Digital Marketing is Social Media ... and 5 other profit killing myths
I get it. The words digital and marketing are really broad. When combined together it gets even broader. Additionally, advancing technology stretches the boundaries even further. This creates the perfect storm for myths, truths, half-truths and misconceptions to swirl, particularly the MSME (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise) marketplace. For business owners already facing challenges, acting on the wrong information can be costly. So, let’s debunk some Digital Marketing myths that could steal your time and blow away your profits.
The truth is Digital Marketing is much more than social media
Myth #1 Digital Marketing is social media
Digital marketing is a subset of marketing that uses digital tools. Digital tools include social media, but also includes many other tools.
Ideally, digital marketing should not be used in isolation, but rather as part of a cohesive and comprehensive marketing strategy developed specifically for your brand and goals.
Speaking of tools, the digital marketing toolkit includes SEO (Search Engine Optimisation); email marketing; pay per click and display advertising; websites; and content creation, (which includes copywriting for advertising and blog posts; visuals: images, graphics, motion graphics and more).
To put it simply, you have a plethora of tools available at your disposal. To reinforce the point, digital marketing is a tool, not a strategy. As a tool, it has some notable advantages — easy to target, test, track and analyse making it cost efficient — making it a powerful tool.
Myth #2 Anyone can do digital marketing
Let’s face it, digital marketing is no longer a new frontier. I’d describe it as competitive with complex rules of play. Professional guidance is highly recommended. Technically, you can do it yourself, but you’ll have to educate yourself. That takes time, time costs money. Use the money to pay a professional.
A digital marketing specialist, usually a firm and not a person, is required to:
Strategise campaigns o Design graphics and motion graphics o Produce, shoot and edit video o Write copy o Co-ordinate advertising, sponsorships, endorsements and influencer relations o Manage customer and community engagement And, to be frank, quite a bit more. They must meticulously, responsively and creatively curate and write copy, design visuals, develop and schedule optimised content; monitor and respond to potential trends and threats in real time; effectively book multi-format, multi-platform ads while analysing and adjusting to data as part of a wider strategy.
And if that isn’t enough, content currently includes websites, emails, advertisements, infographics, motion graphics/animation, videos, social media, blogs and more with new content formats emerging seemingly every day. Consider hiring an agency to leverage the expertise of multiple experts on your account.
The roles may include:
SEO Manager
Content Marketing Specialist
Social Media Manager
Marketing Automation Coordinator
Small and medium sized business should plan carefully their foray into digital marketing.
Myth #3 Digital marketing doesn’t require a plan
All marketing requires a plan; the scale of the plan is up to you. Put another way, strategy OVER tactics There is a lot of guidance available on how to create a marketing plan. I won’t try to recreate that here. But, at its most basic, here’s what I’d like you to do:
Define your brand and your voice
Set a few short/medium term goals within a realistic budget
Identify your customer and where they live, play, work and love
Deliver on their needs and aspirations
Listen to what they say and do and watch how competitors respond
Act accordingly
Myth #4 Likes are the best measure of success
Content may be king, but data pays the bills! The technology-based nature of digital marketing facilitates the availability of rich data and analytics. There is so much more data available than just the number of likes.
The variety of data points include followers, impressions, mentions, shares and forwards, engagement, page views and click throughs, in addition to subscriptions, downloads, registrations, lead generation, conversation rates, contacts and sales.
As you can imagine, there are even more data points which I have not included. Each platform generates their own reports.
Google Analytics is a free resource to track website traffic.
Aggregators are available to provide analysis and insights based on the data. The best options for your situation is based on your individual key performance indicators (KPI).
Myth #5 Digital marketing is free
Clearly, it isn't very scalable. Everything of value comes at cost.
Digital Marketing has value and should be properly funded. Fortunately, digital marketing does have a lower entry point than many traditional media tools. Expense items include:
SEO
PPC
Display advertising
Website design, hosting and maintenance
Content creation
Agency
Myth #6 Digital marketing is everything
It’s not everything, as mentioned before, but it is a part of a broader marketing strategy. Depending on the market and the target, KPIs can be achieved through other tools such as: radio, broadcast television, cable and satellite, print, and billboards.
Key Takeaway
I hope the central point is well made. If properly leveraged, digital marketing, as part of an overarching, can build brand equity, optimise overall marketing spend and boost profits.
