Top 5 outdated marketing opinions of CEOs
It can be a real forehead-slapping moment when your boss or CEO starts pushing an opinion about marketing that’s clearly outdated. The truth is that marketing today, particularly online marketing, involves very different techniques and it much more technical in nature.
It can be a real forehead-slapping moment when your boss or CEO starts pushing an opinion about marketing that’s clearly outdated. The truth is that marketing today, particularly online marketing, involves very different techniques and it much more technical in nature.
Here are five outdated opinions on online marketing promotion, and what you can do to counter them.
1. Social media is a waste of time
Like it or not social media is an unshakeable force in our lives today, whereby 91% of adults confess to using it on a daily basis. And yet, many bosses are still sceptical. It doesn’t help that it can be difficult to prove ROI for social media.
Unless you have compelling data, you can try countering this outdated opinion by playing down the time commitment and providing stats on usage.
2. We need to talk more about ourselves
Your company blog is a great opportunity to show you’re an expert in your field and that you care about finding solutions to your customers’ needs. But, if all you do is talk about yourself, it can serve to repel customers instead of attracting them.
If your boss insists on posting inward-looking articles, try tracking how these “puff pieces” perform in relation to articles that are useful to your customers, i.e. how many shares on social media, number of leads generated etc. They’ll quickly see that self-serving posts may not perform well.
3. More press releases
Press releases really are just another opportunity to talk up how great you are. Ok, they may have their place in informing current and potential investors of company news, but they’re of little interest to your actual customers.
If your boss loves the tradition, you could try overlaying your website traffic data with the press release date. They’ll see that press releases rarely make a difference in generating new traffic. But are still an excellent source of PR.
4. Conducting market research is a waste of time
Your boss probably thinks it’s a waste of time because he or she already knows the mind of customer. Today, the customer is in control of your brand, not the other way around. You can’t tell the customer what to think or do, not matter how you try. Market research is crucial in order to balance innovation with customer needs.
5. Content doesn’t lead to customers
Your boss is failing to see the bigger picture here, and is probably too focused on financial targets to see the long term benefits of content marketing. New content not only contributes to your organic search results (search engine optimisation or SEO), but if delivered as part of a bigger content strategy and at the right frequency, it will result in sales in the future.
Try highlighting the videos, web pages, social posts or blog articles that helped you land a sale, and identify trends.
Need help convincing your boss to invest in digital marketing?
Bosses like many other people in positions of power respond to numbers and facts. So give them what they need by presenting statistics that support your argument for digital marketing.
If you need help convincing your boss of the power of modern marketing, contact iFactory today for a free consultation.
