10 Common Myths in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a field that changes with seasons and trends. While agencies, brands and marketers come and go, some fundamental truths don’t change, no matter the direction or new hot topic. That said, many digital marketing myths seem never to go away.

This blog post will tackle 10 of the most common myths about digital marketing, providing insights into what they mean for your brand and its growth.

1. Guest posting is the best way to build links on a large scale.

Guest posting is one of the most misunderstood tools in digital marketers’ arsenals. Getting your content in front of large audiences and building high-quality links to your site is essential, but it also has some drawbacks.

Guest posting can also negatively affect your rankings on Google. One of the reasons is that Google algorithms are generally unfriendly with links that are not organic. As a result, you are likely to be penalised for using these unnatural links.

Furthermore, creating guest posts is very time-consuming and quite competitive. With all the time and effort put in, your post is not guaranteed to be published.

That said, developing high-quality content is the best approach to building organic traffic.

First, this leads to people linking to your content and is much more effective in the long run.

Secondly, establishing relationships with journalists and thought leaders in your industry is another tip for building links. Those relationships will get you long-term results that matter.

2. Having a website is enough to market a business.

A website is the foundation of any digital marketing campaign, but without good content, a strong call-to-action and a focused target audience, it will not get you very far.

Your website needs to be a hub for your digital marketing efforts. However, there are other ways you can market your business.

• Attend, host or sponsor events.
• Setup your Google business
• Create citations
• Utilise social media platforms
• Join online communities
• Create email marketing campaigns.

If you’re relying entirely on a website, you’re not maximising your investment and missing out on a huge opportunity.

3. Digital marketing is only for big businesses.

This myth is especially dangerous for smaller and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Unfortunately, many marketers think digital marketing is only for companies with large budgets and big teams. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Many SMBs have an advantage over large brands because they specialise in a specific industry or niche. That specialisation allows them to stand out and build a dedicated audience. If you’re a large brand, you must appeal to everyone and hope you get enough people interested. If you’re a smaller brand, you can appeal to a much smaller group and get much more attention.

4. Email marketing isn’t effective anymore.

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to build an audience, drive sales and build relationships with your customers. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most misunderstood tactics in digital marketing. Many marketers think email marketing is dead, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Email marketing is more powerful than ever before. According to Statista, email user numbers are set to grow to 4.5 Billion by 2025.

This type of traditional marketing is not about blasting sales offers left and right. Instead, it’s about providing value to your customers and building relationships with them over time. To do that, you need a strong marketing email strategy.

Here are some other tips for marketing emails

• Have clear subject lines
• Personalise your emails
• Share user reviews
• Provide value every time

To sum it up, a great email marketing strategy requires you to deliver value to your users over time and build relationships with them along the way.

5. Social media is dead

Social media is a massive part of modern marketing. According to this report, 4.7 billion people use social media, which strengthens the fact that social media is still relevant today.

Here are six benefits of social media marketing;

• Builds your brand authority and royalty
• Boosts your search volume and increases search engine ranking
• Builds customer relationships
• Increases conversion rates
• Offers market insights
• Cost-effective

Regarding social media marketing, the strategy is to focus on a few channels and do them as well as possible.

Post regularly, respond to people and show genuine interest in building a following. Once you have a strong base, you can expand to other platforms as you grow your brand.

At MRKWP, we use the Zoho social tool to schedule our posts. It enables us to cover months of postings in the future.

6. Consumers Hate Ads

Many people consider ads a bother, but not all people dislike them. Research shows that customers are more likely to engage with ads relevant to them. On the other hand, they dislike irrelevant ads, especially if they’re disruptive to their experience.

So while ads are unlikely to go away anytime soon, there are ways to make them less annoying. You can use the right approach and tone to create something your target audience finds helpful and relevant.

7. The more you spend, the more you sell.

Spending money on digital marketing doesn’t guarantee sales. However, it can also do the opposite if you don’t spend it strategically.

You can significantly improve your ROI by focusing on a few key metrics. You want to ensure that you’re targeting the right target audience, delivering the right content and getting the desired results.

If you’re not tracking and measuring the effectiveness of your ads, you have no idea whether or not they’re working, and you will have no idea how to improve your ads, however much the amount of money spent on them.

8. Producing Great Content is the Only Way to Grow an Audience

While producing excellent content is a great way to grow an audience, it’s not the only way.

People are more likely to buy from you and become loyal customers if you engage with them first.

Focus on building relationships with your audience before trying to sell to them. For example, you can publish valuable content on your blog, share content from others in your industry, and build and engage with your audience through social media.

Once you’ve created a strong relationship with your audience, conversion rates will increase.

Another point to stress is that having great content may not be helpful if issues like title tags, meta descriptions, and image optimisation are not addressed.

Here is an article on 7 strategies to boost your audience.

9. Digital Marketing Is Just About Young People

The majority of people on digital marketing channels are young people. They’re the most likely to click ads, follow your brand, and engage with content. However, it doesn’t mean you should ignore other demographics.

While young people are essential, older demographics are the segment with significant buying power. It is because they are retired and are more likely to spend on different things. Even though they tend to take their time to purchase something, once you understand their needs and desires, it can be a very loyal and lucrative market segment.

10. Consistent measurement practices take a lot of work to implement.

Marketers often skip measuring their marketing efforts because they think it’s too hard or impossible to implement. But, in reality, it’s not that hard at all.

• If you’re publishing your content on a blog, you can use Google Analytics and Google search console to track how many people are reading it.
• If you’re posting on social media, you can use social metrics to understand your audience and respond to their questions and concerns.
• If you’re emailing potential clients, you can use tools like Customer.io to track their interactions with your email campaigns.
• If you’re using paid advertising, most platforms will let you track your return on investment. (ROI).

Conclusion

Digital marketing evolves constantly, but some fundamental truths don’t change. If you’re not careful, you might fall for one of these myths and miss out on the benefits of digital marketing. Whether you’re new to digital marketing or have been doing it for years, it’s essential to ensure you know the facts.

Frequently Asked Questions