How so-called digital marketing agencies deliver creativity but fall short on reality.
Okay, so I’m doing a little surfing to see what companies are doing marketing in some of the target industries we’re expanded into and I happen upon a couple agencies that claim strength in digital marketing. Hmmm….really?
The guilty will remain anonymous but, in the 2 cases I’ll rant about here, this is what I find:
“Wait while our site loads, it will be worth it”. That, by itself, is so funny I must wait. Wait..waiting…wait…. Poof…a pretty picture and a navigation “structure” that is so confusing I’m not sure what to click to find their services. This is an agency that is working for large retail brand of beauty products and promotes a state’s visitor and entertainment bureau among other significant sized clients. It really made my brain hurt to look at their own site.
Another agency site that focuses on health care digital marketing opens with a Flash image rotation with one little molecule looking symbol that says “drag me” when you hover over it. Okay, weird. Clicking the little nodules on the symbol brings up a portion of the content on top of the big rotating picture. Then the content comes up over the image and is in 4 columns. You must scroll down separately for each column’s content…thus FOUR scroll bars on the one page. I could scream… “What? Are you kidding me?” Keep those scalpels away from me.
My thought is that these agencies sell their clients outrageously costly, yet “creative” websites that don’t deliver beyond a gee whiz impression.
I cannot believe that a true business objective was ever at the forefront when sites like these are created. When there is frustration, there is friction in the conversion process. Digital marketing allows such great opportunity to eliminate friction. Why create it just to be creative?
The Most Creative Websites Lose
Some of the most creative sites do win awards for creativity from other “creative” people or organizations. But the real award should come from a client who’s increased sales by 20% or expanded into new markets without adding resources or added valuable customer service features that reduce client turnover or doubled lead generation without increasing marketing budget…and so on. Digital marketing should focus more on making the client a winner!
Problem Solvers Win.
Keeping a balance between creativity and results is important. But, if you are in a profit-focused business, face it, beauty doesn’t make payroll!
Don’t get me wrong. Creating a great visitor experience on a website does include the first impression and a look and feel that reflects the image of your target audience. But, it is more about making it easy for your visitor to quickly see how you can solve their problem or fulfill their need and take action in the fewest clicks.
A real digital marketing agency will help you strategize how digital can further the overall marketing objectives of your business before getting creative with your website, search engine optimization, social media efforts or mobile visibility. In addition, a real digital marketing agency will put analytics in place to ensure your business objectives are being delivered through this medium and the data is actionable to constantly improve results. Last I checked, Google Analytics didn’t have a Key Performance Indicator called “website awards”. LOL.
It makes me happy to know we provide real digital marketing services that deliver great results to our local, regional and national clients. You can take that to the bank!
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