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Originally Posted On: https://atlasroseco.com/blogs/featured-articles/don-t-get-burned-by-marketing-imposters

The marketing industry is full of clowns, pretenders, shysters, con artists, blow-hards, and snake oil salesmen. For the rest of us legitimate professionals in the business, it’s embarrassing, insulting, and makes us downright angry.

 

Unfortunately, there are few barriers to entry in calling oneself a “marketer.” So when you’re down on your luck, or in between gigs, it’s easy to change your LinkedIn profile, get a couple of free online marketing certificates, and ‘Voila!’ You’re in business. The unsuspecting business owner trying to grow their livelihood doesn’t know the difference and mistakenly hires an imposter. Decisions like these kill careers and entire companies.

 

It makes us mad, and we’re on a mission to call them out. If you’ve been lied to, overpromised, overcharged, or ghosted when you needed marketing help – give em’ our number, we’d love to chat.

 

Photo from Pixabay

 

If they say they can do it all, RUN.

Nope, not possible. No one person or marketing group in the world can be good at everything. There’s just too much to master. It’s like trying to find a doctor with a business card that reads, cardiac surgeon, orthopedist, dermatologist, immunologist, radiologist, urologist, gynecologist, and pediatrician. They don’t exist in America. Even if they did, you certainly wouldn’t want to be their patient. Specialties exist for a reason. The term “marketing” is as broad as the term “medicine.”

 

Even if they don’t claim to do it all, they may say they “have a guy.” In the marketing world, that’s code for randomly hiring a stranger halfway across the world on Fiverr. If and when you get acceptable work back, it’s marked up 500% by your contact.

If they’re in break/fix mode, RUN

Ever feel like your marketing “guru” is playing whack a mole with your budget? That might mean paying attention to social media this week and building a few emails next? Maybe it’s designing a brochure for two weeks and neglecting everything else? If you’re not seeing consistency and follow-through, that’s a problem.

 

So with that ugliness out of the way, How do you steer clear of the bad actors and strike up a relationship with the right marketing person or group?

 

For business owners, here’s our PROFESSIONAL advice.

 

Forget about everything you “think” you need.

Your problem isn’t how often you’re posting on Facebook, nor is it your ugly website. A magic bullet doesn’t exist. Think bigger. What you need is a strategy.

Our recommendation is to look for a vendor that has a bigger picture in mind.

 

Our approach for example is to complete a written 12-month strategy (and more detailed 3-month strategies) with a well-thought-out process-driven approach. We consider the time, cost, and unintended consequences of each tactic. It’s involved, complex, and requires dozens of years of experience. Your current social media coordinator isn’t equipped to do the same.

 

Our Chief Marketing Officers have managed multi-million dollar budgets, been in boardrooms, are trustees, and have found success. They’ve seen it all, and have a supporting network of the best of the best. Even if your company isn’t holding quarterly conference calls reporting to shareholders, it’s refreshing to work with marketing talent that could.

 

It’s a professional-level job, done by true professionals.

 

This is where your brand needs to start. Our fractional CMO’s take you and your executive team through a series of exercises that help you once and for all get your marketing to a place where it needs to be. Think of it as a journey. It’s the same process the most respected brands in the world use, and it’s now available for you. We’ll leave room for unexpected opportunities, and advise you of the resources it will take to make your aspirations become a reality.

 

This isn’t about piecemeal marketing tactics, it’s true marketing leadership that every growing organization needs to get to the next level.

 

Sure there is a time for tactics, and we have that covered too. We don’t claim to do it all, but we will manage the process and deploy our teams of proven outside vendors that have worked for us before. Fiverr amateur hour just isn’t our style.

 

In the Atlas Rose method, the CMO sets the strategy, and the marketing managers keep the trains running on time by moving along multiple projects and initiatives simultaneously. When it comes time for the weekly client accountability call, we’ll report on progress, bring up any trouble spots, and talk through the next steps. Stuff gets done, – and done right, finally.

 

Ignore the online carnival barkers, please.