Digital Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing and working with business owners, often times the first question I hear is “how much is digital marketing?” Of course there are variations on that also, such as “how much is SEO?” “how much is a website?” or “how much is eCommerce?”
The potential client at that point is (understandably) uncertain, may be unfamiliar with digital marketing, unsure about my ability to deliver on potentially unclear objectives, so it’s natural to rely on familiar price-shopping as you would as if you were comparing types of almond milk at a local Costco.
Providing a service, however, is more complicated than buying a single product. Knowledge of client needs and business objectives is needed.
The second reason why the price question is not always easy to answer immediately is that the process of fulfilling client needs can vary depending on what the client wants accomplished (such as increasing sales, generating more take-out orders at a restaurant, or increasing donations for a nonprofit).
So one of the points I try to understand from potential clients is what their true priorities are. Are they looking for a deal, price-shopping basically but with unclear goals? Or are they focusing in on cost? Or value?
There’s a profound difference between price, cost, and value.
Price is what you pay out of your pocket.
Cost is what you pay over time in lost wages and lost opportunities.
Value is what you get back in return.
You can pay anywhere from $100 to several thousand dollars for a basic website. Yet if that website does not generate new leads for a business, the cost can be much greater.
You can “get a website” for the cost of a meal out and end up going bankrupt because nobody can find your business in Google and competitors are outranking you daily.
The price may be very low but the cost to your business can therefore be very high.
Conversely, you can (and should) invest to achieve specific goals (such as receiving more phone calls or reducing overhead). This is changing the equation to one where you pay money in order to make more money weeks or months later.
Digital Marketing ROI
This is commonly referred to a “Return On Investment” or ROI.
ROI is something most people understand and use often when shopping for commodity items such as groceries or comparing service providers such as A/C repair companies, but it is rarely considered when it comes to digital marketing, because business owners often get “lost in the weeds” of technical jargon.
New or inexperienced business owners can often fall into the trap where they are trying to do everything themselves, by themselves, ultimately for themselves. And after being in the digital marketing space since the internet began, I’ve yet to meet one lawyer, doctor, or store owner who is also an expert in digital marketing.
They exist, I’m sure, but are rare. Fewer still business owners have the time or energy to manage their business, while studying SEO, content marketing, video, design, site security protocol, social media marketing, while also promoting and working in their own business.
Imagine trying to learn digital marketing, in all its different parts, while managing a restaurant or psychology practice or working full time as a chef or dentist, and possibly also having a family life. You get spread too thin very quickly.
I think this DIY approach, or the negotiation approach focusing on price over deliverable value that is achieving specific goals long-term, or separating that out into individual behavioral traits that simply block a professional from working ably and responsbily with a client business owner have more to do with denial than anything else.
Almost always, those fascinated by the promise of something for nothing, which is the DIY approach, just doesn’t work unless you have years to dedicate and ultimately the outcome doesn’t matter to you.
Five Reasons DIY Marketing Does Not Work
Denial is strong and has to countered as you would deprogram someone, in stages, so that it can be acclimated to.
Digital Marketing and Stages of Denial
Micromanaging can be reasoned with or simply avoided, but it’s difficult to work within.
Eight Types of Digital Marketing Clients You Do Not Want to Be Like and Why
In Summation
It’s vital to not focus on technical jargon or the “how” of how digital marketing will work so much as what you want digital marketing to do for your business in terms of growth opportunities.
This takes us back to focusing on price at the potential expense of what bargain-shopping can cost you and then actual value of achieving desired objectives.
Contracting based on price focuses on the money you spend while leaving actual cost to your business unclear. Contracting based on achieving long-term objectives that matter changes the equation to one where both client and digital marketer are collaborating on high-value results.
One action creates more problems while the other action solves them.
Here’s the key
Digital marketing price, cost, or value?
As author Jim Rohn has said, “the major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.”
It’s all about growing a business or staying where you are.