There’s a lot of junk information floating around out there about digital marketing.
Here to help you cut through the nonsense, we’ve put together the 5 digital marketing misconceptions we see most often:
1. Digital marketing is not relevant to small businesses
If you’re a small business owner, how much of your day is spent answering the phone? What about scheduling your appointments? If you have a message you want to reach your customers, what do you do — put up a sign at your store? Meaning that customers would need to walk past your store to know you’ve got a sale on?
With a web presence, your business can present all its details to anyone, anywhere. Your website is like your 24-hour salesperson and receptionist. Whenever someone wants to know something about your business, your website is there to present your message and take notes on booking requests for you.
Two employees in one that never stop working? That’s a good deal for any business.
2. Being on Google Maps is not particularly useful
Imagine a man is walking down the street a block from your barbershop. He needs a haircut, so he searches ‘haircut near me’ into Google Maps. He finds your store online, sees the pictures and prices, and decides to walk over one block to your store (Google provides him with a route).
You just got a customer without having to do anything but exist online. And you do such a good job, he gives you 5-stars on Google, which now everyone else will see.
That’s the beauty of digital marketing — oftentimes, you don’t need to do anything but be online and keep working well. Then the positive reviews start rolling in (and so do new customers).
3. My storefront can’t compete with the big companies’ digital marketing
There was a time, not so long ago, when you needed substantial resources to advertise across the media, whether in a newspaper, on a billboard, or on television.
But those days are over, friends. The internet has drastically reduced the cost of marketing your business. Moreover, large enterprises often struggle to effectively post on social media, or to interact with their customers online.
Your advantage is that your digital presence will be a genuine reflection of your business, and so it will feel genuine. Your posts on your Facebook Business page weren’t decided on by multiple corporate marketing people with various personal agendas. Your online presence can be a real reflection of how you do business.
Customers increasingly appreciate a kind of personal touch, which a small business is actually better equipped for than a big one.
4. Social media is not relevant to my business
It’s true that certain professions translate into particular platforms better than others (if you practice a craft with high visual impact, it will look better on Instagram than businesses that don’t, for example).
But social media is a broad category, and no business is excluded from its potential. It’s a virtual destination for everyone familiar with your business; your customers can visit and have conversations about their experiences without ever meeting face-to-face.
More importantly, you can connect with your customers, and learn more about them.
5. Bad reviews online will ruin my reputation
While it’s true that bad reviews aren’t a good thing, one unhappy customer won’t sink your business — neither will a few.
The important thing is how you respond to the bad reviews and that you cultivate positive ones.
The most important thing is to keep your customers happy, and good reviews will come.