What’s wrong with digital marketing in Sydney today?

1. Marketers are not approaching it strategically – you can’t jump straight to communication. You need to understand what’s wrong with your brad- what’s depressing sales or preventing them. The only way to understand this is to do research. Research doesn’t have to be expensive or formal. It can simply be a coffee with customers or prospects with a simple, easy to answer questionnaire. Customers are put off by research when the question it contains are complicated. So, be simple, and make your questionnaire simple and customers will answer it.  

• There is heavy reliance on creative to solve the problem – creative people are creative people – they are not magicians. None of them have business degrees so they won’t be able to understand the business side of things. A digital marketing manager or a business manager has to look into the business problem, and develop a business solution to it first. The creatives will dress the solution in ways that make it appealing but they will not develop the solution – that’s up to the business people to do.

• Digital media is a mess – digital media companies have been allowed free rein with client money. Almost every digital media plan I’ve reviewed to date is SAF (stupid as fuck). A girl on a major car brand spends 20 million above and below the line. I ask her – “do you think the company is going to sell 20 million dollars’ worth of cars in this economy?” (this was just pre Covid-19). She looks at me with blank looks. She thought her role as media planner was to spend the budget – not to look at the sales the company got from the expenditure.  

• Clients are not reviewing expenditure thoroughly enough – most clients I know have been falling for the propaganda of digital agencies in Sydney.  Too many (not all) are more expenditure than results focused. Planning is not a skill set or a competency within their structure. So, it’s not small wonder that clients never see a return on dollars spent.

Marketing is all about return. If you aren’t getting a return, then the key question is – why market? There is no reason for you to at all. One marketing and digital marketing strategy consultancy in Sydney gets this. It’s Dsouza Consulting. To discuss your marketing, please call us on 0450 545 725 or email Patrick@dsouzaconsulting.com.au