The Era of Fake Advertising Agencies Selling "Master Classes"
In 2018, I decided to create a plan to leave my full-time job and start a consulting firm that focused on marketing and advice. A simple concept that was built around small businesses that needed strategic advice on how to grow, but were on the bubble of hiring an employee, so they could insert my firm as a solid alternative to hiring internally for marketing.
In the two years I’ve been at this, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen “agencies” that front claiming they “do everything for you” but have no experience and use Fiverr instead of their knowledge. I’ve seen individuals using template landing pages telling other agencies that they can book them “100 new leads in 30 days”. While the former is egregious and obviously wrong, the latter is a systemic issue that is hooking people into giving a stranger cash at a rate as alarming as a multi-level-marketing company.
A Live Example.
As I was writing this, I refreshed my news feed, and found this ad:
The question is, and should be: If this program works so well, why can’t I find your agency online with reviews, customers, and portfolios?
A good follow up question would be: If this program has been so beneficial, why are you using a third-party landing page and low-traffic Facebook page to run the ad?
These types of shenanigans are hurting several people. Chief of most, local agencies that actually have W2 employees, source their work internally, and don’t resolve to sales tactics and BS master classes to entice people. These people are the “Drop Shippers” of online marketing agencies.
They give credible companies a bad name and lower consumer trust in marketing agencies. How many calls have you gotten that promise to get you to “The #1 Spot on Google”? Too many, right? This is similar to that.
And, we hate it too.
It’s the same thing with SEO Gurus and businesses coaches that haven’t ran a business. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
So obviously, this would just be a rant if there wasn’t a “so what now?” section, so here’s that:
So, what now?
There are two things that I would especially invite business owners to look at when it comes to considering an agency. Moreover, I would encourage these things in agencies that are looking for “gurus” to help them bring in leads.
I encourage business owners, especially small business owners, to work with people that they can get into a room. Work with people that have a vested interest in your success and are demonstrably earnest with a solid track record.
Education is key. Your agency needs to have a heart from educating you, as a business owner, to their process. If their entire work is done behind closed doors (that you don’t have access to), then there could be something seriously wrong.
All of our clients have gateways into our schedulers, advertising funnels, and reporting. They have a minimum of 3 people they can reach out to on our team should they have an issue. It’s accountability. We’ve earned so much business by just simply being there for a client when their former agency wasn’t.
In a world where people are rushing to automate and do away with human interaction in the name of an extra dollar, we’re spending that extra money on servicing clients and ensuring the small business sector has a local ally.
Until next time.
