Defend your customers from digital marketing gurus
The world is full of self-professed experts. But businesses should be extra careful when they meet digital marketing ‘gurus’ because they don’t know jack, says Mikko Moisander.
It’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. The disintermediation of business processes has meant that manufacture and marketing of half and fully baked ideas is now cheaper and faster than ever.
It has been argued that a certain generation feels entitled, a necessary confidence to have. Examples of excessive successes by college drop outs are a part of popular culture. Add to this often the enforced flexibility and casualization of the workforce, and it adds up to a perfect storm of entrepreneurial opportunities.
This is a good thing. The more small businesses are around, the better for everyone. But this perfect storm has produced a crop of entrepreneurs whose existence depends on helping small business owners become entrepreneurs, and who prey on those having a go with promises of digital marketing with a short rainbow and a large pot of gold.
Why should you, as a marketer, care about fools parting money? Well, these gurus used to be content with the motivation business, but they are coming for your customers now. They have evolved into one stop content producers, social media strategists and marketing advisors. SMEs are their target.
Splendid.
What you fail to outline in your article is exactly how you / your business / your industry have an offering that is more valuable than a digital marketing expert, in the field of digital marketing?
Yes you briefly pass over the words ‘strategy’ & ‘collateral’ but what do you have to offer a business wanting to learn digital marketing?
Digital marketing is a specific, teachable, measurable activity. It’s not the smoke, mirrors and fairy dust you find in a lot of traditional marketing.
There’s a reason people listen to digital marketing experts who have a large following and a successful business – because they walk the talk. All of their claims are right there – laid out to see. Their following, engagement & traffic numbers are evidence their methods work.
Add to that solo digital marketing experts usually have an investment price tag that is much more in line with start up ethos of experimentation and lean marketing, i.e. investing in small tests to identify what actually works for your company via digital marketing, and then making larger investments in proven tactics.
The old method of nose-dive-into crushing-debt and hope-to-God-this-campaign-works is no longer viable in 2016. Because that is what truly ends in “another business that will never make anything or employ anyone.”
As a business owner, I would much rather invest in someone who will teach me valuable skills for marketing in 2016, like Facebook Ads, SEO, Ad Words, social automation & more, that I can then integrate and reuse for as long as I want, instead of investing some overblown sum into an agency with a dinosaur ethos like yours, who will obscure everything they are doing to ‘market’ my business and insist it’s over my head, without imparting to me any useable skills to carry forward for the life of my business.
And as a member of the “entitled” generation as you so lovingly put it (and sheesh we are such an entitled bunch, who will struggle to own our own homes & reach a lifestyle once easily enjoyed by generations before us) I’ve busted my ass to learn marketing, design, development and more, so I can rely on myself to make my business work – not some suit in an agency, whose level of true concern for my business does not span much further beyond me helping him get closer to reaching his sales target.
The reality is if you want to compete with a digital marketing expert, you’ll need to make sure you are one yourself first. And if you want to appeal to business owners in 2016, you’ll need to not be a big old T-Rex about this stuff, k?
Gen Y Princess xo
Hi Princess,
Thanks for taking the time to give your opinion.
I believe we agree on a lot of things, essentially I wanted to express
– environment conditions creating more small business
– technology and media creating unrealistic expectations
– general rise of ‘the guru’ using and contributing to the above
– business owners lack of knowledge of digital being taken advantage of by some of the above
I wish I was an agency or a dinosaur, but I do believe that a business model or strategy should guide the media choices.
I don’t agree with you that the digital marketing is excluded from smoke, mirrors and fairy dust. There is ongoing investigation into the levels of fraud. In fact my main argument is that its so smoky and glittery, business owners who want to understand it are fodder for unscrupulous self styled experts.
I’m at the end of the Gen Y category myself. I believe that its a much broader feeling of entitlement that is shaping our society now, not just one generation. I referenced Gen Y for my example, and I think your general sentiment in your comment adds to, that the pressure for success are changing expectations, and Gen Y are the start ups of now and the business owners of tomorrow that agencies will be dealing with.
I think its great that you have learnt all those skills and thats the reason I would recommend business to smaller agencies or freelancers like yourself who can not only give realistic business and brand advice based on marketing principles, but can make ads/packaging/seo/social etc.
Hello Gen Y Princess,
From one princess to another, you are right on many points!
Yes, anytime a business owner engages with a marketing person, (whatever they call themselves digital marketer, advertisers, creatives) it’s critical to ensure that they know how to grow YOUR business!
Since businesses grow in Only 3 ways, it’s vital to get someone experienced in all 3 of them. It’s timing, message, and sequence that makes Prospect interaction lead to knowing, liking, and trusting you as a business which can then turn into Revenue. It’s about knowing where and how to get the greatest ROI for your marketing dollars. It’s about know what metrics to measure to get your desired results (just because it can be tracked does not mean it should be.) It’s about understanding the lifetime value of your customers and how the 80/20 rule applies and when.
