There will always be people who will make decisions based on cost. I have to accept that, but I can also make my case for avoiding the low-cost trap when it comes to digital marketing.
As an experienced copywriter and digital marketer, I’m biased. I see the value in what I do, and I work with clients that see it, too. But I have plenty of conversations with people who just don’t want to invest in their digital marketing. And that’s OK. But I’ve seen the risk and results of going the cheap route. In fact, I’ve had to clean up after clients who went the cheap route.
The Digital Marketing Outsourcing Ecosystem
Whatever you think about the gig economy, it has pros and cons. I’m not going to dive deep into that topic here; I’m going to focus specifically on the digital marketing outsourcing ecosystem that exists because of the gig economy.
Businesses can get piecemeal digital marketing work done for stupid cheap on sites like Fiverr, UpWork, and others. Am I mad that there are people out there who will write a blog post for $5? No. Those customers are not my clients.
It frustrates me, though, to see people offering digital marketing services when they have no experience and aren’t transparent about it.
It’s easiest if I show you what I mean.
Courses Hawk “Agency in a Box” Model
There’s a trend in digital courses that are teaching people how to start a digital agency with no experience. These course creators make their money teaching the agency business model to complete newbies.
Unfortunately, many of the course creators are focused on money—both what they make and what their students make. Many aren’t too concerned with their students’ clients and whether or not they get the marketing help they need.
To show you just how inexperienced the students are and how “get clients now, figure out fulfillment after” the courses are, here are some real screenshots of posts in course Facebook groups.
This person here has literally never done what he’s sold (Facebook ads) before. Their client is putting in real money and likely wasn’t told that that money is being managed by someone who has never even set up a Facebook page before.
This person doesn’t even know how to communicate with clients about the value of what they’re doing. They don’t know how to put together a plan or strategy, or how to forecast ROI.
This person doesn’t know how to estimate core metrics. I fear for this already unhappy client.
Yet another first client. They don’t know how to price their services or manage the inherent money question that comes with doing paid ads. This course is clearly taking people’s money, telling them that they can run paid ads, showing them how to land clients, and sending them off into the world.
I can’t with this one, y’all. What did the client sign on to?
This person doesn’t even know the basics of setting up an ad account…which means they haven’t done it before.
While it doesn’t directly say it in this post, based on how this course is run I know that this person wants this case study so they can promote it as their own. They’re working on closing a food delivery restaurant client and want to use someone else’s results to make the sale. And then if they do close, they’ll try to reverse engineer the campaign from the case study without the knowledge behind it.
Yet again, this person sold a client without knowing what they’re doing. They’re asking strangers on the internet to steal their hard work.
Thank you, oh commenter, for your comment on this one. My thoughts exactly.
I’m all about people starting their own businesses. But it’s clear from this small sample of screenshots that people are offering digital marketing with zero experience and without disclosing it. These examples are mostly from a course that teaches how to start a Facebook ads agency, but I’ve seen the same thing mirrored in content marketing, local marketing, SEO, and more.
Low Cost But High Risk
I subscribe to the “you get what you pay for” mentality when it comes to digital marketing. You want cheap content cranked out by non-native English speakers? Have at it. No judgment. You want quality content that’s going to help you meet your business goals—from thought leadership to lead generation? That’s not a $5 order on a gig site.
When you outsource to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, your experience could go one of several ways:
- You have to spend as much time managing and revising the project as if you had done it yourself
- You have to pay someone more to fix the work (or start over)
- Your customers see something off-brand
- Your brand gets banned from ad platforms or takes an organic SEO hit from Google
- You get no results for your investment
Getting zero results from your investment hurts, but it’s not the end of the world. Some of the other risks, however, are more costly and, in my opinion, not worth the risk.
How to Evaluate for Experience
If you’re hiring a digital marketer online, how do you prove they’re legit? How do you evaluate a complete stranger for their experience?
Do Your Research
Look around the internet for information about your potential digital marketer. No matter where you find them—even if it’s UpWork or Fiverr—do your due diligence.
Look for information about the person in the following places:
- Google – This feels obvious, but it’s easy to forget to do a quick Google of the person you’re evaluating. If there’s nothing out there about them related to digital marketing, that’s a red flag.
- LinkedIn – Check for a strong LinkedIn profile that shows their experience. If they’re out of your network, you may have to ask for their profile URL, rather than being able to find them with a simple search. Look at the experience section and the recommendation section. A new or incomplete LinkedIn profile is a red flag.
- Website/Portfolio – Most well-established digital marketers have a website, or at a minimum, a portfolio. If the digital marketer doesn’t have a website or portfolio to send you, that’s a red flag.
Ask for Case Studies
Experienced digital marketers should have case studies. Even if they don’t have any formally prepared, they should be able to talk, at least in vague terms, about work they’ve done. Some marketers have (or prefer) to keep client details and results private, which is OK, but they should still be able to talk about their work a bit.
For example, the work I show on my site are projects where I have permission from the client to share. But because of my variety of experience, in terms of both industry and projects, I offer to discuss additional work privately.
As we saw in one of the screenshots, some people will try to pass off other people’s work as their own. When the digital marketers sends you a case study, make sure it’s branded as their own, and ask them pointed questions about the strategies they used.
Get on the Phone
It’s great connecting with potential digital marketers on LinkedIn and by email, but there’s no better substitute for getting on a phone or video call. When you have a real-time conversation with someone, you can gauge their experience and how well they answer your questions. For example, if you ask about the case study and they can’t provide specifics, be wary.
Look at Costs Vs. Benefits
Every decision you make in business (and in life, if we want to get philosophical) is about weighing the pros and cons. What’s the cost? What’s the benefit?
When it comes to hiring an inexperienced digital marketer, your dollar costs may be low, but your other costs (time, risk, quality) are high. When you hire someone experienced, your dollar costs are higher but your benefits and value are too.