Most marketing advice sounds reasonable until you act on it. We covered quite a few of these “tips” in part 1 of our blog that make us shake our heads.

A lot of what gets passed off as best practice is conventional wisdom recycled by people who’ve never had to defend their results. Following their advice is basically repeating their mistakes. And it’ll cost you time, money, and momentum.

Before you take the next tip at face value, ask yourself: does this address a real problem, or does it just make you feel productive?

Without further ado, here’s part 2 of bad marketing tips we see businesses follow:

Here are the BAD tips we see founders follow most often…

“Tip” #4: You need to be on every platform.

Every platform requires a different content style, cadence, and level of consistency to perform well. When businesses try to show up everywhere, they rarely show up well anywhere. Instead of building momentum, they spread their resources thin and lose the ability to learn what’s actually working. Strong marketing is about focus and repetition, not presence for the sake of visibility.

Mini Case Study:

A B2B services company was active on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and starting a podcast. Their pipeline? Inconsistent.

We cut 3 channels and focused entirely on LinkedIn with direct outreach to their ICP.

The result? More conversations, stronger pipeline, less internal chaos.

“Tip” #5: Let’s run ads to test it.

Paid media accelerates whatever already exists. If your positioning is unclear, your offer is weak, or your messaging doesn’t resonate, ads will simply help you fail faster and more expensively. Testing is important, but testing without a strong foundation leads to misleading conclusions and wasted spend.

Mini Case Study:

A SaaS company was spending heavily on paid ads with low conversion rates. Their instinct was to “optimize the ads.”

Instead, we looked at landing page and offer. Their problem? Unclear value proposition and no urgency. We refined their messaging and restructured the landing page.

The result? Same ad spend, significantly higher conversion.

“Tip” #6: We need a rebrand.

A rebrand is often treated as a cosmetic fix when the real issue is strategic. If your positioning is unclear or your messaging doesn’t differentiate, changing colors or logos won’t change how your market perceives you. Effective branding is an expression of strategy, not a substitute for it.

Mini Case Study:

A healthcare company wanted a full visual rebrand because it “felt outdated.”

When we rolled up our sleeves, we realized the real issue was that their messaging didn’t differentiate them from competitors. We clarified their positioning first, then updated the brand to reflect it.

The result? Stronger sales conversations. Faster trust.

“Tip” #7: Let’s focus on brand awareness.

Beware – bad marketers will recommend this when they don’t know what to measure. “Brand awareness” sounds important, but without clear definition, it becomes a catch-all for activity without accountability. Awareness should be intentional and tied to specific audiences, messages, and outcomes. If it doesn’t lead to engagement, consideration, or conversion, it’s not contributing to growth.

Mini Case Study:

A nonprofit invested heavily in awareness campaigns but struggled with donor conversion.

We mapped their funnel and realized there was no clear bridge between awareness and action. So we introduced targeted messaging and clear next steps tied to specific campaigns.

The result? Improved donor conversion without increasing spend.

“Tip” #8: We need more leads.

The dreaded ask of every sales team around the world. When businesses ask for more leads, they’re often reacting to revenue pressure. But lead volume alone doesn’t drive growth. If conversion rates are low, messaging is unclear, or the sales process is inconsistent, increasing lead volume only magnifies inefficiencies. Growth comes from improving the entire system, not just the top of the funnel.

Mini Case Study:

A professional services firm complained about low lead volume. But when we looked deeper, we saw that their close rate was low, messaging didn’t differentiate and sales conversions were inconsistent.

We focused on positioning and sales enablement first.

The result? Higher close rates and increased revenue without a significant increase in leads.

“Tip” #9: Your website needs to look better.

Oh dear reader, aesthetics will never drive performance. Design matters, but clarity matters more. A visually appealing website that doesn’t clearly communicate value, address objections, or guide the user to take action will underperform every time. High-performing websites are built around messaging, structure, and conversion strategy, not just visual appeal.

Mini Case Study:

An e-commerce brand redesigned its site visually but saw no lift in sales.

We rewrote the homepage to clarify the value proposition, address objections, and improve flow.

The result? Conversion increased without major design changes.

Extra tip: In e-commerce, beware of making changes to form or function that are counter to your shopper’s subconscious expectations. Always use a UX/UI expert.

“Tip” #10: Let’s build a funnel.

A founder had a complex funnel with multiple steps, emails, and offers. As you might guess, drop off was high.

We simplified the journey down to:

• Clear entry point
• One core offer
• Fewer steps
  
  

The result? Higher completion rate and faster sales cycle.

Good marketing can be simple, but it does require someone willing to ask the harder questions before jumping to the next tactic.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The scattered channels, the ads that aren’t converting, the rebrand that didn’t move the needle; you’ve tried it all. The fix is usually simpler than you think.

Ready to stop spinning your wheels?

Let’s build a strategy that actually grows your business. Contact us today.