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Eight Expensive Lessons Learned
DoIt Marketing
With all the buzz about “Social Media Marketing,” you can understand why I was intrigued when a fellow speaker, David Newman who promotes himself as a marketing coach, called with a pitch for his new venture, DoIt Marketing. He had assembled a crack team of experts who, as I understood their promise, could improve my SEO and make my phone ring.
No stranger to social media, I’ve been teaching “Social Media as a Guerrilla Marketing Weapon” for years. I just lack the bandwidth to manage it for myself. So I made a few calls, and his references were for-the-most-part, positive. After meeting for lunch, I was skeptical.
Then, one afternoon David called in a panic; “Can you cover a keynote for a group of financial planners, in Denver, at noon? Tomorrow?” The speaker he had booked for this event was grounded in D.C. by thunderstorms. The fee was less than rack, but I agreed to help him out, delivered the speech, and the client was thrilled.
But then David didn’t want to pay the speaking fee. Instead, he insisted we put it in my “bank” and use it (after deducting a 25% “bureau commission”) to fund his proposed social media campaign. And lucky for me, they had one slot open.
Instead of a check, I got a 10-page questionnaire, asking all about my books, my business, my clients, and the passwords to all of my social media accounts, website, and blog.
As instructed, I sent DoIt Marketing everything they asked for: market analysis, book manuscripts, articles, audios, videos, top-performing keywords, and passwords for my blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and other accounts. I should have known better.
My understanding was that the DoIt Marketing team would take clips from my books and other material, and systematically post them all over the web: multiple daily Twitter tweets, multiple daily Facebook updates, article submissions, new LinkedIn groups, two blogs a week, and more.
I thought it was expensive: $1,500 just to “set it up” (never mind that all these profiles were already set up and optimized, with thousands of fans and followers.) Add another $1,800/month to launch, with a minimum commitment of three months. Just enough in my “bank” to cover the setup and two months in advance.
Maybe my expectations were unsually high, given my background as a Guerrilla Marketing author, but I felt disappointed right away. Like when they couldn’t spell my NAME correctly, let alone, “Guerrilla”. The first (and only) blog they put up was a duplicate of one that had already been published. They signed me up for five article hubs, two of which I was already writing for. I believe I could get this level of work from a college intern! The only results I noticed was a dramatic increase in SPAM.
I sent David an e-mail with detailed feedback and branding standards, and agreed to give his team a chance to prove themselves once the campaign rolled out. I should have known better.
I felt that the work was not only sloppy, but in some cases, downright inappropriate. Most of the Facebook postings were dead-ends with no breadcrumbs. One tweet that I felt was very inappropriate simply read, “24 Reasons Why Sales is Better than Sex.” And the last straw, a book review I hadn’t written, of a book by ANOTHER speaker, with a link back to HIS bookstore. Sorry, but I thought I was paying DoIt Marketing to review MY books and drive traffic to MY website and MY bookstore, thank you.
So, I complained directly to the young woman assigned to my account, pointing out examples from specific posts that I felt were wanting. Within minutes, I got a call from David Newman, not to apologize, but scolding me for being “abusive” and “impossible to please.” Deaf to my complaints, he threatened to just drop the whole project, in effect, chopping down the tree before it could bare fruit.
My response was, “In that case, I want a full refund.”
“That’s not even on the table.” Instead he sent a check for the unspent balance of $1,800. He did NOT, however, keep his scheduled appointment for a reporting call, send the promised written reports, or do any of the setup work for which I had already paid so dearly. When I repeated my demand for a full refund via e-mail, and threatened to take my story public, I got a letter from his lawyer threatening to sue for libel. That’s certainly ONE way to discourage customer complaints.
The Lessons:
- Check references thoroughly. Anything less than glowing isn’t good enough.
- Never agree to trade out. Collect fees for your services, then pay as you go.
- Never pay in advance. You’ll want to cut your losses quickly if they bugger it.
- Understand what social media can, and can’t do for your business. Don’t expect miracles.
