Oh, Hello Branding Group
There are a lot of marketing myths out there, don't fall for them. We compiled a few of the most popular marketing myths and revealed the truths behind them.
1. Marketing and Advertising are the Same Thing
Marketing and advertising are often used interchangeably but they are actually very different. Marketing is the entire process of promoting your product or service. This includes product development, pricing, deciding where it will be sold, and a plan to promote your product.
Advertising is just one component of your overall marketing plan. It's a promotional activity that focuses on drawing attention to the product through strategic placement and imagery. This can include the placement of an ad in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, billboards, TV, radio, and online.
Think of it like a pizza, advertising is just one slice of the whole pizza (marketing). If advertising is your only marketing strategy, you are missing out on a lot of other promotional tactics. There are so many other slices of pizza you are missing out on.
2. My Product/Service is so Good that I Don't Need to Market it
Thinking that your product will just sell itself is not smart. There is so much competition out there that you need to be doing more. Even really big brands like Apple and Disney still market themselves.
Even if you have a lot of word of mouth, it's not something you can rely on and control. Coming up with a marketing plan is important for all businesses, even if you have a great product. Although it can be daunting at first, there are a lot of resources out there. If you want help coming up with your own plan, you can a request a free consultation here.
3. Everyone is Your Customer
As much as you want everyone to enjoy your product or service, it is essential to narrow down your target audience. If your marketing efforts are for too broad of an audience, it won't be effective. Segmenting your audience makes it easier to reach them.
Getting to know who your customers are is very important. Knowing their basic demographics but also their goals and challenges will help you better understand how to target them. The best way to do this is by creating buyer personas.
Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They are the basis of all your marketing tactics and strategies. Whenever you make a decision, you need to be thinking about your buyer personas.
To create your own buyer personas, you can download our free ebook with templates here.
4. Marketing is too Expensive
Everyone should be doing some form of marketing, even if your business is small. There are so many free and low cost ways to market your business. Although it is important to invest in your company and marketing is a great way to get a return on investment.
Creating a marketing plan and budget will help you limit your spending. Once you analyze what marketing tactics work best, you can focus more of your budget on those tactics and spend less on the ones that aren't as successful.
Check out our "Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses Without a Marketing Budget" blog post to learn more about what you can do for your business.
5. If it Works for Another Company, it Will Work for Us
Every business is different and you should treat it as such. Just because something worked well for one business, does not mean it will be exactly the same for yours. Many companies will try to copy marketing campaigns done by others in completely different industries and expect the same results. Even if you clone a marketing campaign from a business in the same industry as you, your customers are different from theirs.
As mentioned earlier, every decision your business makes should be centered around your customers and their needs. This is why buyer personas are so important.
Taking inspiration from other company's marketing campaigns is fine, as long as it makes sense for your business and you adjust it to match up with your customers.
6. Marketing Delivers Fast Results
Unfortunately, marketing takes patience. Although with some online marketing, you can see quick results initially, it will take time for your results to pay off. For example, if someone clicks on your online ad, you will know right away. But that doesn't mean they will automatically make a purchase, it may take several clicks before you make a sale. With SEO, it can take months before you start to notice any results.
Traditional marketing can take even longer, and that's okay! The important thing is not to give up and ditch your plans. Time and consistency is the key to successful marketing.
Don't get deterred if results are slow at first, that's why it is important to set realistic goals at the beginning of a new campaign.
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