The Only Method to Succeed in Digital Marketing

What’s the only true method to guarantee scale and growth for your business?

“The 43-page playbook to slay Meta Ads”?

“The [insert mouthful name] method to scale Google Ads”?

“My 10-step formula to skyrocket your ROI”?

We keep getting brainwashed by agencies and “experts” claiming to have cracked the code for skyrocketing ROI, harnessing the algorithm and getting stellar results.

Everyone sells their method, playbook or formula and criticises their competitors’ approach.?

But let's be brutally honest: is that what brands should be seeking in a marketer or agency?

Here’s the harsh truth - there is no single formula or method.

We look for a methodology to manage our fear of failure.

The fear of failure can be a tough challenge to overcome, limiting creative exploration and progress. However, you can only succeed if you embrace failure as an inevitable aspect of the learning curve.

We tend to look at processes as a safety net against failure. Even leading organisations fall into this trap, with senior teams asking for more training in hope they’ll find the key to guaranteed success. Or over-relying on processes rather than trusting in their own abilities.

After all, if you fail while following a prescribed process, it's easier to blame the process than to accept personal responsibility.

As marketers, we understand consumer psychology. We know that by presenting prospective clients with a solution to manage their fears, we are more likely to win their trust and secure their business. This is why all the alleged fail-safe formulas are a selling tactic, not an actual guarantee for success.

Successful marketers are resilient and adaptable and see failure as an opportunity for growth and innovation.?

If you’re serious about digital marketing, then I challenge you to look outside your current system.

Real game changers would never allow themselves to be trapped by a method. In fact, they refuse the prison of a system altogether. Instead they:

1. Experiment and push the boundaries - they challenge the status quo and constantly look for new solutions or tactics.
2. Make hypotheses and test their ideas - they interpret data to validate their strategies.
3. Challenge their own convictions - they don't accept anything as dogma and they welcome failure as an opportunity to learn and evolve.
4. Are curious and ambitious - they approach each platform with curiosity, mining its full potential.
5. Leverage their “gut feeling” - they have a talent for interpreting information and coming up with strategies they trust enough to take risks.

Real experts know their tools, understand best practices and core principles and apply them to validate or disprove their hypotheses.

You want to be prepared to be proven wrong more often than right. You want to take risks and experiment with bold ideas. There is no other path to innovation.

I've seen campaigns succeed or fail regardless of the methods used. From hyper-segmented campaigns to all-in-one strategies, from conventional setups to structures that ignore any common rule.?

I pitched against other agencies with a different approach to mine and achieved better results, and I’ve been questioned on my approach too. I’ve audited accounts with structures that made no sense to me but performed well, and I’ve seen accounts miserably fail contrary to any expectation.

Experimentation is the key

In digital marketing, experimentation and rigid methodologies can never go hand in hand. Challenging the status quo requires curiosity and creativity mixed with the guts to take the plunge. Marketers who venture beyond known boundaries are the ones who discover groundbreaking insights and make an impact.

Digital marketing demands a blend of science and creativity. We need to be able to apply a scientific approach: Formulate a hypothesis, test it rigorously, prove it or disprove it.

At the same time, we need to learn how to unleash creativity: harness the power of the right side of our brain, and trust our intuition in order to formulate a hypothesis in the first place.

Yet, too many treat digital marketing as a simple transactional exchange—money in, money out. Too often we waste time and energy to find the next fail-safe method that will guarantee success and results.

So, how do we achieve our ROI targets?

To avoid becoming blinded by tunnel vision we should look at results and growth as a by-product of curiosity, experimentation and critical thinking, mixed with a deep understanding of all the tools at our disposal. We should take the time to elaborate strategies and stick to them as long as it takes for them to win or lose.

Brands need to be ready to take action, move fast and embrace new ideas and hypotheses. They need to accept that testing also means taking risks, and learn to stick to the plan without looking for shortcuts.

Everyone claims to be ready to take risks, as long as it pays off.?

I’m not suggesting that marketing professionals shouldn’t chase ROI or growth - that is the ultimate goal. Revenue, leads, ROI—they're all outcomes of an ongoing quest for innovation and exploration.

In the end, it's the fearless innovators who will rise above the noise.