When you’re trying to establish yourself or your business in the competitive marketing industry, one of the best ways to figure out the ins and outs is to look at just what advice is objectively terrible. Once you know what to avoid or fear, you’ll know the true direction to take your business. Which is why a recent thread on r/entrepreneur caught my eye. The post, which calls the entrepreneurs of Reddit to drop in with the worst marketing advice they’ve ever received, offers more insight into the industry than a dozen positive marketing articles could. And it’s entertaining, to boot. Here’s a look at the worst of the worst.

Email Marketing Is Dead

From the original poster:

Put 80 Percent of the Budget Into Radio

Radio is a fine medium, but might not be your first choice, as one commenter explained: ‘Email marketing is dead, it’s all about social media.’ Being in the info product/online course market for the past 8+ years I can tell you that email marketing is FAR from dead and actually outperforms our social media campaigns. I’m sure it depends on the industry, but don’t shy away from email marketing just yet.”

Don’t Market

You can’t get more blunt than this for terrible marketing advice: […] This definitely would not have been my 1st option, however, I own a franchise and with that comes certain turnkey things. I was not required to take their advice, but the external and internal firms agreed on the recommendation so that’s the direction we went.” Yeah, that commenter’s derisive laugh is all the explanation this example needs.

Focus on the Product

Sounds like good advice, right? Not so fast. In other words, the features aren’t as important as the benefits that they’ll provide to the users who are willing to pay. Whilst it is important, it’s much more effective to focus on the customer. Then, you’ll know whether or not the product fits. So you’ll be able to sell it better.”

Lowball It

This tidbit is just as useful for a freelance worker in any field: When you’re setting your own prices, don’t assume less is more. Another commenter followed up to clarify, agree, and add a little humblebrag: There you have it. Now you just need to triangulate the correct marketing moves based on the complex formula of “do the opposite of the above advice.” Good luck. Read more about the right marketing moves on TechCo