“It’s far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.”
-Judith Martin
Impressive Marketing
Web Marketing Therapy gets hired to conduct substantial marketing audits for clients large, medium, and small. We were hired by a big-brand (household name) company* and I remember how the WMT team was super impressed.
…like O.M.G. sparkly eyes impressed.
Our audit work layers our Five Factors for Success framework over all things marketing including (but not limited to):
- Website(s)
- Paid Search
- Social Media
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing
As we dove in, we found super impressive marketing wins and so many successes (this client’s marketing team is fabulous!) and after a month of uncovering every (like EVERY) rock, we identified some very clear “blue ocean” opportunities to tap into as well as no-brainer optimizations to implement to help scale and grow their visibility. We presented in two parts.
Before we presented our observations, recommendations and proposed next steps, one of my coworkers (who I will keep confidential too) worked arm and arm with me to gather all the solutions and had brilliant recommendations), started getting really nervous.
REALLY NERVOUS.
And since the nervous role was fully occupied, I got eerily calm. (I still find it weird how I can do that)
I worked from my heart to address her stress. I felt it. I told her that yes, this client was “impressive” in their history, size, and household name recognition, but they were no different than any other client in that they needed fresh, expert eyes to help them fine-tune what they were doing and to look at new solutions to stay successful.
Part of my marketing magic is my intuition. The older I get, the more I listen and lean into it. I could feel her “proving” energy coming up…and I know all about that, since I am a recovering “prover”.
I called her out on it (with love) and told her that I could totally relate to that feeling of having to “prove ourselves.” This employee and I share that “claw your way out of less-than-ideal life circumstances” grit and sometimes, that means a tendency to default to feeling a need to prove that we belong at the table.
I reminded her that it’s natural to want to be liked, how we want people to be “impressed” with us.
But when we do projects like these marketing audits, clients don’t always ‘like” us afterwards because what we present represents change, can identify goofs, missed opportunities, expose faulty vendors or create more work.
She instantly laughed (such a fun and fabulous way to break down the negative nonsense I must say) and I could feel her tension vaporizing.
Then, I shared a story with her about how I did work years ago for a huge online education company and how at the time, how “impressed” I was with the company, how impressed my husband was that I was working for such a “big” client and how impressed our team was that they were a client.
Then I shared that as I worked with their marketing team, I quickly got very NOT-impressed.
Summary…they wanted change, but they weren’t willing to change…fortunately, the “change” needed happened with a buyout and new marketing management.
The lesson there was that my marketing company and I needed to align our gifts with leaders and companies that were ideal clients…and that doesn’t always mean big…..
I wrapped up the call telling my coworker how impressed I was with her, her insights and value on this project and reminded her of how we collaborated on great work everyday for clients who are always impressed with us for our ability to deliver super valuable marketing solutions.
What we do in the name of marketing solutions is not about the client “liking us” or being “impressed” with us.
It’s about serving leaders and companies and showing them untapped opportunities, which we do again and again every single day.
As we wrapped up this particular audit, we logged over 75 hours of our heart, minds and soul to identify opportunities and solutions.
And while the client was “impressive” for their notoriety, I wrapped up work on this project happy that we found so many “blue oceans” and felt so proud to work with such talented marketers who are committed to happy, healthy marketing.
You know what’s impressive?
Being impressed with yourself.
Know your worth and own your worth.
We don’t go after clients because our coaches, team, or community will be impressed….
We serve clients who are a pleasure to work with and who are aligned.
*Unlike most marketing firms who use their client’s names to sell more work, we follow the same confidentiality a therapist would with a client. We don’t list out our clients.