Enter “digital marketing” into Google and the results tally is over 2 billion. As with many decision making processes it can be difficult knowing what to do for the best. The Digital Marketing world is exactly like any other industry out there. There will be plenty of contributors with plenty of opinions and it can be overwhelming. The success of any Digital Marketing strategy depends on lots of factors such as implementation, medium used, analysis, and desired outcome.
There are over 25,000 Marketing companies in the UK, offering a range of services. (Source: MarketingQuotes) There are also many Digital Marketing myths, one company will tell you to “do SEO”, another company will say “SEO is dead”. One will say “don’t worry about social media” and others will say “social media is everything.”
Here are five Digital Marketing myths that we definitely don’t agree with!
See you later SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) origins are sketchy but the official date of birth is around 1997. (Source: SearchEngineJournal) Of course it didn’t take long for people to develop sneaky ways of undertaking SEO such as keyword stuffing and hidden words – better known as Black Hat SEO. Cue the Google police and various SEO restrictions.
With social media storming to the forefront of much Digital Marketing it seemed successful SEO, especially with the restrictions and guidelines from Google, might have begun to fade out. But, while there are search engines – there will be SEO. The strategy now is to follow the SEO rules and watch your website climb to the top of the results. At eppiq we are firm believers that SEO is a strong process in any good Digital Marketing Strategy.
All Email Marketing is SPAM
Yes Spam emails are an issue, in fact spam emails accounted for 45% of all emails sent in 2018. (Source: Propellercrm) However, 80% of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention and 77% of people prefer to get permission-based promotional messages via email marketing. (Source: WordStream)
Embrace the Negative
90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. (Source: Forbes) The initial pre-conception is that all reviews should be good reviews. Wrong. By keeping negative reviews visible, potential customers can see how a business responds to criticism, how they manage customer service and how they deal with complaints or concerns. Any business should be proud of the product or service they provide and the quality of that product or service. If there is something unacceptable with that then they would want to know so they can put it right.
Negative reviews are not bad press, they are an opportunity to show an audience the levels of customer service.
Come one, come all
The fourth Digital Marketing myth we are dispelling is that when you have a website, the main goal is to have as many visitors as possible. The more visitors and traffic the better! Well, no. The age old saying “its about quality, not quantity” is applicable here. It is no good having record numbers of visitors to a website, if the website is irrelevant to them. A good Digital Marketing Strategy will look to target people who want or could want the product or service being offered, not just anybody!
Cross Platform crossed off
Need an online presence? Build a website – done! Not exactly. In order to have a successful online presence it is important to consider that there is more to the digital realm than just a website. Mobile Marketing and mobile responsive websites, social media, social media advertising, brand awareness, paid search. Having a brand that translates between platforms is crucial to Digital Marketing. As technology and the digital world develop, the expectations of the audiences grow. It is estimated that there will be around 2.7 billion social media users worldwide by the end of 2019, and 4.9 billion mobile phone users. (Source: Statista) Company X now needs a website, a social media page and a responsive website to remain competitive.
So, now we have banished these Digital Marketing Myths – are you and your business happy with Digital Marketing Strategy? Get in touch with eppiq Marketing today for all aspects of Digital Marketing.
