The Marketing Expert Con

The problem with most “marketing experts” is that the vast majority are not really marketing experts at all. They are experts in a specific discipline of marketing. They might be a graphics expert. Experts at developing apps or experts at the software used in marketing automation. Experts in photography or how to shoot video. They may be experts in Facebook advertising or Google ads, or SEO, but make no mistake about it, their expertise in a specific discipline does not make them marketing experts at all. It makes them far more dangerous.

All of these people can provide convincing arguments why their particular discipline is the answer to all your problems; however, these people have no understanding of strategy. That alone should make their opinions worthless, but since most companies don't have a marketing strategy to begin with, this incredible and obvious red flag is often missed. Once again, the CEO and marketing managers are blinded by bullshit.

Not only do these people not understand strategy, but they don't understand the intricate details of why people buy. What motivates them, what influences them, and what connects them emotionally to a specific company, product, or brand? These individual purveyors of specific marketing services, and more and more purveyors and services are coming online every day, have little to no understanding of how the pieces fit together to provide you with a maximum return. They don’t understand strategy or sales; they are techies, programmers, and artists but not salespeople or strategists.

Agencies Have a Built-in Bias ?

Even when agencies have multiple departments with multiple specialists, they have an undeniable bias towards keeping all these people busy, whether or not some of the specialties they provide have any bearing whatsoever on the success of your business. For example, even though you may never get a single client through their SEO efforts, they'll tell you that it is essential for your brand to be highly ranked on Google. But unless it’s on page one that effort is a good as useless. Lots of companies are paying big money to be on page two or three or lower with little to nothing to show for it except the vague hope of making it onto page one.

Most marketing experts and agencies are only experts in one or two areas and force their areas of greatest expertise (and profitability) on their unsuspecting clients. Few people at most ad agencies have real-world experience running a business and spending money from their own pockets.

The idea that every company should engage in multiple different forms of marketing because that’s what everybody else does is ridiculous. It’s perfectly plausible that 80% of your marketing budget should be spent on two or three areas only while ignoring the siren calls of social media, Apps, and SEO services that provide many companies with little to no real value.

Let me give you an example.

One of the most successful campaigns we ever did was a campaign for a resort in northern Michigan. They wanted to improve their group business significantly. The target market was middle-aged male golfers who traveled in groups of at least a dozen and would spend at least two days on the property for an average spend of around $8,000. ?In four years, we generated $398,000, $780,000, $1.4 million, and ultimately $1.7 million worth of revenue, almost 25% of the resort's revenue. ?

We started with a prospect list of less than 400 and ended up with a prospect list of about 1200. These amazing changes in revenue came from mailing a simple yet very creative one-page sales letter with a very interesting offer, seven times in consecutive weeks. The letters were different and entertaining each time, but once we came up with the right offer, it did not change. The total cost of the campaign was around $40,000, which at that time was around 7% of the marketing budget, yet it eventually generated 25% of the gross revenue.

Despite this fact, my client insisted that he wanted ads here and there in places across a broad range of media, which I suspected produced little or no results but got his name out there. It took just one season to convince him to cancel almost all of his existing marketing in favor of the two or three strategies that provided him with the greatest possible result—the old 80/20 rule.

Did His Managers Whine?

You bet they did. They wanted to see their name in various publications, newsletters, websites, and blogs specializing in meetings, weddings, golf, hunting, or skiing. All of which had been proven to be worthless, at least in terms of generating phone calls to his 800 numbers. They may not have been ineffective at getting the name out there or building his brand, but you don't pay the bills based on your name recognition, you pay the bills putting heads in beds.

The internet exasperates another problem. Many of these people who claim to be marketing experts are not even marketing experts in any field. All they need is a blog, a Facebook page, and some YouTube videos, and they can tell you whatever they want while looking semi-legitimate. At least 80% of the people claiming to be marketing experts are not marketing experts in anything. They are just frauds.

Acing just three of four core tactics will provide far better results than spreading your limited resources over a wide range of options.

Don't get conned into chasing magical solutions or doing things not in your best interest!

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