As a Marketing Professor specializing in international business & agency owner, everyday I see business owners who’ve 2X and 3X (and more) there revenues by using a smart, well integrated marketing program. They trust my 36+ years of hand-on direct marketing experience to direct their growth and they’ve focused on doing the thing they went into business to do.
Now they have greater revenue and more free time to use as they wish.
I also see business owners who continue to be pulled in a hundred different directions because they feel they are they only ones who can do anything. They work all the time and don’t have enough results to show for it.
I’m in no way referencing you, I’m confident you choose your resources wisely. And since you have a solid digital marketing understanding you can help other business owners learn from your experiences. Additionally, you’ll be well armed to defend against the fakes out there.
As Mikko points out, not everyone is as they seem in their ads, the only way to know for sure is to talk with them.
Thanks Mikko for bringing such an important topic to daylight. We’ll be watching to see what other things you have in store for us. Follow me on twitter @djs2661
And Gen Y Princess…
Don’t call me a t-Rex. My 14-year old gets grumpy because he says I’m on Facebook and Snapchat more than him. I tried to explain it’s my job.. 😉
Thanks for sharing,
Prof Diane, MBA
IMPELS Business, LLC
Gen X Princess
To the takeout from this article; if you are an SME, beware of the Digital Marketing Consultant – they’ll rob you blind… written by an SME Marketing Consultant.
Hi BeeBop
I understand how it can be interpreted that way. It wasnt my intention to spruik my own services. I am completely happy in my current role in house at a SME and no interesting, well-paid strategic role for any brand could lure me away 😉
(I had my current employer linked in the byline to try for some authority boost to begin with but it probably looked weird)
This was an opinion driven in part by shady digital practices Ive encountered, a bit of social commentary on tech and media exaggerating consumer biases that Im interested in generally, all coming together by watching Kerwin Rae videos.
These gary v acolytes are great at building personal brands but selling that as a guaranteed strategy for company or product brands I find strange. Does it lead people to think social media is all there is to marketing these days?
Agree it’s an issue the number of digital experts out in the market with only a few months experience. In our experience clients need to be more aware on how to pick the good from the bad, most clients who have experience in digital will be able to do so, it’s the SMBs who face problems. My advice to business owners is the following 1 – ask friends for referral agencies 2 – ask to see case studies 3 – ask technical questions or hire someone to do it 4 – do reference checks on business.
Wow – I’m definitely a T-Rex – an article warning about those pretenders who don’t have the skills and experience to provide good digital advice – from someone who’s had 5 years market experience, all at the same company. With 19 years digital marketing experience across an extremely wide range of industries and multiple countries, I’m still hesitant to point out gaps in other people’s knowledge, in a marketplace that moves as fast as it does. Clearly I need a dose of that millennial confidence.
Hi Mike
I don’t know if I referenced you in the piece directly in the piece ( is that you kerwin?), but I tried to balance the links between what I saw as contributing to the unrealistic expectations to some sources pointing out the reality. I didnt want to call out anyone personally but…
I find the whole personal branding phenom pretty interesting. And I guess I was suggesting a challenger position to these brands that is a bit more grounded and less…motivational speaker?
I see a lot in my feed everyday that seem to be based live the lifestyle you want. My intuition tells me social media marketing as seen by some as the next affiliate/herbalife/cryptocurrency/infusionsoft star market.
And I know that will hurt a lot of people who genuinely do social and digital and want more small business to do it properly.
Just an opinion
I wasnt saying Digital=Jerks.
Mikko, the fact you think that Mike Zeederberg might actually be a pseudonym says it all. Both your own lack of experience in the industry, and your own lack of experience/awareness to Google someone’s name before making guesses.
I think this article touches on an important point that there are many out there that claim to do more than they actually do. Why I exist.
For @James Norquay – Good advice, but I caution people asking friends, because they are generally not qualified and only can talk about their own business needs. Funny enough on a survey I did this is the most common way people connect with suppliers. Seems crazy to me. You need to ask a credible person in marketing, probably people that work with big brands and know what they are talking about.
People tend to assume they ‘need’ digital marketing because that’s what people talk, about but it isn’t a given strategy for every business. The business of marketing is way more complex than that and often the digital strategy may be a waste of money (or just well-meaning misguided but well-intentioned advice).
I exist to watch the back of clients. If anyone wants a supplier referral I offer this for free because I can’t stand people being ripped off by the wrong solutions. Anyone welcome to contact me if you want a professional to credibly review your needs and set you up with the right suppliers.
@Anne Referrals is probably one of the biggest channels we generate new business. By asking friends I mean friends who have a background in digital marketing, you would not want to ask a friend for a referral agency who has limited knowledge of digital. That been said if you had a friend who runs a digital business and they have a positive experience over a long term with a specific agency this is also a positive sign.
Is this paid content?