Digital Marketing Consulting Doesn’t Scale
February 18, 2010
Author 
In Today, I wanted to share a story with you.
One of my developer friends has a reasonably successful web start-up, especially for a new site. An unnamed company that sells internet marketing software (bundled with consultation hours) recently pitched him on marketing consulting services/their software bundle. He agreed, as he was curious of their capabilities and what they could offer beyond his understanding. Unfortunately for that company my friend is versed in digital marketing. It’s unfortunate because that company has a great name in the industry, but after hearing about my friend’s experience it ruined their name in my mind.
A good consultancy can’t scale quicker than it can find talent. You can’t slap a label and a process on people, hire just anyone and maintain a premium brand. Maybe in the internet marketing space if you’re talking with those who are clueless you could maintain a facade for awhile – but long term the education gap will bridge. This company will ruin their own reputation eventually if they continue down this path.
I’m not going to divulge the name of either party, but from what my friend explained to me from the pitch/initial consultation, essentially they:
- Tried to sell him on access to software that lets you do something you can do for free (or cheap) with a basic understand of SEO/social media
- Bundle some consulting hours
- Tell him some (not very strategic) SEO and social media items they’d help him do
His reaction was “that’s it, really?” It left him scratching his head who would pay for such a thing.
Further, they made him feel part of an inhuman process. He felt rushed by the experience, felt like there was a lack of personalization and their representative didn’t really grasp the intricacies of SEO, social media or even their brand.
He explained to me the person he spoke with had the title of consultant, however after hearing the whole story it was clear to me this was just someone doing sales/demos, not a true consultant.
I’ve seen enough companies get stuck with consultancies who hand off projects down the line to inexperienced marketers. The fact that this company is handing off their sales process to individuals with a lack of understanding should bother you even more if you’re a marketing consultant. Why? They are exploiting the digital divide for profit and trying to say you can package and automate the parts of internet marketing you should never automate.
This company has thought leaders working for them and yet clearly it doesn’t move down the line. Good marketing consulting is something special, and doesn’t scale just because you hire more people. After working with a few firms, doing recruiting in the space, going to events and being connected with quite a few industry professionals – I know it’s hard to find talent. Clearly this company is finding it no different.
MikeTek replied | Feb 18, 2010 (6 comments)
The scalability issue is a big one. So many companies want to be built to scale – built like a franchise, the framework in which The E-Myth: Revisited will have you thinking.
The president of a web marketing company once said to me, “look, we want to be like McDonald’s. We need a process that can be duplicated.”
Andy Beal’s post from 2006 on mistakes SEM companies make still irks me on the scalability point: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2006/09/top-10-business-mistakes-search.html
There are technical aspects to digital marketing that can be automated to increase productivity, and organizational frameworks help you manage the workload and communications. But the core tasks are creative.
Great post and important point.
Alex replied | Feb 18, 2010 (1 comment)
Your story is true in a great deal of ways. Sales people often just know enough to ‘get by’ and they are usually commissioned based so they are more concerned about closing the deal over everything else. I even turned down a job once because they wanted to take my business analysis/development experience and turn it into a pure sales position going around the country selling optimization plans to companies. I would have done little analysis myself and just closed deals. It does get worse as time goes by and the companies spend more time selling and not enough time with continuing their employees education with current trends.
John S replied | Feb 18, 2010 (4 comments)
There are so many poor quality SEO companies out there, and even more scam artists posing as an internet marketing company. Aside from the poor pitch and lack of knowledge of the consultant, what recommendations can you make for consumers who don’t know much about SEO and how to protect themselves? I would say always google the SEO or digital marketing company you’re about to hire… you’d be surprised at what you’ll find.
Hatef Yamini replied | Feb 19, 2010 (1 comment)
Great article. I love the title because it encapsulates the idea very neatly and I agree with the conclusions you’ve drawn. I would just add that this paints an incomplete picture. What I mean is that this is an excellent cautionary tale. So what’s the solution– other than hiring really smart people? We already know that’s very difficult.
One option is to invest in your people with training and create a client driven culture. In my experience working at world-class brands, I’ve learned that what sets them apart is very often the internal culture. So, I think consulting does scale, IF you invest in your people. Great employees tend to recruit other great employees through their social networks. Higher investment in wages and training for employees leads to higher client satisfaction and better employee recruitment campaigns. There’s data supporting this, so I’m not making empty assertions here.
Yes, the examples you’ve highlighted support the case that some unenlightened companies are giving good consultants a bad name. But good consultants can continue to thrive AND scale if they focus on the quality of their hiring, retention, and training. While there isn’t as much data to support this last bit, I’ll just point out that there are multiple large and capable consultancies in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for in America rankings, including Boston Consulting and SAS (in the top 10). Admittedly, being on the Fortune list doesn’t prove that these consultancies aren’t among the big name schisters you allude to in your article. But having happy employees tends to correlate with happy clients.
jason moriber replied | Feb 19, 2010 (1 comment)
Hey Adam,
(I wrote this comment offline, and now see the above note from Hatef. My note reflects similar scalability positives.)
I appreciate your writing and the goals of this post. It sparked-up a debate I’ve been having for a million years; what is “talent.” I know this wasn’t the main point of your post, which implicates a poor presentation of a service, but it’s a vein that runs through the stone of your argument. From my perspective as a marketing consultant (and service provider) this talent thing is the thorn in the lions foot.
I’ve found that talent is a fallacy It’s probably one of the strongest fallacies in our economic trope. Its a stunter as no one wants to approach the lion (fear of being eaten alive). We keep the lion caged and thorn-pawed for short-term safety, but miss the potential for long-term rewards (lion eventually saves us from other lions, see the myth Androcles and the Lion http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/aesop/bl-aesop-androcles.htm).
I suggest brilliance over talent as a key to making any organization quickly scalable. I wonder how your narrative would have been altered if the company in question instilled this culture.
Brilliance, unlike talent, is innate within everyone (I learned this initially through two years of teaching college kids to draw) and can be coached and/or cultivated. Talent, however, is a fickle filter. What is considered talent now, might not be later. History points out oodles of great minds that were considered talentless at one point in time, but after 100 to 200 years are then heroed as genius; the common thread is that all were brilliant.
The goal of an organization should be to foster an environment where brilliance is cultivated. It might take a little more capital expense, but your example points the finger to the problem: un-fostered representatives with a mandate they aren’t fully invested within make bad emissaries.
Thanks again for the spark!
-jason
Mark Gibson replied | Feb 23, 2010 (1 comment)
Hi Adam,
What you are talking about is competence I think. It takes time to master all of the tools and technologies in digital marketing. Furthermore I don’t see any way of accelerating the intricate tasks of keyword and page optimization and building inbound links.
An individual with prctice will develop skill and will become more proficient and complete a set of given tasks in a shorter time, but its not like you can multiply the persons output by two or three over anything short of a few years of disciplined effort.
Hiring more people means a training curve and it takes time to build competence. Like every discipline, talent is overrated vs. disciplined practice and building skills over a period.
So in that sense I agree with you.
Good post and I liked the linked post on digital authenticity.
All the best,
Mark
Jason Murphy replied | Apr 27, 2010 (1 comment)
This approach is what has caused a decline in YellowPages advertising. What I mean is, back in the day – YPs where a great form of advertising. But as the digital world evolved so did the YPs. Unfortunately, the YP reps did not but still maintained a title of advertising consultant. So, when a SMB bought an advertising package and expected it to work, and it did not, all credibility for YP went out the door.
I do some consulting, locally and mostly for SMBs. I always make sure I have enough bandwidth before I take on a new project too. Resources or lack of should never be an excuse to piss money away.