“I Got A Guy” Syndrome

In decades past, great marketing was the province of ad agencies – think P & G, people with advertising and marketing degrees; think Super Bowl ads; think Coke versus Pepsi, Bud versus whatever cruddy yellow beer goes against Bud. With the advent of the internet and the decentralization of our economy, ushered in by layoffs of thousands and failures of inflated symbols of America’s consumer market, the “secrets” of successful marketing became available to ordinary folks dedicated to spending the time and money to learn and apply them. How that looks for the small business owner without the benefit of an ivy-league MBA, or even the self-made internet millionaire, is extensive, time-consuming and often expensive trial and error.

Most small business owners and entrepreneurs I know got into their particular field or niche because they are passionate or expert in a given enterprise, whether it is public speaking, woodworking, making and selling widgets, teaching Karate, etc., but they lack formal training in the intricacies of marketing. Internet marketing is even more challenging because it is constantly evolving and is not currently taught in most business degree programs or community colleges.

To summarize: as smart as they may be, even pioneers in their particular field, most business owners, entrepreneurs, etc. are not experts in traditional marketing or internet marketing. They may have gotten “lucky” finding some strategies that work, that they stick to. But the majority do not have the time, money, patience or inclination to make internet marketing mastery a full-time obsession. And that what it takes to be great. Hence the “I got a Guy” syndrome.

They may know someone who can put up a website, and maybe that person does a great job making a site that looks good. But does the web designer know how to drive traffic to the site? And does that business owner have control over making changes to the site as needed. Do they know how to make changes or even have access to make the changes?

Here is a true story: a local salon-owner paid “a Guy” to design her site. Then, she needed to make a minor change to it, like updating store hours, and “the Guy” did not return her calls. She even went as far as going to his wife’s place of business (they were acquaintances) and delivered a letter pleading with “the Guy” to at least contact her, so she could get the password to HER OWN SITE. And I asked, do you even know if he registered the URL in your name so you’ll have the chance to re register it? She answered “I don’t know.” She has given up on her site, after spending $1,500 on it initially. Down the drain. This situation is NOT Empowered.

Here is another real situation. A local internet marketing and web developer creates sites for his many prominent clients then charges them a monthly service fee. But if they ever want to change hosting or go with a different vendor, they can’t. If they stop paying him, their site goes down because HE has their URL. Nice job security for him. NOT Empowering for them.

Our team believes that internet marketing can and should be demystified and that business owners should have enough control to:

a) Understand what is involved in making informed marketing decisions

b) Protect their assets, and

c) Direct or engage in their own effective marketing.

After all, it’s their assets on the line.