Meshing Digital Marketing and Deep Strategy Work

 

The Disconnect Between Specialized Marketing and Business Results

With how quickly digital marketing moves and changes, it’s easy for specialists to get caught up in the intricacies of their particular niche. SEO experts dive deep into algorithms, content marketers focus on crafting compelling narratives, and paid advertising specialists obsess over click-through rates and conversion optimization. While this specialized knowledge is valuable, it can sometimes create a disconnect between marketing efforts and tangible business outcomes. This disconnect can lead to frustrated clients and, ultimately, lost business for marketing agencies.

 

The Pitfall of Tunnel Vision

As Corey Morris, CEO of Voltage and author of The Digital Marketing Success Plan, points out, “If somebody is an SEO specialist, it’s hard for them to sometimes go into solving business problems.” Specialization is necessary, but it can also lead to tunnel vision. An SEO specialist might celebrate improved rankings and increased organic traffic, but if these metrics don’t translate into actual business for the client, that celebration may be short-lived.

Corey shares that early in his career, he worked with an attorney-client for three months, delivering what he thought were excellent results: improved rankings, increased traffic, and even tracked phone calls. However, at the end of the quarter, the client had bad news — he had received no conversions from all that work. 

This highlights a critical lesson for all marketing professionals: 

Understanding the client’s business is just as important as understanding marketing tactics.

 

Bridging the Gap Between Marketing Metrics and Business Outcomes

To avoid situations like the one Corey described, marketers need to dig deeper into their clients’ businesses. This means going beyond surface-level goals and really understanding:

1. What constitutes a qualified lead for the client
2. How the client’s sales process works
3. What specific outcomes drive the client’s business forward

By gaining this deeper understanding, marketers can align their efforts more closely with the client’s actual business needs. This alignment is crucial because, as Corey shares, “Marketing KPIs can be all green graphs, charts up and to the right, but if it’s not getting all the way through to a business outcome or understood [by the client], I still get fired at the end of the day.”

 

Overcoming Organizational Challenges

Marketers often lack control over many aspects of their client’s business. Issues with product teams, sales departments, or even internal communication between marketing and sales can all impact the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

To navigate these challenges, marketers need to:

1. Develop strong relationships with key stakeholders in the client’s organization
2. Facilitate clear communication between different departments
3. Ensure that marketing efforts are aligned with the overall business strategy

By taking on this more holistic, bigger-picture role, marketers can help clients overcome internal obstacles that might be hindering their success beyond a typical marketing or SEO implementation strategy.

 

The Importance of Distinctive Brand Messaging

In most industries, consumers are bombarded with countless marketing messages daily. This oversaturation makes it increasingly difficult for businesses to capture attention and stand out from their competitors. When companies fail to differentiate themselves, they risk becoming just another voice in the noise, easily overlooked and forgotten.

Many businesses struggle to stand out because they “don’t have a distinctive brand message or strategy and sound the same as everyone else out there,” says Corey. 

This is another area where marketers can add significant value by helping clients develop unique positioning and messaging that sets them apart from competitors.

By helping clients develop truly distinctive brand messaging, marketers can provide immense value, enabling businesses to cut through the noise and establish a strong, memorable presence in their market. This not only aids in customer acquisition but also in building long-term brand equity and customer loyalty.

 

 

Conclusion

Corey’s story serves as a powerful reminder that effective marketing goes beyond mastering specific tactics or channels. To truly drive results and ROI for clients, marketers must develop a deep understanding of their clients’ businesses, align their efforts with tangible business outcomes, navigate organizational challenges, help develop distinctive brand messaging, and effectively communicate value to key decision-makers.

By bridging the gap between marketing expertise and business understanding, marketers can avoid the painful experience of delivering seemingly great results that don’t actually move the needle for their clients. 

To get a broader look at the digital marketing and SEO industry in the age of AI, tune in to this episode of The Progressive Agency Podcast to hear more from our guest, Corey Morris.