Beware of Jargon Jerks!

With the influx of new marketing technologies, many business owners and entrepreneurs are finding themselves ill equipped to understand their needs. And worse yet, jargon jerks are hanging around every street corner smooth talkin’ and confusing you into purchasing high priced “technology” services you may not even need. Heard these words recently in your quest for marketing help…SEO, Above the Fold, Algorithm, ROI, KPI, RSS, UX, B2B, B2C, CMS, and the list of scary cryptic abbreviations, acronyms, and catch phrases goes on and on. Business owners beware! Just because a business coach or marketing professional throws these words around does not mean they are knowledgeable, skilled in the technologies, or industry savvy in their application of the technology or concept. Also guys, some of those terms are “Google” created and want to lock you into the new Google system of paid digital presence and advertising. #Newsflash, you do not necessarily need to play the Google game to have a successful digital presence. Not to mention there are other ways to make a splash in your market then simply “digital” based advertising. Digital marketing and social media technologies are vitally important and I have no intent to tell you otherwise. And of course many markets benefit substantially from the new technologies and lead tracking tools. What it is important to understand is that the problem is not that they exist, the problem is that a sector of the marketing world has learned to make money on your technological ignorance. I watched a peer in my industry tell a client that SEO is a priority for them and they needed his SEO technology to be found. The client believed that professional and paid thousands of dollars for his suggestions and “SEO Program.” Ready for the sad part of that story? The client had a niche specific business, did not have updated social media or a mobile friendly/Google optimized website, and did not have target market clarity. That professional gave a blanket suggestion based on the high priced service they wanted to profit on and did not take the clients situation or actual digital footprint into consideration. Saddest part though is the fact that you do not need special magical technology to manage SEO as there are numerous analytic tools available for free, in conjunction with other services, or low cost. But the client heard words they did not recognize and assumed they must need what the marketing professional was selling. The marketing professional baited the client with jargon. Have you suffered at the hands of a jargon jerk? If you have do not beat yourself up as it happens to the best of us. The simplest way to combat industry ignorance is to ask your marketing professional or business coach more questions. If you ask the right questions, you will be able to smell out the jargon jerks and find the right solutions for your marketing issues.

Need help coming up with the right questions? Try these in your next meeting.

“What does that analytics tool measure?”

“What other programs have that same feature?”

“What message and markets are we attracting?”

“What is being done with the information or leads we receive?”

“Do I have the right digital presence in place to need that product/service?”

“What is the specific goal behind the action?”

“Can you explain that concept to me like I am a kindergartner please?”

“Can you show me how the return on investment justifies the expense to my personal business?”