The Four Biggest Marketing Myths Holding Back Your Business

Everybody has a “rule” about marketing, and most of them sound right until you try to build a real business with them. We sit down and call out four popular marketing myths that quietly waste your time: the idea that you must be on every social media platform, that good marketing should produce immediate results, that more followers automatically means more sales, and that a good product will sell itself. 

We talk through what actually works for small business marketing in a crowded, competitive world: picking one or two platforms where your target audience truly spends time, showing up consistently enough to build momentum, and remembering that marketing is a long-term visibility play, not a two-week sales switch. We also dig into the “going viral” fantasy and why it can bring followers who do not care, do not convert, and do not stick around, while a smaller, more personal audience often drives better client results. 

Finally, we get practical about sales proof and trust. If people do not understand what your product or service does, they cannot buy it, no matter how great it is. From before-and-after photos to clear outcomes and credibility, we share why showing results matters more than just posting. If you want a sharper marketing strategy, smarter content priorities, and a reality check on growth, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a business owner friend, and leave a review with the next myth you want us to debunk.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hey guys, welcome back to your favorite podcast. This week it is me and Alexis here. Shelby is out of town, so we are taking over for the podcast. Today we kind of wanted to deep dive into some typical marketing myths, things that people hear and they believe and they don't really understand. We kind of wanted

Welcome And Myth-Busting Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:36

to go more into all of those different things and debunk all the myths that people are believing. Let's start with myth number one. I'm going to ask Alexis and she's going to deep dive into what she thinks. So the first one is you need to be on every social media platform in order to grow your business. False.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah. So I'll say it's false because it your audience isn't on

Myth One: Every Platform Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:58

every single social media. So I say take one to two, you know, social medias like target your audience. Like LinkedIn, you know, be for more, you know, older, you know, not older, but like more mature professionals. Yes. That kind of clientele. And then Instagram's gonna be for the younger,

Myth Two: Results Should Be Instant

SPEAKER_01 1:18

TikTok also for the younger, Facebook kind of in the middle. So I'd say like, don't it's not gonna be every single social media, and that's okay too. Yeah, so yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Because also if you're trying to do every single social media, then like all your platforms are gonna be mediocre instead of like your two-focused platforms are gonna be good and really what you need.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Exactly. All right, so myth number two if your marketing is working, you should see results immediately.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

That is a common one that people always think they hire marketing and they're right, right? So we're gonna get sales ASIP. Yep. Answer is false. That is not true. Marketing is a long-term investment, it is not sales, and it's gonna take longer to build that platform. Like if you want to market your business for two weeks on Instagram and accuse your marketer of not giving you any sales, okay, well, you didn't give her time to build to build up that momentum. Marketing is more about like having that visibility online. So, yeah, maybe your Instagram isn't selling you, but when people hear about you or they see your ad or they hear somebody talk about you in a networking event, all those things, they're going online to check your visibility. See who you are, see what you do. So, Instagram is that like backup, it is showing them the proof of the results of what you do and who you are. So, no, your marketing is not gonna work immediately, it is going to work long term, and it might be working when you're not even seeing it. You might not see the results, but the results are there and they are backing you up the whole time. So true. Yep. All right, myth number three: more followers equals more sales, or going viral is gonna get you more clients.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

I would say that's false because when you have that many, if you're wanting to go viral and it's like hundreds of thousands of you

Myth Three: Viral Means Sales

SPEAKER_01 3:11

know, followers, they're not all for you. Like they're not gonna be all for what you're marketing, and they're not gonna be your ideal clients. And so that's what having like the smaller following count is sometimes better because you can kind of give more to those clients rather than trying to like spread yourself, you know, out to everyone. Exactly, yeah. And so many people want it more personal, and so when they see you have that many, you know, followers on there, it's kind of like, huh, you know, how did they get those followers? Or is it is she marketing to the right people?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yeah, going viral will get you so many followers like that. I went viral one time, had a video and get like three million views, and I got like 2,000 followers out of it, but these followers don't care. Exactly. They just hit follow without even looking at my page. They don't care what I do, they don't care what I'm posting. And then when they do see me posting again, guess what? They're unfollowing. Exactly. So yeah, it's definitely more important to build that personal audience. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yep, especially in the long run, too. I feel like it is a quick, you know, a quick like satisfaction. Yeah, but then like you said, like they're not there for the long time. And then those ideal clients, like they are there for the long run.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Myth number four, good products sell themselves.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Well, I'd like to say that's true.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Answer is false.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah, good products do not sell themselves. If people don't know what your product is or what it does, they're not gonna be able to buy it. Yep. Um, um nowadays

Myth Four: Products Sell Themselves

SPEAKER_00 4:42

marketing is more important than it ever was. Yeah, um, there's so many overly concentrated markets, there's so many different dupes for different products and different services, and the competition is higher than ever. So, your good product, while it's great, it's not gonna sell itself without some sort of marketing work and sales work, those two go hand in hand, but they are different. So, yeah, really making sure that your product is online or your service is online and you're really showing people and proving to people that it works or that your service works is really what's going to sell it. Like, for example, your business and esthetician, like you post before and after pictures, and that is proving to every single one of your clients that follows that your product and your service is working. It's not just you showing a product and being like, I'll buy this. You're proving to people that your product works and that is what is selling them. So true. All right, well, that is our four big marketing myths for today. If you have any other marketing myths or questions that you would like us to debunk and talk about, go ahead and leave a comment, a review, or send us an email. Um, catch us next week on the next episode. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you. Bye. Bye.