7 Myths About Digital Marketing

1. Christina Sep 5 · 5 min read 7 Popular Myths about Digital Marketing — Or are they? The popular myths on Digital Marketing — or rather, debunking some of the common myths/misconceptions we have about digital marketing. What we must understand is that not all myths are totally untrue — or at least they must have been established on some ground. So let’s begin. MYTH 1: Digital Marketing is only for Big Businesses — Small businesses are too small to have a separate digital marketing budget! Now where did that come from? It’s a myth that digital marketing is only for big businesses. In fact, many small businesses have gained manifold by using digital marketing services only.

2. The digital platform is a cost-effective and efficient medium for communication. For small businesses that lack budget, digital marketing can help to take their brand to a global audience base without a physical shop! There is also the advantage of real-time monitoring and measurement for campaigns and audience engagement, customer preferences and buying behaviour etc. without having a market research agency working on those data. There are several DIY resources such as Google Analytics that will help businesses to track performance irrespective of size and scale. So, as a small business owner, if you are worried about budget and costs, this is one way that expenses can be measured. And even then, if expenses are a cause of concern, there are several digital marketing companies that provide their services at affordable rates as well. Just select one wisely. MYTH 2: A Website has been built! That’s all that’s needed! This is almost like saying, “A movie has been made. Now it’s going to be a hit!” If that was the case, well then… Truth is, the website is critical to the success of digital marketing activities. But a static website, created 2–3 years ago is of no value to

3. current business — at all. The digital arena is dynamic and innovation drives this market. Businesses therefore need to work on the content and technicalities of their websites from time to time to keep it up-to-date, upbeat and compelling. Content, that’s engaging, in this case includes textual content and multimedia such as images, GIFs, videos, infographic etc. Based on business and digital marketing strategy the right type of content can be selected. Alt Text: Popular Content Types for Digital Marketing When it comes to a website some technicalities have to be adhered to as well. A simple change in the sitemap, or programming language can make a lot of difference to audience engagement on websites. You may seek help from a reliable website design and development company for building and maintaining your website as such.

4. MYTH 3: The 101 myths about Social Media There are so many myths about social media that it’s confusing where to start from!

5. Social media is only for some industries: Some marketers believe that social media is industry specific — wrong! Social media can prove to be an effective channel for all industries. Of course this means that you will have to be active on your social channel, share/update relevant content and try to keep audiences engaged to win businesses and achieve results. But to think that social media is restricted to certain industries, is nothing but a myth. One active Social profile is all that’s needed: Not exactly, but not totally untrue as well. A business can choose to have focus through a single social media channel only if that’s their digital strategy. Ideally, 2–3 channels are recommended to be in use (you never know which channel your next prospect is most frequent on) but that’s not a hard bound rule. The idea is to use a channel that’s most in sync with your brand and products. In fact, over 91% retail brands use two or more social channels! (Research: Yesmail) MYTH 4: Why should I do “THIS!” My competitors are not going digital! There’s “comparison” and there is “competition.”

6. In the digital market, you will have to decide which will work best for you. Just because your competitors are not using digital marketing strategies to engage with customers, identify new prospects and markets to enter, is not reason enough for you not to try. For all you know, if your competitors are not online and you are the only one there, you will be having first mover advantage and even dominate the digital market space! MYTH 5: Web Traffic is going UP! I am doing a great job at this Digital thing Let’s differ shall we? There’s the idea of driving quality traffic to your website and quantity. While quantity traffic will make your reports and graphs go green, it will not contribute much to sales and the ultimate business objective. The goal of any digital marketing initiative, whether through social media marketing services, email marketing, mobile marketing, SEM Service or any other, should be to drive quality traffic only. Without the right kind of visitors it is unlikely that there will be any activity on the website — which ultimately will not add momentum to business growth.

7. Businesses should accordingly focus on creating unique, fresh and personalized content for all purposes of marketing and communication, so as to target and engage a wider audience base. MYTH 6: People are saying bad things about my Brand online! I am ruined! Why think of all comments and statements as “criticism”? Some can be used to your advantage as “feedback” as well. ORM or online reputation management is what comes into picture here. Many businesses cite online shamming as a reason for not going digital. Not only is it not recommended, but also not long- lasting. True, there will be many who will have something negative to say, but there will be several positive words spoken as well. What is important is that as a business, one needs to use the experience of a disgruntled customer as an opportunity for customer good service! It’s human nature that an unhappy customer turned into a happy customer through customer service will probably never leave you! MYTH 7: SEO is dead — R.I.P SEO!

8. Ugh, do you really belong to that school of thought? You should not! SEO is far from being dead. With millions of searches happening every minute, SEO is certainly not dead — and unlikely to be dead soon. True, the SEO best practices have evolved and a lot of techniques for good SEO have emerged, but people are still turning to Google, Bing and Yahoo with their queries, and onpage SEO is the only way to salvage the day for you. It should however be kept in mind that SEO is not a one-time thing but a continuous marketing activity. Many businesses as such invest in Search Engine Optimization services for proper audit and continued maintenance of their SEO projects. So now that the myths about digital marketing has been debunked, give your marketing initiatives a new start. And if you need some help, identify a good digital marketing agency for your brand. Author Bio While babysitting her neighbour’s children, she found her knack for words and the magic it can weave. A degree in English Literature came in next, followed by a job as a a script-writer, news editor and PR manager. Today, working as a Digital Marketing Consultant with MetricFox, she looks back with a smile at the life she has led.