Though many experts have talked about digital marketing mistakes before, business owners and marketers alike keep believing that some obviously illogical mistakes are considered “best practices”. Let’s debunk the most popular myths about digital marketing.
#1 If Your Competition Isn’t Online, You Shouldn’t Be Either
Many business owners think that when they start a new business, they need to do everything that their competitors do, and this, of course, includes the marketing strategy. However, this is a very common misconception which, if you follow this logic, can lead to disaster. In fact, if you simply do everything that your competition does, you will never find originality.
Digital marketing is crucial for your business, no matter what type of business this is. If your competitors are not using online marketing, you should still try doing it because the majority of your target audience will inevitably be online – even if it is in a different country.
#2 Negative Reviews Will Significantly Decrease Your Sales
Many new business owners and marketers are often scared of getting negative reviews, especially if such reviews are posted on platforms that can’t be controlled (that is, the reviews can’t be removed). However, negative reviews are actually not that important for your sales as long as you get the right approach to it.
The best solution is actively seeking out such negative reviews and responding to them. If your customer has a complaint, your responsibility is to solve their problem and show that you are genuinely caring about your customers and mindful of their feedback.
#3 Social Media Marketing Doesn’t Work for Every Industry
Social media marketing is currently considered one of the most effective types of digital marketing. Yet, many business owners believe that it is not appropriate for all industries and might not work with their particular niche. In reality, social media marketing can help you find virtually any kind of audience.
Perhaps your competitors haven’t tried social media marketing before which is why you think it is not going to work, but the best way to know is to try it first. Experiment and look for unique ways to use social media platforms for marketing and then make conclusions.
#4 Search Engine Optimization Is Dead
Search engine optimization or SEO has been declared dead multiple times by this point. Not only is this an illogical statement, but SEO will probably live as long as the Internet exists, and we continue using search engines to look up information. Consequently, it is essential that you don’t underestimate the importance of search engine optimization.
SEO is about adjusting every part of your digital marketing strategy to suit search engines and get more traffic that will eventually lead to more sales. There is a lot to talk about when it comes to SEO, so it is better to simply take into account all the other tips in this article because they are all related to SEO one way or another.
#5 Digital Marketing Is Only for Small Businesses
One of the arguments you will hear from middle-sized and large-sized business owners is that digital marketing is only for small businesses. In reality, the contrary is true. Digital marketing can be extremely useful for all kinds of businesses in all industries with different lifetimes and history behind them.
In fact, digital marketing can help small businesses get started when they are virtually unknown and have a limited budget that won’t be enough for proper traditional (offline) marketing. Ask entrepreneurs who have several startups behind their backs and they will tell you how digital marketing helped them a lot at the start.
#6 Creating A Website Is Enough for Digital Marketing
A good website – with a great user interface, eye-catching design, engaging content, and so on – can go a long way. In fact, it is one of the fundamental elements of a good digital marketing strategy. That being said, simply creating a website and filling it with whatever you suddenly felt like filling it with is probably one of the worst attitudes you could have.
You need to put actual effort into making your website stand out of the crowd while also being informative and valuable for your target audience. Yes, it will demand your time and dedication as well as a lot of patience, but it will pay off in the end.
#7 Any Content I Publish Will Work
Right after the misconception that a simple website will be enough, there’s the mistake of publishing “any content” and expecting it to work. Perhaps this can be paraphrased as “quantity over quality” – a very destructive approach to content creation and content marketing that can even lead to brand disintegration.
You need to do some good research about what your target audience is looking for and then create relevant, high-quality content that will use these topics to bring value to your readers. In addition to that, try to create different kinds of content (text, visual, audio).
#8 Word-of-Mouth Can Substitute Digital Marketing
Word-of-mouth can be a very useful phenomenon that can help you go viral. However, relying only on word-of-mouth is very risky because it doesn’t happen often, and you will most likely have to rely on more “traditional” forms of digital marketing.
Invest both your time and money into your digital marketing strategy and work towards realistic goals without expecting word-of-mouth to help you. There is a chance you will get such “free” marketing, but don’t expect it to happen instantly.
#9 Backlinks Are the Most Important Part of SEO
Search engine optimization consists of many different elements that work together to become the most important aspect of digital marketing. Building your backlink profile is important to get better rankings, but it is not the only thing you should do for good SEO.
You need to use relevant keywords, create visual content to upload along with your articles and blog posts, link to other pages, and get links in return to increase your traffic and get more sales as a result of better SEO.
#10 Digital Marketing Is Not Important for The Bigger Picture
Last but not least, digital marketing actually is important for the bigger picture. It’s not just about growing your online community, building your reputation, and increasing your sales, but also about growing as a business.
Before the World Wide Web was created, traditional marketing was the only form of marketing and business owners were constantly looking for new ways to promote their brands. Nowadays, the Internet is the primary platform for advertising.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, avoiding such simple mistakes can help you significantly improve your digital marketing strategy and become a better business owner or marketer who is mindful of their actions.
Author’s Bio: This article was written by Ana Mayer, a project manager with 3+ years of experience. While projects can do without her participation (which means almost never), she likes to read and create expert academic materials for the Online Writers Rating review website. Such work gives her the opportunity to write articles on the most relevant topics of today.
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