Marketing Myths & Misconceptions
As marketers, we spend a fair amount of time explaining our job to other departments. What is crystal clear to those of us who chose this profession can seem ambiguous to others.
This phenomenon isn’t universal. Everyone knows that the Purchasing Department buys things and the Accounting Department counts things. The examples are overly simplified, but ask leaders from those departments the role of marketing, and you won’t always get a clear answer.
mar·ket·ing
noun
the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. |
The Marketing Explanation
Marketing encompasses a broad sphere of ideas and tactics that extends beyond advertisements, flyers, and events; it is a strategic plan that supports company-wide growth. If you don’t invest in marketing strategy, you may be saving money and time, but you’ll also lose opportunities to build your brand and audience, not to mention much-needed revenue. The days of ‘If we build it, they will come” are long gone. Although, we’re unsure if they ever truly were a thing.
However great your product or services may be, marketing is critical to helping your business stand out above the rest. With all the extensive competition out there, specifically in the building industry, marketing is essential to letting prospective customers and team members know your business exists, along with why a potential customer should consider purchasing your product over any other.
With that clear understanding of the role of marketing and why every growing business needs a strategic marketing strategy, we want to share our favorite marketing misunderstandings.
Our Top #10 List
Marketing Myths & Misconceptions
#1 Marketing = Easy. Anyone Can Do It
Marketing can take a lot of time and dedication if you want to see real results. Simply putting out an ad and posting updates on social media isn’t enough. In marketing, quality is more important than quantity. A thoughtful and comprehensive marketing plan assists in reaching business goals, not just likes on Instagram.
#2 Marketing = Waste of $
Marketing is only a waste of money if not done effectively. A marketing plan and budget needs to be created to control spending and tactics need to be monitored to measure success. Once you have the data to confidently know what is working and how it is impacting the overall business, you can dedicate more of your budget to the marketing methods that pay off and reduce your spending on the rest.
#3 Good Marketing = Instant Results
Digital marketing may be more likely to produce instant clicks and views. However, an effective marketing plan takes time to pay off. A good rule of thumb is that it takes 3-months of consistent outreach and messaging to attain any meaningful results.
#4 Glitter + Parties = Marketing
Every marketer has heard something like this, but we all know the work that goes into developing a data-driven marketing strategy. Our goal is to help marketing leaders enhance their strategies and develop reporting tools to share easily. Although, if marketing indeed were a constant party, its purpose probably wouldn’t take any convincing!
#5 Logo + Fonts + Colors = Branding
Branding is more than just a logo. Branding is about the strategy behind your visual identity that ensures it truly represents who you are. It’s the why, what, and how of your business. Your story is just as important as the look of your brand.
#6 Marketing = Lead Creation
In-house marketing teams handle a lot, and it takes time and effort to cultivate a consistent and compelling brand. While fundamentally, it's true that marketing generates leads, there is so much more involved in bringing in sales-qualified leads. A comprehensive lead generation strategy comes from consistent efforts and alignment between sales, marketing, product development, and operations.
Of course, if you merely want a high lead volume, see number 7.
#7 More Paid Advertising = More Traffic
True. Paid ads may help attract traffic. However, simply creating an ad won’t necessarily reach the intended audience. For paid ads to have the desired impact there is a strategic approach to how the ad is placed, what you show the target audience, and how you follow up.
We wish it were as simple as a large budget and running ads, but if you want to have quality traffic, you have to build a well-rounded strategy beyond the first advertisement you see.
Is it cheesy to say if you build it (aka the strategy and content they will come?
#8 More Leads = More Sales
Business owners can have the misconception that more leads equal more sales, but that is not typically the case. In fact, more leads can sometimes hurt sales if they are bombarded with the wrong type of traffic. By partnering with sales leaders, successful marketing teams often drive fewer visitors but work tirelessly to ensure they are educated and a good fit before handing the prospect over to the sales team.
We encourage you not to be hung up on the excitement of big numbers and to focus on the results that matter.
#9 Big Company = Big Budgets
It’s a myth to think that national and large regional companies have unlimited resources. Especially in homebuilding. Often, larger organizations will have more aggressive goals and fewer marketing dollars due to the margin demands made by their boards.
We work with companies of all sizes to help maximize the marketing and advertising budget and drive meaningful results.
#10 Outsourcing Work = Saves Time
Outsourcing work can seem like a great way to save time when you don’t have enough internal resources for your marketing team. Truthfully, this is a misconception we count on as an agency. With decades of in-house experience, we have learned that if your agency partner doesn’t understand the nuances of your industry, managing them can feel like a full-time job.
Our team specializes in recreating the impact of an in-house team. Our onboarding process is comprehensive and can feel overwhelming, but with that, we can actually save time while developing content that drives results.
The Breakthrough
Marketing can be confusing because of the misconceptions and the broad range of tactics deployed, but a results-drive strategy should provide clear results. When business decisions are based on preconceived ideas of marketing, it limits opportunities for growth. Many in-house sales and marketing leaders already know this, but don’t have the support required to take things to the next level.
With that, we invite you to trust DO&Be to support (and when needed help develop) your growth goals. With decades of experience working in-house as marketing leaders and strategic growth consultants, we have a unique perspective that enables us to become the marketing partner you didn’t know you needed, but are pleased to have found.