The Problem With Pre-Made Digital Marketing Packages
It’s impossible for a pre-made digital marketing package to fully cover your unique business’s needs. Business owners need to be wary of digital marketing agencies that offer a “one-size-fits-all” solution to your digital marketing problems.
This is essentially digital snake oil.
Your business is unique. Your customers are unique. And the geographic area where you operate is subject to different market conditions. Namely, pre-fabricated digital marketing packages offer you flashy promises of high traffic, bountiful leads, and endless conversions, but how can they promise this when they don’t even know what industry they are working with?
There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to digital marketing. When you are a small business with a limited budget, you need to develop a digital marketing strategy that accounts for your unique position in your industry.
Why “One-Size-Fits-All” Can’t Possibly Work For Everyone
For this example, let’s say you are a worker’s comp lawyer looking to grow your business and generate more leads. You are shopping around for digital marketing services, and you come across a package that looks pretty good at first glance:
For $2,500:
- 2 Blog Posts Per Month
- 2 Instagram Posts per Week
- On-Page Optimizations
- 200 Keywords Targeted
Can you spot the problem here? What doesn’t seem to fit for a worker’s compensation lawyer?
The Answer: Who follows lawyers on Instagram? Most likely, only other lawyers—and then probably not for legal advice. This package fails to address the specific marketing funnel for law firms. It might work really well for a local gym or some other business that can take advantage of social media engagement to stir up excitement for a product or service. It doesn’t work at all for our hypothetical attorney.
Are You Talking With a Digital Marketer or a Salesperson?
The salesperson pushing this digital marketing package on our attorney is concerned with one thing only—commission. They make their living off of selling digital marketing packages—not providing digital marketing services. When talking to a salesperson, you’ll hear exactly what you want to hear and none of what you need to hear.
Digital Marketer > Salesperson
A digital marketer will ask thorough questions about your brand, your industry, and your growth plans. In comparison, a salesperson will tell you about how their packages have generated countless leads and driven countless conversions.
A digital marketing strategist will want to know more about you and your backstory. They will want to learn about your past struggles with marketing. Unlike salespeople, they won’t propose blanket solutions. Instead, a digital marketer will develop a solid idea of who you are, what you offer, and how you offer it.
After this, they will analyze your customer base and local markets to come up with what marketing channels you need to develop to best generate leads. This can’t be done with a one-size-fits-all approach.
SEO is the Least “Packagable” Marketing Channel
SEO needs to be performed with specific goals in mind. A package that promises two blog posts a month doesn’t take into account whether blogging is an effective marketing channel for your business.
For businesses where blogging makes sense, like industries that people have many questions about—healthcare, dieting, family law—this package might benefit. But, there are plenty of industries where blogging is not the best marketing channel.
Content Marketing Isn’t For Everybody
If you are a moving company, do you think paying for a digital marketing package that includes blog posts is a good idea? From a digital marketing perspective, blog posts have two purposes:
- Answer a question that is on the buyer’s journey
- Funnel visitors deeper into your site
The only questions people have about hiring a moving company are “how much do they cost” and “how fast are they?” The customer isn’t curious about the finer logistics of moving furniture. This type of content marketing is a waste of money for a moving company. But not for other types of businesses.
Where Content Marketing Makes Sense:
On the other hand, parents are curious about the legal custody of their kids. Content marketing makes sense for a family law attorney who can produce content that answers questions parents going through a divorce might have.
Be Wary Of Digital Marketing Packages
Don’t be swayed by salespeople who will tell you precisely what you want to hear. Go for the digital marketers who ask many questions and don’t have blanket answers about the growth of your business.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Jenn Walker is a freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast, and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey.
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