Marketing is an evolving landscape, and it can be challenging for a small business owner to separate fact from myth. Having valuable marketing insight makes the difference between a good and bad marketing strategy, so here are 5 common marketing myths debunked.

Myth 1: Good products don’t need advertising

A good product sells itself, right? Not so fast. If I were to rephrase this myth to make it more accurate, it would say something like, “Good products don’t need a lot of paid advertising.” Today’s consumers are savvy and have all the information they will ever need to make an informed decision. And because there is such a flood of information, word of mouth has been one of the most valuable marketing tactics. People simply trust people like themselves more than a paid advertisement, and the best thing is that it’s free!

If your product is great, it may go viral with very little paid advertising. A cost-effective advertising strategy also includes inbound marketing, where you own and control the content such as a blog or social media outlet.

Social media, however, has evolved to become a crowded space; there are no one-hit wonders anymore. Instead, it’s a game of posting interesting and engaging content about your brand. Over time a good social media advertising strategy creates awareness, engagement, and inspiration for your brand, and it allows your customers to advocate for your products or services.

Myth 2: My business doesn’t need digital marketing

This myth is particularly common with small businesses. It leads a business owner to dismiss the idea of investing in digital marketing. No matter the industry, there is an appropriate digital marketing plan for any business, especially during these lockdown times. Customers expect a minimum of a website or an active social media account to gather information about your business. This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to operate a successful business off the grid, but rather it’s to underscore the growth opportunities that digital marketing allows.

Years ago, you could get away without having an online presence because there was a chance that your competition didn’t have one either. Today it’s an essential starting point. Beyond a website, a good investment to make is in SEO marketing, which focuses on optimizing your website to rank better in search engines (where your customers are asking for you). Other digital marketing options include content marketing and pay per click (PPC).

Myth 3: Social media marketing isn’t worth it anymore.

As I’ve stated before, social media is saturated, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to stand out. If you’re not already using social media in your marketing tactics, you should be. There’s a widespread misconception that social media can’t work for every industry. But it’s a crucial component in propelling your brand story no matter what industry it's in.

The first step of social media marketing is finding the right social channels for your business. On what social platforms do your prospects live? It’s tempting to want to open an account for every social platform, but the reality is that 1) It takes a lot of effort to manage just one account, and 2) You simply don’t need to have an account for every social platform.

For example, a business owner who operates an Etsy store may have Instagram and Pinterest accounts, but it probably wouldn’t make sense to advertise on LinkedIn. There’s an effective social media strategy out there for every brand. Start with one platform and experiment, or hire a professional.

Myth 4: Marketing and advertising are the same concepts.

Although marketing and advertising are interrelated, the two are different. Dictionary.com defines marketing as, "the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising." Marketing refers to the process of preparing a product or service for the marketplace and implementing a program to promote it. In this program, you’ll find advertising strategies and tactics — advertising is part of marketing.

Marketing involves consumer behavior, research, and analysis. For example, a certain group of consumers may respond better to images than to words or videos. This discovery requires marketing research with goals that align to the branding of the company. For marketing, branding is essential, and the mission and vision statements should be your north star that aligns with your marketing messaging.

The message of a marketing campaign communicates what type of environment best suits the product (lifestyle), what kind of people use the product (demographics), and how to distribute the product (product placement). All these elements determine the value of the product and justify the pricing and marketing efforts put into marketing the product or service.

Advertising, on the other hand, is the process of making a product and service known to an audience. It is the tactics used to present the product, idea, or service to the world — a component of marketing and a specific step in marketing. Advertising involves creative activities, like design, graphics, and multimedia production.

The message of an advertising campaign aligns with the wants and needs of your prospective audience and your brand goals. An advertising campaign uses a combination of media to create excitement for the product. Choosing the right marketing channels for advertising is a deliberate process. For example, younger audiences may be more attuned to products advertised on social media platforms, and other audiences may respond better to television, mail, print ads, or radio.

Myth 5: Everyone is your customer

What you offer simply won’t be appealing to everyone. Try giving a dog to a cat person. No matter how much you try, that probably won’t work out. Instead, focus on your target audience who need, want, and are most likely to shop for your products and services. Creating a buyer’s persona is helpful in determining your target audience. A buyer’s persona is a fictitious representation of your ideal customer. Get to know your buyer and focus your efforts on targeting them. Knowing your ideal customer allows you to better define the problems they face and the role that your business plays in solving these problems for them. This will save you time, money, and energy because you won’t be wasting your marketing efforts on a buyer who would never purchase your product or service.