5 Marketing Myths Every Business Must Avoid
In Singapore, there are many companies who are still harboring unrealistic expectations when it comes to marketing and are usually based on some weird principles that are “supposed” to work. Also, most people are still very wary about digital marketing.
In this post, we will like to go through 5 myths and misconceptions about marketing that might be causing your company to suffer.
1. “Our Website Looks Great, So Our Work Is Done.”
Yes, you might have already engaged a web design company to create a beautiful website for your company. You also have spent a lot of time crafting your web copy. But that’s not the end, it’s only the beginning.
Without any marketing plans, no one will ever know about your website. The most common marketing strategy is by using Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
For a good SEO strategy, you will need to consistently produce original and useful content that are beneficial to your readers. If you have attempted to blog frequently yourself, you will realize it is not easy to build meaningful and lasting traffic. Moreover, it is very time consuming. Hence, most companies go ahead with SEM which they can control their monthly marketing budget to make sure they get the best ROI.
So, don’t assume your website will be a traffic-magnet or conversion sucking machine just because you have a fancy one.
2. “We Need As Many Visitors As Possible To Our Website.”
If you have unlimited marketing budget for SEM and SEO, then sure, the more the merrier. However, this is often not the case. Companies usually have a finite amount of money to invest in getting visitors to their website. So you have to use it wisely. If you do not have enough resources (time and money) to target the general and broad keywords, you should focus on very niche keywords instead that will drive more sales.
Studies have shown that people who are searching with very broad keywords are usually still in the research stage and the people who are searching for very niche keywords are usually the ones who will purchase your products or services as they have already made up their mind.
3. “Our Products Are Cheaper Than Our Competitors. People Will Buy.”
Cheap products don’t always relate to massive market share. Offering a low price than your competitors doesn’t do any good if no one knows about you.
Cheapen your products also cheapen your company brand. You will still need to convey a sense of trust and value that goes beyond the product by offering services like after-sales support. Also, is your company able to offer such a low price after all the time and expenses working on the website and digital marketing? You might be setting up your business for even more problems if your unique selling point is price. It leads to getting the type of customers that you do not want: price-shoppers. They are the one that will easily switch to another company if they are selling at an even lower price and will never have any brand loyalty.
So if you compete for customers on price, a big competitor can always lower their prices to bleed you out of business. You have to understand that there are better factors to differentiate from your competitors. You want customers to choose your products because you are the best choice and not because you are the cheapest option.
4. “Our Products Are Really Good, The Customers Will Definitely Come To Us.”
Founders are usually very passionate about their products. They have this mindset that their products will become viral once it is released based on all the good reviews by their friends and family.
The expectation of your business going viral is not a marketing plan at all. Even when Apple released the new iPhone, a game-changing and widely publicized product, they also spent billions of money on marketing that product.
So unless you insist your product is better than the revolutionary iPhone, you should come out with a marketing plan for your product launch. Marketing does not stop when the visitors visit your physical store or your website. You need to continuously keep in touch with them by providing useful tips and reinforce your unique value propositions. Only by nurturing them, you can get them through the sales funnel and turn them to actual customers.
5. “We Need To Get On Social Media Marketing Because Everyone Is Using It.”
Some companies feel the need to get onto every social media platform they know. It can’t hurt to have more right?
However, the problems come when you have to spend more time managing so many social media platforms and keeping them all active. It will not be good for your company’s reputation if a customer or prospect sees your Facebook page with the last post dated back in 2008.
Hence, you should figure out which target platforms your targeted audience actually uses and stick to those platforms only. By focusing on these few platforms, you will be able to spend more time participating and creating relevant content for them. As the saying goes, if you can’t do them right, you are better off not doing at all.
The Takeaway
Online or digital marketing is a never-ending task. If you want your company to survive in this fast-paced and competitive environment, you have to stay focused on those marketing plans that will truly impact your ROI. It is important to identify which tactics and strategies to pursue is the key.
We hope this article can save some of your valuable time and efforts by avoiding these myths. If you have any other myths to share, be sure to comment below.