Today’s e-marketing is far from where it was in its early days. There are few barriers to entry in the digital landscape, so competition is fierce.

An effective marketing strategy can only achieve great results by focusing on facts. But how do you validate the beliefs and practices that drive your efforts?

The challenge is real. This is why we’ve put together a list of the 5 most common e-marketing myths that we’ve found in our work with our clients.

MYTH #1:

YOU SHOULD MEASURE PERFORMANCE BASED ON TRAFFIC

One common marketing strategy misconception is that website traffic is a KPI in itself. Indeed, you want people to find and browse your website. But you shouldn’t stop there.

Here are 3 important questions to ask of your audience:

• Is it relevant to the product or service I offer?
• How many visitors convert to leads?
• How many leads convert to actual business?

Truth

No matter how many people land on your pages, if your offer doesn’t resonate with them, they won’t become paying customers.

Let’s say you get 3000 random hits a month and only 3 of them close a deal. That’s a conversion rate of 0.1%. Now, what if you got 300 well-targeted visitors and 30 closed deals during the same timeframe? That’s a 10% conversion rate based on 10 times less traffic.

How does that happen? Rather than quantity, a truly strategic approach to marketing management looks at the quality of your traffic. This means integrating all your marketing and sales processes to create a seamless funnel.

First, break down on your ideal customer profile. Keep their pain points and goals top of mind, and tailor your strategy around their needs. Trying to be everything to everyone is a game you can’t win.

Second, focus on the right KPIs for an effective marketing strategy. Click-through rate (CTR) is a great metric to measure how many people click on your ads and/or land on your website. It tells you a lot about the quality of your campaign and your prospects’ behaviour.

However, CTR alone gives no insight into how much money you’re making. A better metric to focus on, instead, is your conversion rate (CVR).

How many people that visited your website converted to paying customers? Only by staying true to your end business goal can you get your marketing efforts’ worth.

MYTH #2:

SEO IS OLD NEWS

Long story short, back in 2010 Google published their “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide”. The document was a collection of best practices to support marketers in their SEO efforts.

Many of these practices are now obsolete or have been replaced to keep up with algorithm updates. In response, rumors have started to spread about the “death” of internet marketing SEO.

Seriously, type “SEO is dead” into your search engine (once you’re done reading this article) and see what comes up. The dispute around this topic has been going on for years. And the claim is, at the very least, misleading.

Truth

Have you heard the news about the decline of artificial intelligence and machine learning in web search? Of course not, there’s no such thing.

On the contrary, search is becoming more and more complex. A person may look over a page and immediately spot out the information they need. Machines, however, need cues to match your content with other users’ queries.    

This is where SEO and content marketing come into play. In fact, it’s not an overstatement to say that an SEO strategy puts the “digital” in digital marketing.

While it may not be what it was ten years ago, search engine optimization is as relevant now as ever. And it’s very much “alive”.

MYTH #3:

ALL CONTENT IS CREATED EQUAL

This one is most common among companies new to digital marketing, eager to tap into its potential.

They may spend significant efforts producing a dozen content pieces a week, then sharing it across all social platforms.

Truth

The truth is there’s no KPI in marketing to measure content volume. Success has little, if anything, to do with the quantity of blog posts or articles you publish online.

Remember the myth we debunked about website traffic? Let’s say you publish 10 blog posts per week and share them all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you name it. If your promotion strategy is well-planned, people will likely land on your pages.

So far so good, you’ve created awareness and drove traffic to your website. But did your content resonate with them? Did it help solve their problems, inspire them, and make them want to return?

Quality content has to be relevant to your prospects’ needs and stage in the buyer’s journey. Not only does it attract traffic, but also engages and nurtures. It breeds loyalty. It converts. And lastly, it boosts your rank in search engine results.

MYTH #4:

IT’S ALL ABOUT TECH

As companies are riding the digital wave, traditional marketing is often viewed as outdated. Not only is this a misconception, but it results in missed opportunities for businesses.

Truth

Setting up and optimizing your online presence is essential for large-scale success. However, many companies don’t have the resources or know-how to rely on technology alone.

For example, Google is always changing the way it calculates organic and paid search ranking. Such unpredictable changes can affect the performance of your campaigns if you’re not agile enough to adapt.

To leverage such risks, balance your e-marketing techniques with traditional practices. Focus on where your customers are.

Chances are there’s still a significant amount of people reading newspapers, magazines, and driving by roadside billboards.

If your customers are reading newspapers & magazines, you should be there too. Don’t underestimate the power of events and printed materials in drawing awareness to your brand.

MYTH #5:

IF MY COMPETITORS DON’T DO IT NEITHER SHOULD I

Benchmarking your company against competitors is a strategic best practice. Sometimes your findings motivate you to take action. You optimize a process, reconsider your strategy, or make a new investment. 

What if they’re not outrunning you in any way? In this case, some businesses slack off.

Truth

We already agreed that e-marketing is an essential part of a company’s business strategy. It’s a prerequisite for success, not a variable you should leave up to your rivals’ better judgement.

For sustainable growth, companies should seek to outperform not only competitors, but also themselves. Not one month should pass without making an improvement in one area of your business. Only by looking internally can you achieve sustained ROI growth.

Even if your competitors aren’t into digital marketing, chances are it’s just a matter of time. Why not be a step ahead of them? When they finally decide to catch up, you will have built your online presence, a loyal audience, and the know-how.

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