You get what you pay for?

I can think of quite a few clichés that don’t stand up to scrutiny, but some do have more of a ring of truth to them.

‘You get what you pay for’ is one that I find particularly relevant to Marketing Companies.

A modern twist on this that I heard recently with regards to service was…

‘We offer three kinds of service…good, fast and cheap…you can pick any two:

Good service cheap, wont be fast

Good service fast, wont be cheap

Fast service cheap won’t be good

Most of us would probably agree that ‘cutting corners’ or ‘buying cheap’ to try and save in the short term inevitably ends up with the same out come which is that it is not going to pay off in the long term. Astonishingly there are still a number of household name companies that have, and would go down this route to save on their Marketing balance sheet, until of course it all unfolds…

A Channel Four Documentary called Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans

explored the less than scrupulous tactics used by some marketing companies to promote products or services. These ranged from buying fake Facebook ‘likes’ and You Tube ‘views’ to influencing social media conversations. The outcomes and subsequent revelations has in turn damaged these brands.

There did seem to be a common underlying problem between the company that asked for help with their marketing and the company conducting it on their behalf and that was a lack of clarity. If what you are paying for can not be explained in simple terms that most people can understand it is probably not worth doing. Equally if a marketing company does not understand what you are trying to achieve it probably won’t deliver the results you want.

Marketing is a support service in the same way that technology is. You need people that understand your business strategy and can advise you on how best marketing can add value in real terms and what it can and can not do to help you achieve the outcomes in your strategy. Doing this well does cost money and expertise but at Hook Solutions we are confident that we can provide real, tangible and quantifiable outputs that relate to your business.

Do give us a call for a chat about your Marketing, we’re a friendly bunch!