Is the marketing funnel dead? Answering your assumptions about marketing

Is the marketing funnel dead? Is SEO dead?

Is marketing just convincing people to buy things?

If you follow me on social media, you know that in December I asked my Instagram followers to send in assumptions about marketing.

And the responses were fantastic!

We make dozens of assumptions every single day. And although sometimes we may be right, we also get a lot of things wrong.

Assumptions are our versions of a concept or story, and we sometimes need an alternative perspective.

In this blog, I’ll be sharing my response to some of the assumptions people have on marketing and hopefully bring some clarity surrounding some interesting marketing topics.

As always, if you’d prefer to watch or listen to me, feel free to hit play and pause as needed ⬇️

ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT MARKETING – Answering your assumptions: What is marketing and what is it not?

Assumptions

Let’s answer some of the top assumptions people have about marketing.

1. Your customers want to hear about you all the time

Absolutely not.

We can only wish they do but their time is precious. Everyone is busy and people’s time is gold.

As brands our goal should be never to interrupt but be there when and where our customers need us – whether that’s with education, inspiration or execution.

Think of it this way – you are a customer yourself – do you want to hear about brands all the time? ??‍♀️??‍♀️??‍♀️

2. You already know what your customers think

This is probably one of the worst assumptions that can be made because it sabotages success.

Because how can you know exactly what someone else is thinking?

You just can’t.

Instead, collect actual insight on your customers by doing customer research.

Do market research or even better, go talk to them – What are their issues? What are their objections about your brand?

3. You need to be present on all social media channels ?

The social media channels that matter are the ones that your customers spend time on.

If your audience would never go on TikTok or make buying decisions about your product on IG, there’s no good reason to waste time and energy there.

Conduct research on your audience and evaluate which channels and types of content aligns with your goals

More precisely, ask yourself these questions:

• Where is my audience?
• Where is my audience active?
• Where is my audience searching?
• What niche social media sites are right for me?

4. Engagement on social media handles are not necessarily needed just post your content daily and people will follow you ?

I wish this one were true because of how much easier it would make life for marketers but unfortunately, no.

Being consistent on social media is hard for brands but engagement is harder.

Most platforms and algorithms pay a lot of attention to engagement, and that’s how they suggest your content to wider audiences or increase the visibility of it.

So instead of just creating content and putting it out for consistency, try to engage with your audience more.

5. Marketing is convincing someone to buy something that they actually don’t need ?

As my daughter says: no, no, no, noooo.??‍♀️

The best product is one that meets the needs of the market.

Have you heard of product-market fit? It is how well a product satisfies the needs of the market.

This is the first step to get right before doing marketing at all.

If there’s no market for your product, marketing is deemed to be unsuccessful too.

6. Marketing is the use of manipulative tactics to get people to buy or do something

This simplifies marketing so much, and I hope no one really thinks that that’s all to marketing. ? ?

Marketing is selling in a creative way, and it requires you to understand your buyer and speak their language, all of which requires a lot of research, trial and error.

7. Marketing is just graphic design and making things look flashy✏️

Like the previous question, this simplifies what marketing really is.

Yes, we may decide to use visual elements in our marketing if it helps support our message and aligns with our brand (on appropriate platforms), but it doesn’t always have to be flashy.

Think of webinars, blog posts, or email marketing, those aren’t typically flashy.

8. Extroverts ??‍♀️ can be more successful in their marketing career

While there are areas where extroverts can shine, there are also many areas where introverts can succeed and sparkle.

Marketing is for everyone; you don’t necessarily have to be extroverted, regularly network, or be the chattiest person in the room.

I can definitely see someone who is more introverted thriving in areas like marketing analytics, copywriting, SEO, graphic design, and a lot of other fields.

9. Marketing requires some travel or can open doors for international travel ✈️

Yes, and no.

It depends on the company and role.

If you’re a marketing director for a multinational company for example, you might have to attend meetings with third party stakeholders or visit other headquarters abroad.

And if you work as a freelancer in marketing, you could choose to travel and live as a digital nomad.

But most marketing jobs with agencies or companies don’t require any traveling at all.

10. The Marketing Funnel is dead ??

Not dead, but it keeps evolving.

A marketing funnel describes your customer’s journey with you, and over the years, this inbound methodology has gone through some revisions and change.

What exactly happened to the marketing funnel?

In 2018, Hubspot (one of the thought leaders of marketing) announced that they were retiring the funnel and adopting the new flywheel model.

The fundamentals remain the same but a few things have changed and continue to do so.

In the past marketers thought that the funnel ended at sales, but buyers are changing, and these changes are reflected in the new flywheel model.

Now it is a continuous cycle because we want customers to keep coming back and be delighted with our product and brand.

11. SEO is dead ?

Nope, SEO is not going anywhere.

Just like the marketing funnel, and other aspects of marketing, it is constantly changing and evolving.

Some old SEO tactics might be dead, but SEO in general.

No way. Not yet.

12. Psychology plays a vital role in crafting marketing campaigns ?

Yes, and I love that it does.

This is something I would’ve loved to study as a Phd degree and have considered doing so.

Marketers need to understand the psychology of their buyers.

Ex. Why do they buy or not buy? When do they buy? How are they influenced?

If you know the answers to these as a marketer, you can craft better marketing campaigns.

In fact, if you’re interested in learning more about consumer behavior and consumer psychology, I highly recommend you read Buyology by Martin Lindstrom.

13. You must have STELLAR short term results every time you do something. If you don’t, you’re a failure ?

Not necessarily – but working on and accomplishing short term wins is going to help you big time.

It will prove that you know what you’re doing and that you are delivering on your promise.

Conclusion

Marketing is a field that is constantly evolving and changing.

If you’re interested in a career in marketing, understanding what marketing is and isn’t, is a great starting point.

The next step can be building your skills through courses and certificates, and learning about the different career paths that you can take within marketing.

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