Marketing Myths is simply one of Jay Levinson’s best pieces. It hits the nail square on the head. I can’t even begin to count the number of times these and other similar questions have come up either in one of our How to Make Money Mediating Marketing Seminars or in 1-to-1 consultations with clients. Print this page, take notes. This one counts.

Andrew Golden

Marketing Myths
By Jay Levinson

Myth #1:
Sell the sizzle and not the steak.

Truth #1:
Sell the solution and not the sizzle. The easiest way to sell a product is to offer it as the solution to a problem. If you tend to look for the sizzle rather than the problem, you are looking in the wrong direction. Your prospects might appreciate the sizzle, but they’ll write a check for the solution. Do all in your power to identify problems that your prospects have then position your product or service as the best solution to that problem.

If you think solutions, you’ll market solutions. If you think sizzle, you’ll sell sizzle. These days, people love sizzle as much as ever. But given a choice of purchasing sizzle or a solution with their discretionary income, customers will put their money on the solution every time.

When you present your offering as a solution, you follow the path of least resistance to the sale. With little resistance, your attack succeeds.
Myth #2:
Great marketing works instantly.

Truth #2:
Great discount sales work instantly. Great limited-time offers work instantly. But great marketing is not made up of price-off sales and repeated limited-time offers alone.

Great marketing is made up of creating a desire for your offering in the minds of qualified prospects. It often is peppered with price-off sales and limited-time offers. But when a greedy marketer embarks on a program of such fast-buck schemes, he or she quickly learns that the public makes a purchase, then waits for the next sale. If you don’t have one, they don’t buy.

Myth #3:
Marketing should be changed every few years to keep it fresh and new.

Truth #3:
The longer great marketing promotes a product or service, the better. Successful marketers create marketing strategies with which they can live for five to ten years, even longer. How long do you suppose the Green Giant has been jolly? How long have people been in good hands with Allstate? Do you think these firms would have been more successful if they kept changing their marketing around to keep it fresh and new? I think not.

Myth #4:
Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.

Truth #4:
Bad publicity is bad for your business. No publicity is a lot healthier for you. People love to gossip, especially about businesses that have done something so bad that it got written up in the paper or exposed on the TV news. That’s why bad word of mouth spreads so rapidly.
Perhaps for a no-name politician seeking any kind of publicity, bad publicity is better than none – simply for the sake of name recognition. But I’m not too sure about that. I am sure, though, that bad publicity is something that gives no joy to any self-respecting marketer.

Did you know…..?

On average, a positive recommendation will made only 10 times and a negative recommendation will be made 50 times.

Myth #5:
Word-of-mouth marketing is all a great business needs.

Truth #5:
Amazingly, some otherwise well-informed business people believe this myth to be true. Here and now, I implore you to understand that it is hardly ever true.

How will the great business get people to spread the word in the first place? Marketing is the answer. How will people hear of the small business when it is new? Marketing is how. Where will the people come from – those who will make al the referrals? They will come from compelling marketing.

It is true that great marketing can attract so many people to a great business that word-of-mouth marketing is active and effective. But that takes time. It takes coddling of customer, customers who came in because of marketing. And anyhow, that customer coddling is marketing.

I have had a few clients who were able to discontinue their marketing because they reached the limits of their growth. But I have witnessed others who thought they could discontinue marketing only to find that a competitor took their customers away from them.
A good marketing attack demands that you offer so much quality and service that word-of-mouth marketing becomes one of your most devastating weapons. It should always be part of your arsenal, and you should do all in your power to encourage and promote it. But I do not recommend that you rely on it solely. The bankruptcy courts are littered with businesses that felt they could save on marketing by leaving everything to word-of-mouth marketing. Life just doesn’t work that way.

Myth #6:
Quality is the main determinant in influencing sales.

Truth #6:
Quality is second most important determinant in influencing sales. Confidence in the business is the main determinant. Nobody wants to buy the best product if it comes along with the poorest service. People aren’t interested in quality if they have to sacrifice self-esteem. Just as word-of-mouth marketing is an integral part of the marketing attack –but not the only part – quality products and services are also key elements in the attack – but not the only elements. They must be present.

Customer service must also be present. A friendly attitude must be displayed. The customer must be singled out as special. That customer should be provided with a selection, with convenience, with flexibility in paying for the purchase, with the feeling of a good value. Prospects become customers of businesses that offer credibility – in décor, attire, displays, marketing, employees, and especially in their reputation for offering value. Those items plus quality influence sales. Unfortunately, quality alone won’t do the job.
Myth #7:
Repetition of a marketing message is boring.

Truth #7:
It may be boring to you, but it won’t be boring to your prospects and customers. Repetition implants your benefits in the unconscious minds of your prospects, and reaffirms those benefits in the conscious minds of your customers. Repetition does not bore these wonderful people.

Quoted from: Guerrilla Marketing Attack, Jay Levinson; (1989), Houghton Mifflin Co.