- Exhaust more affordable resources like Craig’s List or elance.com before engaging a boutique firm. Smart people are out there, and they’re hungry.
- Vet everything before it goes live. It’s your good name at stake.
- Insist on visible, measure results, reported weekly, in writing; not double-talk.
- File reports on Ripoffreport.com, ScamBook.com, and the Consumerist.com if you’ve been the victim of one of these scams. I did.
Throwing $3,300 bucks away on useless marketing really hurt! And I had to change all my passwords. Social Media, managed correctly, can certainly boost your business. But there are FAR too many vendors making wild claims that they can’t fulfill.
And when they ask you to give them “The Keys to the Kingdom,” just don’t.
If you would like to share your experience with David Newman or DoIt Marketing, I encourage you to comment on this post. You may call me directly at 800-247-9145 with any questions.
This article is not intended to disparage or defame David Newman or DoIt Marketing in any way, but solely to warn readers about the potential pitfalls of working with vendors in general, and Social Media Marketing vendors in particular. The contents of this article merely express my personal opinion and point of view on this topic. Use the links to his website to make your own assessment.
How to Lose a Loyal Customer in 12 Seconds
This weekend I traveled with Denise to New Orleans to speak at the City & Regional Magazine Association conference. I was doing break-out sessions on Guerrilla Selling and Guerrilla Marketing with Social Media.
We were nearly next in line to check our bag when a burly ticket agent turned on the crowd and barked, “WHO’S BAG IS THIS?!”
“Mine,” I said, sheepishly raising my hand. I had scooted it under the queuing strap so as not have to carry it an extra 20 feet, and was standing less than 6 feet away.
“YOU HAVE TO ATTEND YOUR BAGGAGE AT ALL TIMES!” he shouted. I was like, SO busted.
“I AM attending it,” I pleaded. “I’m standing RIGHT HERE!” demonstrating that I could almost touch it.
He shouted like a marine drill sergeant, “YOU HAVE TO BE WITHIN ARM’S LENGTH OF YOUR BAG AT ALL TIMES!”
“OK, Ok, ok . . . “ I muttered as I slinked forward in line, cutting ahead of four other people to hover, humiliated, over my bag for the next 12 seconds.
Keep in mind that I have enough frequent flier miles on United Airlines to qualify for the next Space Shuttle. They have always been gracious, accommodating and helpful. That’s why they’ve been my favorite airline for two decades. And I concede that I was breaking the rule, but a little courtesy would have gone a long way. Anyway, I love this airline so much that I can over-look one rules-happy power-crazed ticket agent who’s having a bad day.
The topper came when we arrived in New Orleans. We were waiting by the baggage carousel when Denise realized she had left her purse on board. She dashed back to retrieve it, and was stopped at the concourse security desk (of course). A call was made and within minutes a friendly United representative returned with her purse. So far, they’re 1 and 1.
In the cab she discovered that her cash was gone. We called. We got transferred. We got a lecture about how, “We’re not responsible for lost items.” Of course, that wasn’t the point. We assumed SOMEONE would share our concern that one of their employees was stealing. Seems no one at United was even interested. So we shrugged it off and didn’t let it ruin our day. It was only a hundred bucks.
But it DID ruin a twenty-year relationship. United has just joined Northwest and Air France on my “Do not fly” list. How can you trust them with your life if you can’t trust them with a purse?
Guerrilla marketers spend years and years and millions of dollars building customer loyalty. Everyone in your organization can do everything exactly right in thousands of transactions spanning decades. Even so, a single moment of carelessness, impatience, or greed can destroy it all. And you know what? It didn’t surprise me that someone took the money. People are desperate. The disappointment was that we cared more about United Airlines’ security problem than they did.
Never make your customers feel wrong or stupid, even when they are. Good manners are simply good business. Make certain that your commitment to your customers is demonstrated at EVERY touchpoint, EVERY time, and that EVEY customer experience is CONSISTENT across the board. And when there is a problem, give it your undivided attention, whether you mean to fix it or not.
–Orvel Ray
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