There’s more to marketing strategy than just creating a few ads and expecting phenomenal results and a boost in sales. While there are some companies who have outstanding marketing campaigns and departments, there are still tons of businesses who have tried to put their business out there but with lackluster results. What could they be doing wrong?
If you are like most marketers, you probably think that you know everything there is to know about marketing techniques. What you may think you know could actually be hurting your results. Keep yourself from making the following mistakes.
Myth #1 – Fantastic Products Will Sell Themselves
Even if you have the most innovative product on the market, your audience will need to hear about it before they realize how amazing it is. This is why marketing is so important; it helps you boost brand and product awareness, which is especially helpful for new businesses or products.
Myth #2 – Any Marketing Is Better Than Nothing At All
In a perfect world customers would flock to our business or website by putting a single ad out there or by creating a website. Goals, strategies, campaigns, and documenting your results are all important steps to having a marketing strategy that will only help your company. Documenting your strategies has been linked to success. Sixty-six percent of successful B2B marketers have a documented strategy, whereas only 11 percent of unsuccessful marketers wrote down their strategy.
Myth #3 – The Sales Department Has Nothing To Do With The Marketing Department
While the marketing and sales departments are different, you can’t have one without the other. The marketing team is responsible for promoting and persuading prospects, while it’s the sales team’s job to close the sale. Having the two work strategically together will result in a powerful marketing strategy and increased sales.
Myth #4 – Trade Shows Are A Waste Of Marketing Dollars
It’s true that trade shows will be a waste of time if you just show up and expect to get new customers off the bat. If you have ever gone to a show as an attendee, you probably have only noticed the trade show displays, freebies, demos and any other activities going on at the event. What you don’t see is how much work and planning goes into each exhibit.
Many marketers have found great success in participating at trade shows. In fact, according to Social Fresh, 67 percent of B2B content marketers consider event marketing to be their most valuable marketing strategy. Thoroughly train your staff, create powerful booth graphics or hire a graphic designer, and follow up after the show in order to get the most of event marketing.
Myth #5 – Work On Content Marketing When You Have Time
For a content marketing strategy to be effective, consistency is critical. Posting new content when you have time could mean posting content once a week or once every few months. Not only do search engines love to see content constantly being posted, but your audience will be most likely to go to your blog, social media pages or website if they know when to expect it.
It does take time to create quality content, so if you don’t have the time to post consistently, hire a content marketing manager to take this weight off of your shoulders. It will be well worth the money.
Myth #6 – Republish Your Guest Blog Posts On Your Blog
You got a positive response from an article you posted on another website and are thinking about publishing it on your own blog. By posting duplicate content, your website could get penalized by Google, especially if another update like the Panda is issued. Play it safe by posting one article per website and always keeping your posts fresh and original.
Myth #7 – The More Content, The Better
More content will give you more opportunities for link building and boosting your keyword ranking, but quality content is more important than quantity. Having quality blog posts with 200-300 words will attract more readers than a lengthy article filled irrelevant information that your readers wouldn’t be interested in.