Social Media Marketing

The perfect host

Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Social Media Marketing October 2014

The correct answer—DIR.

Developing the right marketing strategy can help grow your business.
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IN MY CONVERSATIONS WITH BUSINESS OWNERS, it’s become clear to me that folks generally fall into one of three categories in their approach to marketing: Do it yourself (DIY), Do it for me (DIFM) and Don’t give a flip (DGAF). It’s become so common and consistent, in fact, that I’ve made a game of trying to guess which kind of person I’ll be talking to before meeting with them, based only on a quick review of their Website. The criteria are pretty simple, and I’m getting pretty good at the game.

If I visit your Website and see that it’s running on a badly configured framework such as WordPress with misaligned buttons, broken image links and a loud, flashy color scheme, I can say, with some degree of certainty, that you are a DIYer (at least I hope you didn’t pay someone to do that for you). Conversely, if I see a beautifully designed Website with a well-planned structure, layout and functionality that is full of soulless, corporate-speak lingo and tells me nothing about the story of your company, I can be pretty sure you’re a DIFMer. If I look for you online and can’t find a Website at all, you’re clearly a DGAFer.

I’d recommend a different approach to your marketing, one that I call DIR (Do it right). DIR marketing employs the best practices of both the DIY and DIFM approaches while ignoring the DGAF method completely. After all, if you truly DGAF about your marketing, we should probably talk about what your plans are for after your business fails.

DIY marketing has some very admirable characteristics. First, the desire to put your own skin in the game. Doing it yourself indicates a desire to do your own heavy lifting and to have a thorough understanding of one of the most important aspects of your business, namely the creation and maintenance of the system that will bring new customers to your door. DIY has two common failings: a reticence to relinquish control and a reluctance to invest. Both problems have the same end result. If you refuse to hire someone or to delegate to those you have hired, you end up consumed by marketing tasks to the neglect of other aspects of your business.

DIFMers don’t have either of those problems, though. The DIFM crowd love to delegate and aren’t afraid to spend money. They often hire the most expensive Web design firms and hand over full control of the project to them. The problem arises, though, when delegation becomes abdication and willingness to invest turns into throwing money at a project. Why is that a problem? After all, as a Web designer and marketing consultant, shouldn’t I be happy when you hand me a blank check and carte blanche? Well, not exactly. You see, I’m not you. I don’t know your business the way you do, and I can’t tell the story of your brand the way you can. I can build a stunningly beautiful Website that is the envy of all your peers, but without your voice it just won’t be effective.

So what does DIR marketing look like? Simply, it’s a best of breed blend that starts with the desire to understand how your marketing plan works, the willingness to get your hands dirty and the passion to be the voice of your brand. At the same time, DIR retains the willingness to relinquish control and spend money to get the job done right by calling in experts who understand how to make your message reach a targeted audience with whom that message will resonate and who will, ultimately, become new clients for your business.

If you can get to that kind of harmony between DIY and DIFM, you’ll have achieved the satisfaction of marketing done right.

Jerry Kennedy earned his stripes as an operations and sales manager in the lubricants industry. He is currently the co-founder of CDK Creative, a digital marketing agency that brings his real-world sales and operations experience to the world of online marketing. Learn more or request a consultation at http://cdkcreative.com. Email him at jerry@jerrykennedy.com.