What my clients ask for, and what they actually want

Over the past 20+ years in Marketing I have had the opportunity to work with many Business Owners, Managers and Directors on their marketing. Many a meeting has been convened with the purpose of determining the core needs of marketing their business. To that end, I have provided some context to the answers I hear when discussing marketing with potential clients.

What they say:

I need help with Branding

What they mean:

  • I need advertising, marketing and promotional ideas
  • My biz card sucks
  • Nobody knows who we are or what we stand for

What they say:

I need help with Sales

What they mean:

  • Help me set up an online storefront
  • We have never gotten a lead from our website
  • Update this Flyer/PDF/One Pager
  • Let’s run a contest or promotion
  • When is the best time to send an email?

What they say:

I need help with my Social Media

What they mean:

  • I want to do Social Media but I don’t know what to say
  • Fix my Facebook, Line up my LinkedIn and grab Google My Business
  • I need Social Graphics – Videos and Animations would be nice
  • My: kids/intern/nephews/sales team/assistant/hairdresser told me I needed to get on Social Media
  • Let’s trial run some ads

What they say:

I need help with my Website

What they mean:

  • My website sucks
  • Why isn’t my company coming up on Google?
  • I haven’t spent any money on my site in years and don’t think I have ever seen a nickel come from it.
  • Just a quick update, swap some photos…
  • Responsive and Mobile Friendly?

What they say:

I need some insight and research

What they mean:

  • Pretty sure we have Google Analytics hooked up
  • I want to know how much people are willing to pay for my product/service
  • How much does my competition spend on marketing?
  • Got any of them there funnels?

What they say:

I need some Video and new Photos

What they mean:

  • Ugh, nobody here likes the photos on our website
  • How much for Head Shots, Office/Location Shots, “On the job” Video, Group Photos,
    Architecture, Still-life, Drone/Aerial, Staged or Scripted – Imagery and Video
  • Not too much “behind the scenes stuff..”
  • Should we do some interviews?
  • I hate the idea of being on camera

What they say:

I am so frustrated with my marketing – why does it have to be so painful?

What they mean:

  • There are too many options
  • How much should I be paying?
  • Marketing is a rip off

What they say:

I need help with analytics, KPIs, Benchmarks and Measurement

What they mean:

  • We have never gotten a lead from our website
  • Is there an easy way to see where our best customers are coming from?
  • How do we figure out what to measure?
  • Set up my Analytics, Search Console, FB Pixel

What they say:

I want to be #1 on Google

What they mean:

  • How do we get on the front page of Google?
  • How much does it cost to be #1?
  • Let’s do the SEO
  • Why is my competitor on the front page – their website sucks
  • I think something is affecting my ranking

What they say:

What exactly does a Digital Marketing company do?

What they mean:

  • Isn’t it all just Facebook Memes and Confusing software?
  • We do trade shows, lunch and learns, in-person sales calls and personal networking – and it works; other than a website, what else do you need?
  • How much to build a website?
  • Can you provide an overview of your services?

Do you have any questions that I mentioned here? Something else? Let me know!

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