“Did I really just spend $25k on this!?” An online marketing client asks

A customer once told us these words on a call:

“Did I really just spend $25k on this?”

And my heart sank.

For one, I didn’t even know we’d been paid that much. I was not on the original sales call. I was just the ‘technical guy’ taking care of the execution after the fact.

And it wasn’t like this was a big deal that could handle $25k like nothing, it was a family vet in a suburb somewhere in the Northeast US.

I was already a bit upset with the way this customer was being handled. I mean, I think they must have been promised the world on the call. And he sold everything under the sun:

• overall marketing strategy

• new website

• Delighted

• SEO

• facebook ads

• graphics

• Emails

• Automation…

I’m sure there were more. It was the complete package.

Which would have been nice, but Yo It was the one that had to deliver, and Yo It wasn’t all of those things. He was ‘technical’ and could cobble together a WordPress site, but he wasn’t a web designer by any means.

I wasn’t a writer and I didn’t have the time to create good content.

And the SEO? This was right after Penguin and Panda (if you remember all of that) and the techniques we used before didn’t work as well anymore.

Email? I don’t know if that even happened. I can not remember

What I do remember…

Yo hated hear him say that.

Because he was right.

And I should never have sold you that entire “package.”

My philosophy for helping businesses with their marketing is this: It’s not my job to sell to you as much as possible for my business to make money…

It’s my job to get you ROI on the money you spend with me.

I know. What a new concept.

And I think that moment has really shaped the way I run my own business today. Maybe to my detriment at times, but hey, I need to sleep at night.

Since then, I’ve only tried to focus on the things that really matter and that give customers ROI.

I’m not trying to sell shiny new items or fads.

Just tried and tested truths that I see work time and time again.

There is a lot of junk in the world of marketing. There’s a lot of ‘FOMO’ (Fear of Missing Out) and shiny objects. And a lot of it can be really tempting.

But not everything really works.

In fact, most don’t.

And, to be honest, it’s not really new either. It just presents itself differently under a new name.

When you have a problem with a campaign, your first instinct shouldn’t be to find a new tactic to fix it.

Your first instinct should be to go back to basics and make sure you’ve covered everything.