Bad Online Marketing Tactics That Should Be Avoided At All Costs

If you are working in marketing and are looking to add some new tactics to your repertoire, it is important to only adopt those tactics that are going to result in good publicity for your company and generate sales. There are a number of bad online marketing tactics out there that may seem great on the surface but, underneath, are highly detrimental to your brand.

Deceptive Emails

As anyone in online marketing can tell you, good copywriting in an email should emphasize the benefits of the product or service you are trying to sell – not lie to your potential customers. When you use deceptive email subject lines (such as ‘URGENT’ or ‘Regarding your payment’) you are really putting potential customers offside right from the beginning, making them even less likely to buy from you.

No Support

When an online marketer sends out an email to customers or mailing lists, they need to ensure that all phone numbers and email addresses listed are live and in use. There is nothing that customers hate more than a business that is amazingly hard to get a hold of when they have a question or an issue with the product or service that they have been supplied.

Nonexistent Refunds

Every reputable business should offer a refund or exchange program, and it is the role of the online marketer to ensure that this information is accessible by customers and clients. You should also ensure that the information provided in these policies is correct and always honour them.

Overpromising

Again, anyone who works in the online marketing industry will be able to tell you that under-promising is always going to get you further than promising your customers the world. There is no way to guarantee that the book you are marketing is going to help make every single person who reads it a millionaire, just as there is no way to guarantee that a miracle drug will cure every single person who has cancer.

Spamming

This is one of the biggest no-no’s in the online marketing industry. Do not repeatedly bombard your emailing lists with newsletters and advertising material, especially if it doesn’t relate to them as a target market at all. You should also avoid sending email to people who have not asked for it, as this can severely damage your reputation as a reputable business.

By steering clear of these bad online marketing tactics, you can help to ensure that your business (and your career) is left with a clean and positive reputation for many years to come. You will also likely see an improvement in your sales and in the visibility of your brand.