People will say almost anything only to get attention – including stating blatantly untrue facts. We all know the problems that this can lead to.
In the marketing arena, there are a great many people posing as “experts” and spouting off advice that, if unheeded, would cause no harm whatsoever. The problem is, people who don’t know the truth read this advice and then go and apply it to their business.
For this reason, some prominent myths have propagated the internet, been read and shared and implemented, only to negatively impact the company or person who believed the lies in the first place.
Let’s review a few of these dangerous myths:
1) SEO is a Myth
Too many people claim that SEO – search engine optimization – is not real. They claim that all the companies that make money selling SEO services to other businesses are scams. That Google’s search algorithm is too big of a secret for any of the common SEO tactics to truly work.
But sadly, this is not true. Though I know many people who have been burned by poor SEO practices, there is still a place for strategic SEO services in the business world. Smart SEOs can track patterns across the sites that tend to rank well on Google and help other sites improve their odds of getting ranked higher.
There are tried and true methods, most of which we might consider best practices for a good website, that are almost guaranteed to help Google rank your website. And if people don’t think this is SEO, they simply don’t understand what SEO is.
2) Negative Reviews Are Bad for Business
Every business fears a negative review. That, by itself, is not a bad thing. The problem is that there are too many companies that believe the myth that one bad review is going to destroy your business.
Every company gets bad reviews. It is nearly impossible to make 100% of your customers happy. And instead of spending your energy hiding from or deleting bad reviews, you can take actions that actually benefit your company when you get a bad review.
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For example, you can respond and try to make that customer happy. Or you can use it as a learning experience and change something about your product or service so that you don’t end up with the same problem going forward.
3) Email is Dead
Email is alive and well. It remains the marketing channel with the highest ROI across industries and types of companies. “Experts” have been claiming that email was dead since the first marketing emails were ever sent. But if they gave up on email then, they have missed out on years and years of effective marketing opportunities.
4) The Lowest Price Wins
Too many companies compete on price. That’s because they believe that they only way to win in any competitive environment is to offer the lowest price.
But all we have to do is look at a company like Apple to see how mistaken they are. Apple has never competed on price. Instead, they developed a high-quality brand that people will pay to be a part of.
Lowest price wins when there is no difference between your product and other companies’. But if you can differentiate, you don’t need to constantly compete on price.
5) A Website Redesign is the Answer to Lagging Sales
There are some cases when a website redesign is necessary. Unfortunately, it has become one of the go-to strategies whenever an online business is struggling. And that’s because there are a lot of web design services out there who have been peddling that myth for a long time.
The truth is, you need to do a good bit of research to diagnose where exactly your problem lies. If it’s your website, fine. A redesign might help. But it’s not a cure-all.
6) Your Business Has to Be on Social Media
It’s a good idea for companies today to have a social media presence. However, there are far too many companies out there on social media just because they think they have to be. And it shows.
When your company has a page on Facebook, or a Twitter feed, and you are adding nothing to the larger conversation, you are just posting for posting’s sake. And it is not adding any value to your business.
If you can’t figure out how to make social media work for your company, you don’t belong there.
