The world of marketing, especially digital marketing, is sometimes equated with lying and manipulation. Unfortunately, many people see marketing as a way to make a quick buck, and these people will lie and manipulate consumers into buying their product.
In a world full of misinformation, here are a few common marketing “lies” to be aware of.
1. Marketers promising immediate results
Many marketing “gurus” will promise immediate, astounding results — as soon as you sign on the dotted line. It doesn’t matter how unlikely it is, they promise that your product or service will sell like you have never seen it before.
Marketing experts know that, 99% of the time, this is not the case. How much you benefit from your product depends on the time and effort you put into it, and the need it fills for consumers.
Marketing takes time, because there are many stages involved. Once your product is being marketed to the right audience, then you will start to see results. It is not an overnight process.
2. Broken promises
Everyone has visited a store, in person or online, having a “huge blowout sale!” with products “going out of stock.” These are one of the most common marketing lies.
Then, if the store has stock left over, they continue to sell the product at a discounted rate. Another example is the phrase “lowest price ever.”
These lies only build mistrust of your brand. Repeatedly using these practices tells customers that your company can’t be trusted and could cause them to lose respect toward your business.
A better path is to tell the truth. Tell your customers how much they can save with your product, offer a “buy-one-get-one” sale, or other offer that is actually believable for the customer.
3. Marketing “gurus”
There are many famous — or infamous — marketing professionals out there who dub themselves “marketing gurus.” Many of them offer courses or masterclasses to small business owners to learn how to best market their business. The problem lies with how these courses are then sold to customers.
In many cases, this is what happens:
- They offer an expensive service, like a video course or webinar, promote it and tell customers that it’s a limited-time offer
- Stop selling the product
- Offer a different service, say, a marketing handbook, and give the webinar or video to customers as a free bonus to anyone who buys the new one.
While it’s not an outright marketing lie, it’s a common tactic used by people who want to make money just based on their name and not the product.
When it comes to a marketing course or similar service — look for the data. Follow the data, read the data, trust the data. Those are the only real results you need.
4. Over promising, under delivering
Most digital marketers live by the phrase “Under promise, over deliver.” But, there are some people out there who seem to offer the magic key to success — whether it’s offering tips on improving a website, getting more leads, or anything else — for a price, of course.
Many people will buy this service and end up with generic ideas or advice that clearly wasn’t researched, personalized or tailored to the customer, leaving many people feel like they didn’t get their money’s worth.
How to avoid a digital marketing scam
When you’re considering hiring a digital marketing agency, there are many questions to ask them to ensure that you’re working with the right people.
- Do you get the sense that they genuinely care about the people they work with, and want to help them succeed?
- Do they assume all you want to do is make money, or do they care about your company’s mission and want to help you achieve your goals?
- Do their results seem too good to be true?
- Are they honest about their clients successes and failures?
- Will they tailor their services to fit your needs?
In many cases, your gut instinct about a marketing agency is most likely correct. If the digital marketers you talk to about their services leave you feeling confused, it’s time to move on to the next one. Look for people who you enjoy working with, and who enjoy working with you!
If you’re searching for a Detroit marketing agency, get in touch with us at PGN Agency today! We’re passionate about what we do and most importantly — we’re honest about it. We believe in full transparency with our clients no matter what.
Call us at (248) 414-6860 to talk to us about taking your business to the next level.