I work in the world of marketing. Specifically, digital marketing. When I explain to people what I do for my career, people usually have at least a little understanding. Yet both the word digital and the word marketing can mean different things to different people. Let’s define them:
Marketing refers to activities undertaken by a company to promote the buying or selling of a product or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses.
Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising and any other digital medium.
Ultimately what I do for clients is help solve their problems. When I have the pleasure of meeting face-to-face with a client, my role is never to tell them what they need to be doing. My role is to uncover what they want to accomplish, and it’s not always as simple as “sell more things” or “make more money.” Of course, as business owners, we all want that, but first, we need the roadmap to get to that point.
Often in my business, there are many buzz words associated with digital marketing. Geofencing, OTT/CTV, addressable, SEO… the list goes on and on. Because the word digital is so broad and can mean different things to different people, my favorite 3 little words I tell clients are “TELL ME MORE.” Ultimately, there is a reason a client is asking about a specific digital marketing solution. My job is to find out what they are trying to accomplish, then take it back a step and find out their pain point. Most of that comes from starting with the basics.
A client calls me and says, “I want to do OTT/CTV”. The first thing I do is ask why. What is it about OTT/CTV that they think makes it the right digital path for them? “Tell me more,” I say to them. Usually what I discover is they need to move the needle and they feel like they need to be doing the latest and greatest digital product this month. My ultimate goal by digging deeper is to find the best marketing solution to help them solve their actual problem. Quite often, the path to get there doesn’t start with the most expensive product or the latest product that’s getting all the buzz.
What I am ultimately doing with my clients is establishing trust. My client is going to trust me more when I dig deeper. When I ask them questions. When I tell them a better path to reach their goals. And yes, even when I disagree with them or tell them no.
Whether you’re a marketing consultant or a business owner or marketing director reading this…don’t be afraid of those 3 little words “tell me more,” especially if you hear them from me or someone on the Federated Digital Solutions team. In the end, we are just problem solvers trying to help our clients move the needle in their business. This is what sets us apart from customer service people and makes us true marketing consultants.
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