People say the darndest things. They really do. Some of these things come from individuals who think they know what inbound marketing is all about; some come from individuals who want to know what it’s all about. Some… well some are just letting words go from brain to mouth without any thought.
These sayings aren’t exclusively from clients, either. We’ve heard them from people applying for a job, others who supposedly knew inbound marketing, and still others who really do know what they’re talking about… but they didn’t think before they spoke.
Today, we decided to pull some of these sayings into a post. If you’ve said any of these things, we hope this post helps you get down to the truth of the matter. For the most part, we hope it’s just a good read!
Don’t Tell Your Inbound Marketing Client…
As an inbound marketer, you have a certain reputation to uphold. We’re still a growing industry, you know? The legitimate SEOs, SEMs and so on are shiny nuggets of gold in a huge bed of dirty, black coal. So, how’s about we don’t smudge the rare gold with acts of idiocy, m’kay?
1. I can guarantee you…
Hush your mouth. What happens if you do all your optimization and Google does an algo update that drops your client off the map? You can’t control the SERPs, Mr. SEO. -And quit snickering, Ms. SEM. Unless you plan on hunting down target markets and forcing them to pay at the point of a gun, you can’t control sales, either.
2. Meta data is for newbs.
Okay, so maybe you didn’t say it like that, but you said it. Metadata counts – to the consumer and for the click through. Try to broaden your horizons a bit, and realize that search engines come second, m’kay, honey? Thanks bunches.
3. Yes.
Yes is probably exactly what your client wants to hear. Good job on making them happy; here’s your cookie. –But, don’t say yesif you don’t know. You end up over promising and under delivering. It’s better to under promise and over deliver than the other way around.
Don’t Tell Your Inbound Marketing Employer…
If you’re looking for a job in the inbound marketing industry, there are some things you just don’t say. A few of the biggest ones include:
4. I don’t have any experience; that’s why I’m here.
Of course you do, dahling… Since inbound marketing is still growing, many prospective employees seem to think all jobs are on the job training. This happens even when a job ad says 3-5 years experience needed. At the very least, do some reading on the subject before you walk in talking about the little green PageRank bar.
5. I right good, and can editor too.
Anytime someone applies to be a copywriter or editor, you can be sure grammar, punctuation and spelling will be looked at. We need strong writers; they’re awfully hard to find. That doesn’t mean we’re desperate enough to hire anybody who can put fingers to keyboard, though. Do yourself a favor and don’t rely on spell check (which, by the way, passed the heading of this section).
6. Your search is over. You’ve found your new…
No, the search isn’t over, and we haven’t found our new whatever. What we’ve found is an arrogant, overconfident douche who thinks they’re all that and a bag of Doritos. Show us your resume. Show us your portfolio. Show us what you’ve done. Let us decide whether our search is over, k? We know what we’re looking for, and we’ll tell you if we see it.
Don’t Tell Your Inbound Marketing Firm…
An inbound marketing firm can be a joy to work with; by the time the project is finished, you’ve developed a professional (personal) relationship with your project manager, at the very least. Yet, there are a few things you can say to really strain that relationship…
7. I hired you to do what I tell you to do.
No, you didn’t. You hired us because you weren’t getting the results you expected on your own. You expect us to provide you with these results. If we don’t, you’ll be all upset about it, and feel like we didn’t do our jobs. If you really want us to do what you say, alrighty, but we’ll take our cash upfront, please.
8. That shouldn’t be too hard.
This generally comes right after, “I want #1 ranking for that highly competitive term.“ Of course you do, and we’ll be more than happy to do that for you. –But, just so you know, we don’t do SEO fast food, here. That term is two-star, at least; it’ll take a lot of time, manpower, work and money.
9. I read somewhere that…
You can read a lot of stuff about inbound marketing; the fun thing is you can read a lot of dumb stuff about inbound marketing from people who don’t actually practice it. Don’t take everything you read and turn it into your marketing strategy. That line of thinking is a no-go for your business.
Crazy Sayings Span the Inbound Marketing Industry at All Levels
Crazy sayings like these span all levels of the industry: firms, clients and employees. These are just a few of the things we’ve heard, read and experienced for ourselves. If you’re involved in inbound marketing, we’d like to hear your “crazy sayings”. What have you heard, and how did you respond?
12 Responses
Well, this is definitely straight to the point. Yes, it’s really hard to be definitive in this business because you just don’t know what you are going to wake up to the next morning after Google has done a little tweaking. I think honesty is the best policy. Be up front with clients about the constant state of flux in this marketing area, BUT that is exactly why they need someone who knows the business to do it for them. There is little chance that someone who is busy trying to manage the nuts and bolts of their business is going to have the time to deal with the ever-changing world of internet marketing.
Hello Carrie, exactly. Dealing with the day to day nuts & bolts is hard enough. Add a new tool, social network, along with emails, blogging, newsletters, or whatever you have in your list of things to do for the day, and you can easily put in 15 to 18 hour days. Time management is a huge problem a lot of small & large businesses face.
Hi
These nine things are helpful for highly managing officers. These are not about the subordinates of company. Thanks for share this informaion!
Another brilliant contribution and what’s more, so impeccably true too! There are a lot of no go areas when discussing things with clients or employers and it’s a virtual minefield, trigger one and many others are likely to crop up and seal your fate.
With clients, part of the difficulty can often be them throwing things at you that you simply didn’t plan for. It’s in these times that I find having spent a little time before hand planning the conversation, possibly even jotting down notes, helps immensely in keeping it on track and you getting the outcome needed. Clients will often throw curve-balls at you and by having planned, an instant change up becomes far easier to deal with.
As is stated in the post though, never promise anything you aren’t 100% sure about. You can be as nice as possible, have the best relationship with the client, but as soon as you don’t deliver, don’t expect them to be as understanding. Keep it simple, keep it on point and keep it within the limits of what is possible and there will be no issues.
I liked the things we can say to strain the relationship with our employer. I agree about not providing an SEO fast-food. The tasks needs patience and time. Your post is very informative and I enjoyed the humor.
Thanks, Susan – we’re glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for making your first comment! We always love hearing from our readers 😀
Well thanks for the info. I learned a few things which can help my cause for Affordable SEO Hampshire.
Hey Doc, that’s the best way to go, but sometimes finding the “trusting” client is half the battle. Actually building the relationship based on trust are the hardest ones to establish. Interesting topic…I sense a new post 😉
Hello Joanne, sorry to hear you were having a problem reading our blog…I’m not sure what you are seeing, since weve tested this design on all web browsers and have not seen this issue. I hope you decide to come back and let us know.
Great stuff here. Especially loved the cookie picture, for reasons that should be obvious.
Love it love it love it!
Great post. But what’s an honest, hard-working inbound marketer to do when he or she is competing with all the scam artists and flimflammers out there that say and do pretty much everything you talk about in your post?
Online marketing is a relatively new field, and the vast majority of clients and marketers themselves don’t know half of what they’re talking about. You reach a point where you quite literally have the blind leading the blind.