Smoke and Mirrors don’t belong in a relationship between a marketing agency and a client.

Marketing companies have called and promised top Google page listings for either an unrealistically low amount of money or an exorbitant amount of money. Marketing companies have come in to present out of touch proposals with no research done about the target market, the client’s needs or desires.

There is a certain amount of mystery that marketing companies have historically. I understand why; much of the work of a marketing agency is creative and intellectual capital.  It is the kind of work that is hard to quantify to people. You cannot see it, feel it, touch it.  And yet, out of it remarkable things get produced.  However, this type of work is easy to mark up in price. Unfortunately, some companies charge a lot of money for very little real work production with a lot of noise about their secret process. Smaller firms and businesses can easily be taken for a ride in this sort of situation.

The marketing companies that call to offer online miracles are easy to weed through. Some companies do honest quality work. I get these calls too and like to ask a lot of questions.  I learn about my competition, what’s out there and have made some nice connections that way. I have found a few questions usually clear through the mess quickly. Some of my favorites are:

• How much of my payment goes to Pay Per Click ad words versus to your company?
• What do you mean by backlinks? Where do you get them? Or how do you make them?
• Can you explain what SEO is to me please?

I have actually had more than one marketing solicitor hang up on me after one of these questions. I have also ended up teaching more than one person over the phone—“no, not all of the money goes to Google Pay Per Click because then your company wouldn’t be making any money” or, “SEO…no I don’t think you are correct that it is the same as what I pay for Google Ad Words, that is the Pay Per Click.”  But so many people do not understand this wild wild west of marketing and the internet, it is easy to be taken advantage of. Especially if those calling are themselves uneducated but talk a good talk.

It is the client’s right to know what their money is being spent on. Even in a situation where the client is paying for that intellectual and creative work. A marketing company worth their salt is willing to explain what the money is for. I don’t mean that salary breakdowns need to be shared, but to explain that creative capital is expensive because it is valuable is a fair statement.  To explain what SEO is and how hard and time consuming it is to achieve is also fair.

For my company, I even believe that with smaller clients on a tight budget it is helpful to explain what parts of SEO and marketing in general they may wish to do on their own to save money. We can work together that way and everyone feels good about the process. My goal is to do what is best for their bottom line and what fits their needs, which is never smoke and mirrors.

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I discussed his financing with him once. He stated that he prefers to have customers who hire him “for the season”. They pay a certain amount for the year and he promises to plow their driveways every time it snows. When the winter is rough, he may be around far more times than if the winter is mild. Either way, the cost is the same.

It stands to reasons that this retainer fee has benefits and drawbacks for the “plower” and the “residents”.

The snow plow owner may in fact have very high costs, both labor and supplies, in colder, snowier years. Residents, on the other hand, may feel like they are not getting a good deal in warmer winters, when they are paying the same amount, but aren’t requiring the same amount of service.

The snow plow owner is aware of these nuances. For him, the most important thing is for the homeowner to feel like they are “covered” for snow removal and not feel like they have to call every time the skies darken. Furthermore, for his small business model, it’s much easier to collect a seasonal or monthly check as opposed to trying to chase down his fees for snow removal on a “per event” basis.

We struggle with the same issues as a small, but growing marketing company. For some of our larger clients, it makes perfect sense for us to be “on retainer” all the time, knowing that there are regular tasks that we do like social media posting, blog writing, website management and updating, press releases and being a part of the fabric of these businesses. These companies would probably spend too much precious time (as would we) if we treated each service as an a la carte item, billing separately, and keeping track of what could be quite onerous paperwork. Of course, the onus is on us, the marketing professionals, to make sure our fees represent what we spend in time and staffing on the client.

However, not everybody needs monthly attention. Some people truly have “term limited” projects, like a website that needs to built or refurbished, an event that needs to be marketed and managed, flyers, email marketing or press releases that need doing.

We try very hard to spend our clients’ dollars efficiently and fairly. Although we understand the snow plow model, not all weather patterns are the same, not all driveways are the same, and no two clients’ needs are alike.

The post Analogy for the Week: Snow Plows and Marketing Plans appeared first on K2M Creative Media.