Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Hi there and welcome back to the Confessions from the Home Office podcast. I'm Wendy Hill, and I'm back after a couple of weeks off. My dad is having some health issues. He's okay, but I've spent part of the summer trying to help my mom and my dad navigate the healthcare system, which is frustrating for anyone, but especially when you're 80.
[00:00:25] So I'm really happy to be back.
[00:00:27] Today's episode is part confession and part real and part public service announcement. For every business owner who's ever felt burned, ghosted, or misled by a marketing agency.
[00:00:38] I want to be honest, working with an agency is supposed to make your life easier. It's supposed to really grow your business, bring clarity to things and give you that momentum you've been craving. And it should take a lot of things off your plate. But for a lot of business owners, that's not how it goes.
[00:00:56] So if you've ever asked yourself, what did I even pay for?
[00:01:00] Why do I still feel like I'm overwhelmed and have a lot of marketing things on my plate? Am I just bad at marketing? Or maybe I don't communicate clearly, then this episode is for you. I'm going to talk about why this happens, how you can spot red flags early on, and what marketing support should look like when it's done right.
[00:01:25] So let's get started.
[00:01:27] So confession time. Many of my clients, they are ambitious business owners. They're smart, they're capable, they're successful. They come to me after what I call the agency hangover.
[00:01:39] They've spent anywhere from $5,000 to over $100,000 on a marketing agency. They were promised strategy, clarity, leads, maybe a full brand refresh, maybe a new website that actually work.
[00:01:56] And what did they get? They might have gotten pretty PDF they never used. They might have received a couple weeks of emails and content, and then things just kind of went quiet.
[00:02:07] They got a campaign that never would convert, or they just ghosted the client once the first invoice cleared.
[00:02:16] And, you know, I would say as a marketing agency owner, this is a roadblock for me when I'm doing new business because so many people have been burned that they need a while either to recover the cash or just kind of recover from all the, I don't know, kind of the PTSD of, oh my gosh, here's somebody else that says they're going to help me. Are they really going to.
[00:02:40] I had one client that I work with, they said, I really feel like I paid for a sales pitch and I never got the service so what happens with business owners is they start second guessing their instincts. They think they miss something, they lose confidence in their business marketing and that's just the real damage because they're not just out of the money, they just don't have the momentum anymore. They're kind of worn out, just ready to hide for a little bit.
[00:03:08] But here's the truth. This really is not your fault. You are not the problem.
[00:03:13] And the agency model many times is broken.
[00:03:18] Business owners don't really realize that agencies are built to scale themselves. They try to rely on stacking clients and assigning junior level or, or even like intern level team members to deliver the work and they just kind of let them go and they don't check to see what they're doing. So you're really not getting the person you had the sales call with that you feel comfortable with.
[00:03:39] Some agencies sell shiny strategies, but they don't sell things that are sustainable. So you might get this big brand audit, you might get a big vision deck, you might even get like a 90 day content calendar. But who's going to execute it? Who's going to make it better? Who's going to manage the backend tech that makes it work? Who's going to fix the tiny edits when it it's really important to you and you want that edit done that same day? A lot of times if you send off a request or you call, no answer.
[00:04:09] Agencies thrive on deliverables, not results. They're focusing on producing something they can show and many times it's not, it's not something that really moves the needle.
[00:04:18] And because of this, you end up doing more project management than you signed up for. You get really frustrated. You get in the cycle of feeling like now you got to micromanage and you're chasing follow up and trying to re explain how your business works and what you need done.
[00:04:31] Does this sound familiar? If you've ever said I thought they were going to take this off my plate, then yes, you're not alone.
[00:04:39] So I do want to say one thing. There are some agencies out there that are fine and they're not having any issues. So I'm not saying negative things about all marketing agencies out there. But I'm in Greenville, South Carolina. There are plenty here that have caused problems. There are plenty across the US that have caused problems for people.
[00:04:59] I'm hearing it every week.
[00:05:01] So if you're listening to this and you say I'm not the problem, we're doing a great job, I'm sure you are and I'M glad because there is so much work out there to be done and businesses need good agencies to help them keep things going.
[00:05:19] So now that I've had that disclaimer. So how can you tell if you're about to get burned before you pay the invoice?
