In the past few years, the concept of Digital Marketing has been assertively adopted in the marketing sector worldwide. This use of technology has not just made marketing strategies more flexible but has also created an era where every mass media devices have converged into a single platform via a common network. Though a lot of people know about digital marketing, there are a few digital marketing myths that people often get confused with.

Digital marketing has revolutionized consumer behavior. Consumers are now facilitated with greater engagement and remain updated with the products/services. The transparency of prices, in digital marketing packages, generates a faster engagement of consumers, making an instant purchase. Hence, the value of digital marketing is changing as it has not been considering time and space as a barrier and allows access 24/7.

Nevertheless, many people, and surprisingly even those in the field of marketing, have not yet realized its true potential. An abundance of false information and dialogs based on the hearsays are just creating doubts in people about what digital marketing is really about. Here are some of the myths that digital marketers are struggling to break:

MYTH 1: Digital marketing is not an important part of marketing strategy

With marketing today becoming more efficient with technology, we have entered the chapter where the most important marketing strategy is now digital marketing. Since digital marketing includes print, audio, video, and graphics all in one platform it is necessary that through collaboration decisions will be shared and pushed forward. 

The collaboration here includes the dynamic circulation of ideas and opportunities. A productive collaboration of marketing strategy between a company’s marketing team/ head and outsource marketing agencies is important.

Companies shouldn’t choose only one form of media for marketing, which is why digital marketing is convenient with including all forms in one digital space. In fact, 74% of global marketers invest in social marketing. Not making digital marketing a part of your marketing strategy one if the biggest digital marketing myths.

MYTH 2: Digital marketing is easier than traditional marketing

This myth is partly true and false. Yes, because digital marketing has made advertising easier but there are certain things one has to work on to make the marketing effective. 

Connections are very important yet building connections is not as easy as perceived. You have to invest your time to find the right connection and appropriate target audience. Unlike traditional marketing, you choose the medium that already has the target audience you will need. 

Competition is consistent in digital marketing. All sorts of businesses rise from an equal level here so you have identified your competitors and the competition (bit difficult to understand what is meant here). It’s why there is a constant need to stay updated and adapt to the trends. 

Meanwhile, it is important to understand that success doesn’t come overnight. Marketing does not become easy, just because you are on an opportune platform. In fact, it demands even more of your time to stay on top of your game. You have to work on every possible aspect of generating leads.

MYTH 3: Digital marketing is not for small business 

Digital marketing is for all kinds of businesses, whether you are a start-up, small-scale or large-scale, brands or multinational companies, everyone. 

The digital market is a cost-effective market which is fruitful for a small business on low investment. It is an opportunity to capitalize on a niche market while it is easier for people to know about your products and services. Moreover, it is a benefit for small businesses that they get global customers through these platforms.

A part of digital marketing, which is social media marketing, depends on the decision of choosing the appropriate platform for the type of industry one belongs to. But before you get into the platform, proper market research is required for determining the platforms to use. 

Communication and engagement are essential to maintain for which businesses need to interact more often with the audiences to establish trust. So, using digital marketing and social media marketing means it is easier for businesses to connect and benefit from it. 

MYTH 4: Knowledge from the internet is enough for digital marketing

We also see another digital marketing myths is that you can do digital marketing just by looking around on the internet. It is easy to believe that you know a lot just by researching digital marketing online. However, internet knowledge is not enough to run an effective digital media campaign. 

In digital marketing, it is important to utilize every available resource, outsourcing professionals, and collaborate with agencies and clients for better, more effective results. It may not seem important but, approaching a digital marketing professional means looking for an expert solution. Meanwhile, collaborating with a media agency for your business means to learn marketing and advertising tactics with them. 

Outsourcing and collaboration give you the knowledge that comes beside the guidance found on the internet. This is similar to not limit your studies to the pages of your book. 

MYTH 5: Creating a website is enough

Another digital marketing myths that make the rounds is that creating a website is enough to show their digital presence online. 

But be clear that this is not enough; there are other elements to work on the website that are capable enough to generate good leads. 

One of them is being active on the website; this increases your credibility. Another important factor is you have to remain consistent with creating relevant content and frequent post schedules. 

Un-updated content, broken links, a slow website will only reduce people’s interest in your business. Hence, your website needs to have a good layout design that appeals to the audience. Also, consider optimizing your website and social media for mobile devices, as the majority of your audience will be mobile users. 

MYTH 6: Cross-platform isn’t necessary

Just like creating a website alone is not enough, being only on your website or just one digital platform will not be enough. 

For effective digital marketing, you need to show your presence on more than one platform, especially social media platforms. In the same course, as mobile optimization is necessary to consider this for every platform you are present. For instance, uploading your cover photo on Twitter or Facebook may look adjusted on a computer screen but get cropped on a mobile screen. To avoid such you need to customize them both on mobile and desktop screens. 

SEO rankings, content marketing, PPC are all elements that affect your business or brand by increasing your media presence. While your focus is on one element, you have options to experiment with those elements on where your audiences are likely to be. This brings you to a wide reach of your target audience.  

MYTH 7: One-one marketing is impossible

Digital marketing has made one-on-one marketing conducive. Personalized interactions with customers have become possible through direct and private messages. The digital market has also established a niche market giving priority to their specific products. 

Now marketing is not just about selling your goods in the supermarket and paying to display your products. The opportunities are with communicating directly with the customers. It will increase your brand credibility. 

MYTH 8: SEO is dead

Those who believe SEO to be dead has been living, believing a misconception. In 2020, sure the SEO of 2010 is dead by now. Even the SEO of 2019 has changed with the arrival of 2020. However, SEO is not dead. Digital marketing has its own rules to rank content in the search engine and that changes with time. 

Marketers also live in myths that any content will make a website good. But no, the optimization depends on the keywords, easy crawls for search engines, mobile-friendly, content duplication, fast loading, and other technical issues. Google, for instance, is responsible for 94% of organic traffic. 

However, SEO is not a one-time affair; algorithm changes, search engine rules changes, rankings change and so does competition. The market is constantly changing and that is what makes it look dead but is not. 

MYTH 9: There are too many social platforms

There are indeed too many social platforms and you will only make tasks difficult to manage to try to use them all. As a marketer, it could get confusing on what to choose. You have to use social networks used by your target audience. Suppose if you are a B2C marketer then your audiences are spread all over Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc but if you are a B2B marketer then most of your audience is spread over LinkedIn than any other platform. You need to narrow down your preferences for social media platforms. 

Social media influencers work as word of mouth marketers in the digital era. The influencers might differ from social media platforms. Therefore, your marketing strategy has to utilize word of mouth and technology using all preferable platforms. 

MYTH 10: You must post several times a day to be successful in social media

This is correct that you have to be updated and regular with posts. Remember that digital marketing emphasizes more quality than quantity, one that attracts visitors. So even if you post regularly it has to be quality content.

Have a content plan and schedule your posts beforehand. This means that you have to be prepared but not over-deliver. Sometimes, when you post more it could also reveal too much information. That is why stick to your schedule and balance your post and quality content. 

The main purpose of marketing is to bring the product closer to the consumer letting them know about what it is. Certainly, the digital medium, especially the internet, has made it easier. However, myths could mislead businesses and companies towards the dont’s of digital marketing. The myths could have been true but need to be revisited.

Data reference:  https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics

https://www.omnicoreagency.com/digital-marketing-statistics/