I try to stay up to date on all aspects of marketing, and have for many years followed a group of people who run seminars and webinars and conferences and all manner of events where you pay to hear them present.
The sales pitch goes like this.
You are a startup and you have created something amazing in your shed that all the world needs but you haven’t got a clue how to bring it to market. You therefore look at Google and put in something like Internet Marketing or How to market products, and there suddenly is an ad asking you if you are happy with your marketing.
This is the amazing way that Google works, it gives you an ad for what you are looking for at exactly the time you are looking for it. Of course you are going to click on it. You then go thorugh to a website and you give them your email address in return for a document that promises you the secrets of all marketing. Sounds good so far doesn’t it? Now the kicker, couple of times a week you get invited to an event or webinar which is actually a pitch to you so that you will spend thousands on learning all about marketing. The challenge they lay down to you is if you do not do this then you are not taking your business seriously. If you do pay up you will be a member of the elite that will very soon be driving around in an Aston Martin and dating supermodels (ok some people like Porsches and would rather have Brad Pitt but you get the idea).
Now those are pretty strong and emotive words so its natural that a lot of people will cough up the cash. Now before I go any further I will say that I have never coughed up the cash to go to one of these but I know the routine. I was originally an actor and trained professionally so I know how to command a room and whip up emotion in an audience, I therefore know the gig and I have sat at the back whilst some of these people went to work.
It is important to get as many people as possible in the room and so hotel conference facilities are perfect. You keep it informal, you move around a lot and you keep the energy up as you promise this and that and make sure that you associate yourself with their success. It can be very effective and its a tactic that is used by Politicians and cult leaders. In fact Adolf Hitler was extremely good at this technique. That gave you food for thought didn’t it?
The thing is that they then turn things around and say to you that you don’t really want to be in the business you are in. What you really want to do is the same thing as them. They tell you that you don’t actually need to be an expert to give presentations like this, all you need is to say that you are. I’ve heard one example given of a chap who gives presentations about running restaurants to new restauranters, but who has never run a restaurant in his life. This is explained to you as if its a good tihng.
Ok stop. Back the truck up. There is a guy here who is telling you that he is an expert in things and that you should be in this business as well, and it doesn’t matter if you actually have experience in the industry or not, all you have to do is say you are and people will give you money. Have you spotted the contradiction in the argument yet?
They will tell you about how they know more about Google advertising than anyone else in the world. What you mean more than the guys at Google, or agencies that are managing multi millions on behalf of clients and have whole teams to devote to it? Its interesting that as the recession has bit harder so the claims coming from these people has got more and more outrageous. I expect them to pretty soon announce that they are the reincarnation of Christ, Adam Smith and David Ogilvy all wrapped into one black turtle necked jersey package.
Now the spoiler. Everything they say can be read in a book, and it is a book that wasn’t written by them. I would argue that their information is also out of date because they are not at the leading edge of marketing innovation but for most businesses that shouldn’t matter too much. The books will cost you somewhere between £5 and £25, and you can then go online to discuss them. There are genuine thinkers in the world and they are very happy to share their knowledge with you, but these guys on the stage are not them. They are telling you the same thing, don’t update their pitches often enough and are charging you a premium for hearing something that you can get in a store in your town, or order for next day delivery from Amazon.
Our Booklist should get you started quite nicely, and there is also the British Library that is there to help you for free too. If your money is tight and you don’t know how to market yourself these books will give you absolutely everything you need to know to get started, and after that when you have built a business, an agency will be able to help you with some creative ideas to get you on to the next level. People in agencies have been doing this for many years and will take responsibility for the work they do. They won’t simply tell you how to do it and pick up a fee.
Please don’t be fooled by the charlatans.
