Four Myths of Marketing

Four Myths of Marketing
By George Koritsa

Myth 1 - People Always Buy Where They Get the Cheapest Price:

Just look at how popular expensive German cars are. If this was true we all be driving the cheapest cars available and only businesses that charge cheap prices would exist.

This fixation on price is more of an issue for sellers than for buyers. The fact is most people are more interested in getting good value for their hard-earned money than in getting the best bargain.

Those who refuse to invest in improving their sales and marketing skills will be forced to sell on price.

Tip: Find ways to enhance the perceived value of your product or service and work out how to sell properly. Then test raising your price. Don't be surprised if both your sales and your profits increase.

Myth 2 - Offering Your Customers Many Options Will Boost Your Sale:

The old sales adage “Too Many Choices Confuses the Customer” remains true. Presenting your customers with lots of options usually reduces sales.

When confronted with several options, most customers have difficulty making a decision. They often react by procrastinating - and never make a decision. When this happens, you lose a sale you already had.

Tip: Limit your customer's decision making to either "Yes. I'll buy." or "No. I won't buy". Don't risk losing them by including "which one" decisions. At most give them an “either – or” option.

Myth 3 - Everybody Needs My Product/Service:

That's what YOU think. Far fewer people need your product than you think and many that do have done their research and know the alternatives. The danger of this myth is that it causes many marketers to believe they can succeed without doing as much marketing as they need to. They think their product or service is so special that it should automatically generate hordes of paying customers. Very rarely does it happen this way. When you get to the point that it does, the market is already starting to mature and there are probably many competitors.

Building a successful business is hard work; most of it devoted to finding customers and making sales. Even if most people can use your product or service, you still need a marketing strategy to reach them and a convincing sales strategy to close sales.

Tip: Look for narrowly defined niche markets where your product or service solves is a unique solution for your customers needs. Focus your marketing on them instead of trying to reach a broadly defined general market. You'll generate more sales and enjoy a better return on your advertising investment.

Myth 4 - Keep Changing Your Advertising or Your Sales Will Decline:

This sounds logical but it's not true. Never abandon advertising that's working. Many businesses that have been using the same advertising for years are still growing. Here's why...

The goal of most advertising is to attract new customers. Once someone becomes a customer, they generally won't respond to that specific advertising again. You should use different (and usually cheaper) strategies to generate additional sales from them.

There's still a large population of non-customers who didn't respond to your regular advertising. Most have not seen it yet ...and those who have usually need to see it numerous times before they will respond.

Don't abandon advertising that's working - but keep working on improvements. Test and Measure your modifications to see how they are working for you.
Tip: You can automatically keep your advertising up to date by allocating 80 percent of your budget to proven promotions and 20 percent to testing new things. When something new works better than your proven promotions, move it to the 80 percent group and start testing something else in the 20 percent category.

Don't believe these 4 marketing myths. They're not true. Marketing based on them will cause you to lose sales. Apply the related marketing tips included after each myth to boost your sales.