As with all things in life there are myths about marketing that people believe, but they aren’t sure why they believe it. Here are 8 marketing myths that are just that – simple myths.

Any marketing is better than no marketing.

This is a phrase that I hear all too often. Marketing is never free. It is going to cost you in the form of money, time, and energy. You want to ensure that the marketing efforts that you put your time, money, and energy into have an actual purpose. There are many different goals of marketing, but you need to focus on the goals that align best with your business plan, brand, and budget. Throwing time and money into a marketing campaign that has nothing to do with your industry or your business in general can spell doom for your business. Not only does it waste money, but the ROI of the campaign will be little (if there is any at all). Before you spend your hard earned dollars on a marketing campaign make sure that there are clear and specific goals that align with your customer base and product niche.

Content marketing isn’t for, and can’t be done, in every industry.

This is something I have heard from many clients when we begin to talk about content marketing. I hear things like “well, I work in real estate so I don’t think content marketing will work for my industry” and I have a conversation with them about the importance of becoming a thought leader and how it can translate to clients and sales. No matter what industry you are in you sell a service or product to people or businesses. Those people or businesses have an interest in whatever you’re selling – due to the fact that they are purchasing it. Through content marketing you can become known as a company that not only sells X, but a company that is an expert and thought leader on X. Back to my real estate example: if, as a real estate agent, you start a blog about different things related to buying and selling houses this will put you in a position above the competition. People will look to you as someone that really knows what’s what in the industry and when someone in your area is ready to buy or sell their home you will be on the top of their list. Every industry can provide some form of content marketing, you just have to find the right recipe.

A great product needs no marketing.

FALSE! This is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make – specifically a start-up. When most people think of marketing they think strictly advertising or bugging people with phone calls and emails, but that is simply not true. Everything from package design and product name to the press release you write and the “free samples” you send to publications companies or influencers is considered marketing. Even if you have an extremely limited advertising budget there are creative or “grassroots” marketing efforts that can help you get your name on the map.

It’s impossible to keep up with all of the different social media platforms.

There are so many different social media platforms – and to top it all off each one has a different strength. It’s easy to see why people would think that actually keeping up with, and managing all of these different platforms would be impossible. But, there are many different solutions that help you keep up with each of your accounts in different ways and will turn your social media into a lead generating machine. In fact, there are a bunch of different tools that every marketer should be using.

Data is too expensive and hard to find.

This use to be fact, but because of the advent of the internet it is now a myth. You can get a ton of data from different resources on the internet for a relatively low cost – some are even free. Not to mention the amount of data that you can collect on your own is continually increasing. Setting up a simple newsletter can provide you with a large amount of warm leads and CRM systems can help you compile and sort through that data.

Digital marketing is all I need.

The internet has changed a lot of things. It has given once local “ma and pa” stores the ability to expand their potential customer pool to the entire world and given them a quick, easy, and cheap way to market and even demonstrate those products to anyone in the world at any given time. However, we are still social creatures, we still like hands on, and we still like to meet people to put a face with the company. Trade shows, events, and physical sponsorship still play a big role in the marketing world. While digital is cheap, easy, and far reaching – using it in combination with the occasional “pavement marketing” can move you from the minor league to the majors.

I don’t have time for content marketing and it has no ROI.

I’m not going to try and tell you that you not having time for content marketing is a myth, because some days it seems like me taking the time to produce content marketing materials is just not in the cards, but what I am going to tell you is that if you do not have the time to dedicate to writing a blog or creating videos you do have 30 minutes to talk to a content marketing company about handling those services for you. The ROI of content marketing can be difficult to measure, but if you sit down and do the numbers 9 out of 10 people would be surprised. Not only does content marketing improve your SEO ranking (which can be a costly service to purchase on its own), but it also improves brand awareness, produces more warm leads, creates brand ambassadors, increases your social sharability, organic reach, and many other benefits that can increase your customers and their lifetime value.

Marketing is sales.

Save the best for last, right? This is perhaps the biggest marketing myth of all time. Marketing and sales are symbiotic – for you cannot have one without the other, but they are far from the same thing. The goal of your marketing team is to generate leads, interest, and make your product packaging and accompanying materials “eye candy”. All of these goals will assist the sales department in completing their goal. The goal of your sales team is to close the deal and get your product or service in the hands of customers. Without good marketing your sales force has nothing to sell and without a good sales force the customers your marketing team brings in will never buy anything.

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