11 lies that PR and marketing agencies put forth

If a communications firm tries to secure you as a client with one of these half-truths—or outright falsehoods—run the other way. Here’s the truth behind many common misconceptions.

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Selling to a skeptical buyer is hard, but selling to a skeptical buyer who has been burned by deceptive marketing and PR companies is even harder.

The internet has made it easier to deceive buyers about expected results from marketing and PR campaigns.

No matter what a salesperson tells you, there is no guarantee of overnight success. Effective marketing and PR merely help you achieve business and sales goals. Credible marketing and PR pros will set the right client expectations from the outset and will follow through with hard work and a clear strategy over time.

Here are 11 common lies and half-truths that circulate in the marketing and PR realm:

1. We’ll guarantee to get you on the first page of Google. This is a ridiculous claim we hear routinely from marketers. Nobody can guarantee top placement on Google, because that’s in the hands of the search engine itself. Google has dealt with this claim in no uncertain terms: Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. “There are no priority submits for Google,” it states.

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