Marketing is hard, and it’s only getting harder. I know that flies in the face of a lot of the messaging around branding, advertising and corporate communications. We’re told by Facebook and LinkedIn and Google that it’s SOOOO EASY to set up effective digital marketing campaigns.
Anyone who has ever done it will probably know that just ain’t so.
Marketing for your business has become increasingly complex. It seems that we are now expecting all businesses to be experts at social media content, digital advertising, traditional advertising and website development. We also expect them to nail their customer experience. And we tell them they should tie it all up in a beautifully branded ribbon.
Let me be the one to say it like it is. Marketing today is damned hard. It’s even harder if you’re trying to do it off the corner of your desk while you juggle a zillion other responsibilities. Social media platforms are great ways to reach potential customers, but it takes work and patience and a great deal of thought and practice to build a following.
Let’s say you build a great following on Instagram. You’re growing your community and seeing great engagement. Some of it is even translating into sales, but you look around and you see it’s still not moving the needle.
Maybe you see that a large part of your target audience is actually on TikTok now, but you’re not there and aren’t sure where or how to start. And you probably see that, in addition to your fabulously creative organic content, you also need to have paid campaigns to really drive in the business.
It’s frustrating to see other companies – those top brands that you’re trying to emulate – do it all so much better than you. They have retargeting ads that are shown to you when you abandon a shopping cart. They remarket to you via email using slick, customized campaigns that deliver value and genuinely entice you to come back. And they have constant, consistent posting and engagement on multiple social paltforms.
If you aren’t feeling inadequate yet, you may also notice your favourite brands are still kicking it in traditional media like magazines and billboards.
The answer for many businesses is to hire a marketing person to take all of those worries off the owner’s desk. But I’m sorry to tell you that this isn’t the best solution.
I’ve seen that scenario play out time and again. It usually goes something like this:
You hire your new marketing person. She’s a fairly recent grad who is super eager and comes highly recommended. She’s a little green, but you can teach her your business and promise yourself to give her the latitude to deliver some great marketing.
You get her started developing sell sheets, brochures and posters. You ask her to start creating content for your social media channels. Then you remember you bought that ad in a conference program and you need some point of sale materials. Oh, and you really want to redevelop your logo at some point, but that’ll have to wait because now your new marketing person is busy. Busy with a capital B.
But wait, there’s so much more you need her to do.
“Can you do search ads?” you ask one day.
“Um, well, I’ve never done them before, but I’m willing to learn,” she replies amiably.
“Great! See what you can do,” you tell her.
So she sets herself up on some free learning resources and designs your first search campaign.
Before she knows it, the annual report is due and requires most of her attention. More sell sheets are needed too alongside neverending social media content, which you notice has grown rather spotty. The fabulous creative she was developing a few months ago is now looking stale and rushed.
After the annual report, she returns her focus to your social media, but then accounting comes to you and asks why your search ads are now costing so much. Your valiant marketing person admits she hasn’t had time to even look at the Google campaigns for a few months. After investigating, you learn you’ve been paying for garbage clicks from Uzbekistan.
What now? Now you have an over-worked, very stressed marketing coordinator, tasks in disarray, money wasted and you still want an updated logo.
Perhaps 20 or 40 years ago, a single marketing coordinator could have been all your small or medium-sized business needed. That’s just not the case today, because of the increasing complexity and need for expertise in various disciplines.
Not only do you need a comprehensive marketing strategy that fits with your brand, most businesses today need to be actively marketing in some or all the following ways:
Look at that list! Why would anyone expect a single marketing coordinator to do all of that? I’ve been in this business for more than 25 years, and I’ve never met anyone who can meet those expectations.
The better option is to hire a team. Hire a team that has experts in each area. Hire a team who can deliver smart, professional campaigns and polished brands.
That’s the kind of team we’ve built at Dooley PR & Marketing. We’ve built our team with the goal of being able to deliver modern marketing programs that encompass many or even all of the bullet points above.
The best part is that we can do all of that often for about the same amount you used to pay your marketing coordinator.
Our team is made to support your company month in and month out with everything you need to create and execute effective online sales funnels. We work with you to develop clear scopes of work with clearer KPIs. Every month, you’ll get reports that will show you how everything is working and what our next steps should be.
Over time, as your business grows, you probably will need a marketing person, but that person should be managing the brand and voice while working with experts to execute your vision. That’s how you grow smartly. Contract out the complex stuff that is constantly changing – and grow to keep the important brand and customer service decisions inside your company.
If you’re tired of the impossible modern marketing treadmill and want to commit to a serious long term program, give us a call. We’d love to hear your story and tell you how we might be able to help.
We run campaigns and marketing for our clients wherever they do business around the world. We serve as expert local counsel for national and international clients looking for marketing and communications services in the Canadian Prairies.
We'd love to work with you, just let us know how we can help your business grow or subscribe to our newsletter.
