Imagine for a second you’re at a concert of your favorite musical band. The curtain comes up, and there is the lead singer, sitting on a stool, and he begins to belt out the most beautiful words and melodies. It’s nice. The lead singer sings each song perfectly.
If that’s all the concert was, you might enjoy it, but tonight, you came to see a band. But there is no band, and, in fact, no music. It’s just the lead singer, singing the songs you love.
Now, imagine the lead singer picks up a guitar and begins to play the music that goes with the songs. Ah, now we’re getting closer to what you came for. The music is great, but still, it’s just a guitar and a voice. Not really what you were expecting or paid for.
Let’s now begin to add some layers. The other band members come on the stage, one at a time. First joining in singing the choruses and then picking up their own instruments. It’s not long until you are hearing the full band belting out their tunes as you have come to know and love them.
Next, a giant screen appears behind the band with graphics, video images and words all set to create a stunning visual display to go along with the songs. The lighting begins to change, a single white spotlight turns into a vivid light show dancing across the stage with the band.
As the show continues, more backup singers and dancers join the stage. And, again, one by one, an entire orchestra assembles behind the band, and the members begin to add their instruments to the song. Each new addition bringing in new levels of enjoyment to your senses.
What started out as a solo-talent show that was less than you had hoped for has turned into a musical adventure that has blown away all your expectations.
That is web marketing.
Web Marketing is a Team Effort
Good web marketing is more than just SEO. If SEO’s focus is on website architecture and keywords, that’s the equivalent of a voice and a guitar. It has value, but it’s certainly not the full experience.
We often read about many different aspects of online marketing and the value each one can bring. But, like the illustration above, each piece of web marketing can make a good show, but rarely a great one.
People love singer-songwriters sitting down for an acoustic set. But have you ever noticed that those shows are much smaller and “more intimate?” That’s because, as much as we like them, we want the full band and light show! As such, truly good web marketing isn’t an instrument, it’s an orchestra. And a light show. And backup dancers. You can get traction focusing on only one area of web marketing, but you’ll never sell out the arena.
That means that you can’t just focus on one area, but also that you can’t just rely on one person. The days of the solo web marketer are pretty much gone. Any consultant you hire to handle your entire web marketing campaign will undoubtedly be hiring his own consultants to fill in where his experience leaves off. And if he’s not, you’re going to be missing some key expertise needed to see your business succeed.
Think about one person trying to play all the instruments in a five member band. Impossible. While there are very talented musicians who can play multiple instruments, very rarely are they winning awards for their skill on every one. And it’s even less likely that they can play more than a few, let alone more than one at a time.
It’s pretty hard to keep up on social media engagement if you’re running around the web marketing stage grabbing the architecture instrument, before putting that down to go pick up your content strategy instrument. Something is always on “pause.”
Add in your web marketing and you have a lot of instruments in play. As talented as she is, you don’t want to be that girl.
Web Marketing is a Mix of Technical and Creative
One of the other reasons you need more than a one-person web marketing team is because web marketing requires often-opposing skills. Very few people are both creative and technical. The best web designers are rarely the best web coders. And the best SEOs are rarely the best social media marketers. While someone can be good at both, they rarely can be great at both.
And your website deserves greatness. It deserves not just semi-talented people but many talented people. It deserves to have the best social media, the best content, the best on-page optimization, the best visual appeal and the best analytics.
And if you can’t afford the best, settle for really, really good. This guy might have talent in that he can play multiple instruments at once, but that’s not the talent you’re looking for.
Image credit: Billie Ward
What you want is someone who’s not so great at multi-tasking as multiple someones who are great at specific tasks that bring fuller web marketing success.
Web Marketing is Part Skill and Part Available Time
Web marketing comes down to both skill and hours invested. A good concert lasts a couple of hours. Good web marketing continues day after day after day. The question is, how much time are you allowing your band to perform?
Does your budget allow for half a song, or a full concert experience? Does it allow for one person and a single instrument, or does it allow for the full band and light show?
You get what you invest in your web marketing. If you cut corners on either the quality of the performers or the time you allow them to invest, you’re going to walk away disappointed. There may be shortcuts to web marketing, but they are more of the Donner Pass variety, which turned out to not be a short cut at all, and led to cannibalism.
Investing in successful web marketing truly takes an investment. If you’re not putting into it what is needed, you won’t get out of it what you want. When you hire the right people, they should tell you upfront what your expectations should be. If you can’t afford to adjust your budget, adjust your expectations. That’s free!
Stoney deGeyter
Latest posts by Stoney deGeyter (see all)
- Everyday Life Lessons That Guarantee Web Marketing Success - February 24, 2016
- Content is Meaningless – It’s The Messaging That Matters - January 13, 2016
- What Your Web Marketer Doesn’t Know (About You) Can Kill You - December 9, 2015
- The Pitfalls of a One-Man Web Marketing Band - November 3, 2015
- Mobile Content vs Desktop Content: What’s the Diff? - September 22, 2015
Daniel Wagner says
You make a great point about web marketing being part skill and part available time. It seems to be one of the biggest struggles I’m having when trying to work a full time job while launching an online business. Too many ideas and not enough time to implement a fraction of them. In order to truly be successful, it takes time. There are many tasks that I find myself delegating and hiring out just due to lack of time.
Great article! 🙂
Stoney deGeyter says
Thanks Daniel. The situation isn’t all that much different for agencies working for clients. We frequently find ourselves wanting (and needing) to do more than the client is paying for. We want to provide the best results possible, but eventually we have to cut off time spent on the campaign.