A myth refers to a collective, irrational idea that explains or promises something that is not true. We have all been fed a number of myths in our lives. There are also numerous myths in marketing that hold up valiantly. In this blog post, we have taken a closer look at eight of them and also debunked them.
Myth #1: Email marketing is dead
Time and again, we hear that email marketing is totally outdated and ineffective – effectively dead. It is one of the myths in online marketing that supposed experts vehemently uphold. With the advent of new digital capabilities, email marketing has fallen by the wayside, he said. This belief could hardly be further from the truth.
In fact, to this day, email marketing is one of the most effective strategies for helping businesses generate more sales. Email marketing achieves a return on investment (ROI) of €34. For comparison: SEO only achieves an ROI of 19€. About 58% of adults check their email first thing in the morning, and 61% of people like to receive weekly promotional emails. Need we say more?
Myth #2: The more social media channels the better
Just because there are quite a few social networks doesn’t mean you should use all of them for your business. Research which social networks their target audience uses and create a company profile or page on those networks. After some time, the data you collect will help you figure out which platform is giving you the best results and where your efforts are going nowhere.
Focus only on platforms that fit you and your target audience. And if, contrary to their expectations, a network doesn’t fit after all, let it go. You will only lose time and resources unnecessarily if you stick to it.
Myth #3: Repetitions are bad
Wrong! Marketing activities are not a serial novel. – Quite the opposite. Only repetition over a longer period of time ensures that the essential information is solidified in the minds of your potential customers. In a more aggressive way, for example, a well-known cereal producer advertises on the radio. Well, do you know which one?
Myth #4: Good products sell themselves
In fact, they don’t. You wouldn’t believe how much more competition you have than you assumed. Even in highly specialized niches, there are still more than 30 million competitors working, who are certainly selling exactly the same thing as you. So advertising your products or services is always critical to the success of your business. If you don’t believe that, ask yourself why a company like Apple is marketing so aggressively when its products could sell themselves?
Myth #5: A lot of content is the key to great success
A lot helps a lot, right? – Of course not; in almost no area does too much of a good thing equal good. This also applies to your content marketing. While regular sharing of content is important and has a positive effect on its success, this effect also turns into the opposite if too much (mostly) meaningless content is thrown out. It’s a deterrent.
Or how do they feel about being bombarded daily with meaningless posts that they have to filter out to get to the interesting content? Exactly. Quality instead of quantity is the motto! Produce quality content that adds value to their customers instead of publishing anything every day just to have something to say.
Myth #6: Call-to-action is too intrusive and unnecessary
Of course, their customers know that you should call them to get a quote or go to their website based on their post. You know how to do that too, but you’d be surprised how rarely you take those steps. Without a prompt, few act as you expect them to.
Reach out to your audience and take them by the hand, this is the only way to increase the chances that you will do what they want you to do. Also, people like to be addressed directly because it makes them feel welcome.
Myth #7: Small businesses don’t need marketing
It’s true that small businesses don’t have nearly as much time or marketing budget as large companies. But that doesn’t mean it has no value and you can just leave it alone. Only the approach differs from large companies. Small businesses require more intensive planning and need to factor in multiple aspects to get the most out of your marketing budget.
A detailed marketing plan is mandatory, so they avoid wasting valuable money or time. Another point is the monitoring of marketing campaigns, so you can intervene immediately in case of discrepancies. You will see that your company will start to grow as well.
Myth #8: Video marketing is not suitable for every industry
Many CEOs from traditional industries, such as banking and insurance, believe that video marketing is not appropriate for their industry. This is simply wrong. Video marketing is a win-win for any industry.
Nowhere can complicated issues or dry topics be explained better – video marketing is an ideal tool to make dry and difficult things understandable for everyone and in an attractive way. The Cisco Annual Report (2018-2023) states that by 2022, about 82% of all traffic on the World Wide Web will be video. That is remarkable.
Our explanatory video for Zillertaler Versicherungen is a good example of the fact that videos are also justified in traditional industries and are by no means inappropriate.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are some supposed truths that are not truths at all. Nevertheless, you are holding your own. We hope we could at least debunk these 8 myths for you. Especially with myth number 8, we can not only assure you that it is a myth – but also give you an example along the way: We would be happy to help you create a crisp explainer video for your company. You will be surprised how positively your clientele reacts to it. Give it a try – it’s worth it.
