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I’ll be honest: I have never been a big Halloween fan. 👻
I don’t like scary movies or bloody decor. And our geriatric German Shepherd is convinced the apocalypse will begin with a doorbell, so we will keep the house dark and quiet to maintain some sanity this evening.
I mean, look at this face... she is TERRIFIED of the doorbell.
However, I am a sucker for a fun theme! So, in honor of Halloween….
Top Ten Scary Marketing Tactics
- Forgetting about Mobile Users – With very few exceptions, most website traffic is now coming from mobile users. Having a poor mobile experience – or worse, no mobile experience – is a marketing killer!
- Keyword Stuffing – Long ago, people would add keywords to their website by using a textbox the same color as the site background. Bad news – Google has entered the chat, and they are not amused.
- Buying Backlinks – Quality backlinks are important and valuable, but buying backlinks from agencies is spammy. I know these backlink sales pitches sound appealing, but you aren't actually getting what you're paying for, and Google can penalize you for trying.
- AI Generated Blog Posts – I often hear people say AI can generate all their blog content. While there was a time when only Google could differentiate machine-generated content, I think most of us can spot it these days. Just say no!
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Overdoing the Pop-ups and Ads – I visited a website recently that was so full of pop-ups and ads that I couldn’t find the information I was looking for. This is an absolutely terrible user experience!
- If you must use a pop-up, consider adding a delay so it does not pop up immediately, and make sure it does not reappear when someone closes it.
- And I would avoid traditional website ads if at all possible, but if you must – make sure they are subtle and don’t overtake the user journey.
- Selling in Someone’s Comments – Engaging in someone’s post is great. However, using their post comments to brag about your product/service is tacky!
- Promising 10X revenue/leads/[insert metric here]—I see this a lot on LinkedIn (and in my DMs!), and it underscores my assumption that the offer is generic and the sender does not understand my unique business needs.
- Posting Online All Day – While this is pretty mild as scary tactics go, it is just unnecessary. With your time and resources, you can do a lot more impactful work than posting multiple times per day on social media.
- Cold DMs - Is there anything worse than a stranger sending you a generic cold email with a hard sell on a product you’ve never expressed interest in buying/using? Worse yet, a hard sell on a service you actually offer? All this tells me is that this person did absolutely no research before interrupting my day. Zero stars.
- Changing Horses Every Few Weeks – If you’re baking a cake, you can’t open the oven every 5 minutes. Similarly, if you’re changing your plan or tactics every couple of weeks, you won’t see forward movement. I get it - wearing my patient pants can feel impossible sometimes. But I promise you that constantly changing horses will not get you any closer to your goals.
If you've been tempted to engage in a few of these scary marketing tactics from time to time, I get it. The promise of a quick win can be alluring—there is no judgment here! And I invite you to let me buy you a coffee.
There is a better path forward - I can help!
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On the Blog
What Does an SEO Strategy Look Like? An Inside Look at Ours
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Before you go, I'd love your thoughts on an important topic: Halloween Candy!
| What is your Go-To Halloween Candy? |
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