Archive for July, 2009

I just read Peter Shankman and Sarah Evan’s new post, “Is your social media expert really an expert?”.   Like most things Shankman – I loved it and you should read it too.  While I registered my comments on # 4 (about traditional marketing firms), overall the post is dead on and it made me feel empowered to speak out against all the “marketing experts” that clutter up the field for us true marketers. So here’s my top ten list on how to spot a FAKE MARKETER from all the graphic designers, web developers and yes, dare I say it, social media experts who fancy themselves marketing gurus!

1. If your agency doesn’t ask hard questions – it’s a sure sign they don’t understand marketing. This is usually the case with graphic design firms or web designers who are only focused on what the end result looks like, not whether it will achieve it’s goals.  A true marketing firm will want to know everything about the project, the audience, the objectives, the planned response and will even play devils advocate.

2. On this note, your agency should not only be executing your ideas, but they should be bringing plenty of ideas to the table as well.  A true marketer is constantly thinking of ways to expand your market share, continue a dialogue with your clients and just genuinely make your job easier.

3. Your “Marketing  Strategy” should not just consist of lists of communications materials that you need to develop. Many agencies hang their hat on good creative when in fact good creative is the price of admission. The value that an agency brings to the table is not how good they can make a website look – but instead, how they are going to bring people to that website. Not how kool your Twitter background is, but how you can use Twitter to increase relevant traffic to your site, your store or your service venues.

4. Bigger does not always mean better when it comes to marketing. In other words, you don’t always need the most expensive ad placement, the website with the most bells and whistles or the $5000 stock photo in order to reach your goals. Sometimes, the most effective strategies we recommend, are the cheapest and easiest to execute but only a real marketing company will be brave enough to share them with you.

5. ROI is a real thing but it’s not the only thing. This is a tricky one. Some agencies make their living off of slicing and dicing ROI numbers but at the end of the day, cannot tell you cost per lead vs cost per latte. While others will fleece you for thousands of creative dollars with not a single lead to show for it. Use common sense on this one. If you have an agency swinging the pendulum in either one of these directions, they probably don’t get that marketing should have some measurable returns.

6. Is your agency “full-service”? I personally love a company called “such and such” web design or “somebody’s name” design firm that claims to be a full service marketing firm. There is a difference between an agency and a design shop.  Look for their list of services then ask them to show you examples of it.

7. Is their portfolio a collection of  ”award-winning” designs with no explanation on why or how or who? For true marketing firms, there is a real story behind every piece and it’s not focused on the color palette or the photography. It’s focused on the who, the what, the why. Constantly check yourself as you review portfolios – it’s easy to be enamored by pretty pictures, just make sure there is a reason for them.

8. Does your agency make your life easier? Good agencies come to the table with copy, photo recommendations, agendas, outlines, status reports, spreadsheets – whatever it takes to make your life easier and keep the project moving.

9. No Account Management. While your creative team is important and they make your brand come to life, designers, developers and the like can only do a great job with great direction.  Your main contact should understand your brand inside and out, have strong and diplomatic leadership skills and be prepared to guide you and the company’s management team to make good decisions for your brand and your business.

10. Bad Marketing of their own company. This is a dead giveaway. Do they have a hard to navigate website circa 1980? As Peter Shankman pointed out – can you even find them on the web? Do they blog about the same old marketing 101 junk that you can find everywhere without an original thought or comment on current events? Do you want your company to look like that? Enough said.

I hope this wasn’t too objectionable. It’s been stirring for a while and perhaps is the reason it took me so long to start blogging about marketing – I really have not wanted to join the ranks of the millions of “Marketing Experts” that clutter up the airways.  So thanks to Peter Shankman for opening the floodgates for experts everywhere to reclaim their space!

During some recent wanderings on Twitter looking for some interesting names to follow, I happened across the Home Depot Twitter Account. This seemed like a fabulous resource for a myriad of coupon codes, special offers, advice, tips and so on but what I saw instead was a one-sided conversation the Home Depot representative was having with a plethora of complaint Tweets. Most of the feed goes something like this:

@AlexDeGruven Saw your tweet about the flooring, sorry about that, can I help

@cymbalmom1 Saw your Tweet, Sorry we let you down and thnx for your feedback. Let me know if I can help in the future.about 4 hours ago from web in reply to cymbalmom1

@BoerneSearch Sorry to hear that. I’ve asked someone to contact the manufacturer, in the meantime can you DM me your contact info?

@tvjamesGlad to have you back Hey, If we ever mess up please reach out before you walk away though

Now, I am no Chris Brogan or Peter Shankman but it appears to even a novice social networker that this doesn’t seem like a very valuable use of the only corporate Home Depot Twitter account available. First, it occurs to me that public responses to DMs give you only one half of the picture. Plus, it leads one to believe that Home Depot is basically full of unsatisfied customers (whether or not this is true is irrelevant). Rather than use the feed to provide project ideas, special in-store discounts, product announcements, or just plain damage control, they have what amounts to a public customer service line.

I would think that large organizations such as Home Depot already have a strong social networking strategy in place but that appears to be an erroneous assumption. So the best we can learn from this is basically “how not to do it”.

I am reading an interesting book which is about technology and machinery in general but actually has a relevance when it comes to marketing and specifically the development of web applications and web sites.

The book is called: “Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology” by a brilliant guy named Eric Brende. After spending much of his life living in the “plugged in” world, Eric then spent years theorizing and developing his position on the impact of technology on our culture. The book is about his journey into the unplugged world – literally living for a lengthy period of time – completely and utterly “off the grid”. While there are myriad lessons in barnraising and community gardening, the interesting part is that his position is not to get rid of technology all together, but simply to develop smarter – building to complement human capabilities, not replace or replicate them en masse.

My own take away is that there is a difference between building, say a can opener and an automatic can opener. A can opener is a useful thing. Runs on human power but really makes it much easier than banging at a can with a hammer and nail. The automated version, now runs on the power grid, reduces my need to do anything physical (which cumulatively will have an affect on me at some point) and is wholely unnecessary because it doesn’t save any time at all, just a little exertion, which is theoretically good for me.

Interesting position but what does it have to do with the Internet? Everything.

I build websites for a living. Well, my team does. Been doing it since the early nineties when most everyone discovered they needed a web presence. During that time, I’ve seen lots of agencies go above and beyond to develop the next biggest idea in Web delivery. Some of that was akin to the can opener – really improving things at a reasonable trade off. Much of it, however, falls into the automatic can opener category for me. Extra junk that clutters up the counter and doesn’t improve the final outcome.

I could literally write a book about all of the ways I have seen this happen but the most frustrating part is that companies buy into it. They want that automated can opener. They want to know that website is plugged in, they want to hear the tell-tale hum of automation and they want their friends to see the latest gadget proudly displayed on their counter. I want to scream to them and say – WHY? How many phone calls did you get today from customers because of that automated thing-a-ma-bob? How many people did you lose because their quaint little computers didn’t have the fortitude to handle your big and colorful home page fireworks display?

But Eric Brende gives me hope that some day, we’ll realize that less is more. The Internet already seems to be weeding out the junk and it seems that much of the current thought leadership is returning to the simpler, more focused user interface. We’ll continue to move our clients in that direction and we’ll be here when the bells and whistles are all quieted down.