digital landscape, it will take time for your online efforts to pay off. Continue creating, posting, sharing, and optimizing for SEO. Over time, your content will move up the search engine results page, you’ll become recognized as a leader in your industry, and you’ll see results.