[00:05:25] Let's talk about a couple of red flags. Number one, their website looks amazing, but there's no real clear breakdown of how they actually help. If it's all just branding buzzwords and there's no mention of what systems they use, the execution, return on investment, that's a clue.
[00:05:42] Number two, you're not clear on the deliverables. After the sales call, you still don't really know what you're getting. Maybe they made you feel really good, but you don't know how long things take, what's expected.
[00:05:54] You need to run Red flag number three, it's kind of a set and forget it strategy. Any agency that hands you a plan and then runs off. No plans need to evolve. Things change. Things change with the business, things change with the market.
[00:06:07] Your business isn't static, so your marketing shouldn't be.
[00:06:11] I will say that B2B over B2C a lot of times doesn't have as many changes, but I don't think I've ever written a marketing plan where we haven't added or switched something up ever. Like there's always something that changes, something that goes on. Red flag number four, there's no connection to your backend if no one's talking about your systems. Like your email platforms, your CRMs lead forms, your funnels where you're collecting customer information.
[00:06:38] You're just doing surface level work. It's. That's pretty stuff, but it's not very powerful at all.
[00:06:44] So I want to talk about what marketing should look like when it's done right.
[00:06:49] It starts with an assessment and a plan. I know that sounds boring, I know that sounds so boring to people. But you've got to figure out where things are and are, are they in good shape? Do they have a lot of things they need to fix? There's so much operational things that need to be straightened out before you can market well.
[00:07:09] And an assessment a lot of times will help uncover that. And then you can work on that a little bit and work on a marketing plan. It just needs to include the tech, the systems and the team behind it.
[00:07:22] When marketing's done right, it needs to be custom to your goals. It can't be just copy paste from somebody else in, in the same industry or another industry.
[00:07:33] When marketing's done right. It evolves. They check, you check in, you adjust, you optimize. You say, you know what, this is overkill. We don't need to do all this or we need to do more here or this has changed with this platform. We need to look into this and see if we need it. That's just what happens. Marketing takes a lot of time and effort to keep up with all the tools out there and measuring things and you can't just set it and go.
[00:07:59] You've got to keep working on it. And when marketing is done right, it saves you time. You need to feel like things are taken off your plate. Oh, that was already taken care of for me. Oh, that was already done. Oh, we talked about these things and I see that it's already being worked on. It shouldn't add to your stress.
[00:08:14] So here's how we do it at Market Momentum, we build a roadmap. We do the assessment and the plan, but we also help you implement it. We are very hands on, more hands on the most. And has it kept us from being a huge company? Yes, I know it has, but that really wasn't our goal. I didn't want to have a ton of clients and a ton of people to manage.
[00:08:34] So we plug into your team, your tools, your goals. Every client's a little different.
[00:08:39] We explain what, what may take a while to see results and with what things should you see results pretty quickly just so you can kind of expect I'll see this, but this may take another month or two or three.
[00:08:52] And we don't just hand you a strategy, we work with you while it runs. And yes, we know that we're going to have to keep making some tweaks.
[00:09:00] That's how we create momentum. It's not just a one time splash. It's ongoing, consistent progress. I've talked about consistency, even though it's not really the sexiest thing in the world, consistency works.
[00:09:12] So I want you to hear this. You can grow your business without burning out. You can have smart, simple, sustainable marketing.
[00:09:19] You just need the right support.
[00:09:23] So if you've been burned by an agency or you're currently sitting with that, your stomach hurting and you think, is this really working?
[00:09:29] What's going on? I see you and I've helped business owners recover of, recover from it, rebuild from it and move stronger, move ahead stronger and smarter.
[00:09:41] So if this is you, we need to talk. Head over to MarketMomentum Biz Biz, look at our level of service and fill out a contact form. Let's talk about what's working, working, what's not, and how we can get your marketing machine moving again.
[00:09:56] And if this episode hit home, I'll ask you one thing. If you'll share it with a friend who's been in the same boat.
[00:10:03] So that's it for today's episode of Confessions from the Home Office. I'm glad to be back from a couple weeks off, and school's getting ready to start here in Greenville, South Carolina, so that means college kids are almost back at it. Husband's just about back in the classroom.
[00:10:21] And so I'll be back next week with another episode. I'll see you then.
