Our life as digital marketers is not so rosy and not very often like a walk on Canne’s red carpet. We go from a happy moment to hectic nights and hours of work trying to find workable solutions.
I recently launched a poll on the official group of Digital Marketing Mauritius, which I created but quickly went off my control due to the interest of so many people in digital marketing. (We are now 804 and counting)
The question was straightforward – What are the most frustrating things for digital marketers? and 12 answers were set with the option to add more.
Most members of the group voted for the following as the causes of their frustrations, I will further elaborate on the Top 3 in this post. So, stay with me.
12. Poor Performing Hardware.
11. Outdated software and tools.
10. Long-term branding vision belittled for small term ones.
9. No Trust.
8. No independence resulting from a high hierarchy structure.
7. No risks taking.
6. Dependencies on 3rd parties.
5. Ever-changing requirements.
4. Lack of synergy between teammates.
Now, let’s do the top three.
3. No creativity resulting from strict control
Depending on the business nature you are working in, creativity can be altered, defined and implemented to some degrees. Now, we all understand the importance of branding for organizations. Whether you are a big multi-national or a start-up, your brand is one of the most important assets you possess. However, we tend to have some strict control and rigid boundaries as to how we use creativity in our approach.
So, why is creativity important?
As marketers, one of our key roles is to drive interest in our products or services and creativity is our main tool to do so. Long before the internet, marketers used creativity to fuel interaction and engagement.
But, with time, things have changed. The consumer moves seamlessly from device to device and from interface to interface. It is now a real challenge for marketers to gain the attention of customers.
[aux_quote type=”blockquote-normal” text_align=”left” quote_symbol=”1″ title=”title” extra_classes=””]We are so used to the noisy marketplace that the difference between products and services is blurred.[/aux_quote]
It is a must for brands to stand out and do the unusual to surprise the customers. In doing so, you become memorable. With an average of only 7 seconds of human attention, marketers need to get it right and fast.
So, how to get it right?
First thing, know your organization brand guidelines and spend some time going through the data collected throughout your channels. Simultaneously, keep tab of the trending topic in your industry and have some creative thinking to represent the information.
2. No budget for campaigns
Nothing is free nowadays, not even the attention of your audience. The struggle is, even more, when major social media channels such as Facebook have seen a decrease in organic reach pushing brands to re-invent the way they do campaigns by focusing on paid advertising.
Budgeting a campaign is a topic that digital marketers and top management should talk about and agree upon. Organic reach is not dead but it requires a lengthy process to come up with a great idea that will engage and increase the reach to the targeted audience.
- Clients being pushy for results overnight
Now, I know we’ve all been through some kind of pressure from clients or immediate superiors to get results overnight. If you are in digital marketing, like me, chances are you had to explain why you can’t appear on Google search so easily (Of course by paying and some analytical + a dosage of luck, you can) at some point in your career.
And, yes, it is quite frustrating for digital marketers. So much so, that some will cut corners and attempt to do un-ethical practices which go against the best practices of Google for example or even lie to the clients (Oh, don’t do that!)
So, how to cope with pushy clients and navigate through the un-reasonable requests, among others?
- Set the expectations right from the beginning
Very often, clients tend to be pushy because the expectations lines are not defined properly at the beginning of the assignment. Be honest on your fortes and weaknesses and do not be tempted to oversell.
Learn to say no to unreasonable expectations.
- Bring the clients back if they are going off-track
If your expectations lines were not defined properly, you might have to face new requirements, while working on the project. The client wakes up in the morning and decides that he/she wants a 360 degrees video on the Facebook page for tomorrow. How do you go about this?
I believe its the responsibility of digital marketers do bring back clients to the original expectations set from time to time.
If you tend to give an inch to your clients, they will ask for the arm
- Be equal and do integrated work
Very often, we see digital marketers say yes to everything that the clients are requesting to satisfy them. Yes, you do have to do it sometimes.
Sadly we tend to give more control to the clients because after all, they are paying for the expenses and we tend to lose ourselves in trying to please them. But here’s the thing, by trying to say yes to everything, you also tend to forget about your way of working.
The solution, I believe, is to integrate the client into the whole working process so that you are both clear on the expectations all through the project.
On a concluding note
These were the top 12 frustrations that digital marketers experience. Pushy clients are common things because, at the end of the day, everyone is seeking for their own benefits. Do you have any situation that makes your inside fuming? Comment below.
