And now a companion piece to my ‘Honesty in Digital Marketing’ post for your delight and to help you through the shoal of slippery sharks swimming round the Internet. You can be an angel.
I like to think I’m always ruthlessly honest. I do try but I’m only human with a chip of vanity, a sprinkle of blarney and a tendency for hyperbole. I suspect you’re just like that…
So, here we go of countdown of the less than honest sharks, people and platforms (maybe that is people), to avoid or question deeply. O’ and we’ll end with some self-protection for your digital marketing joy.
The Top 5 Dishonesty in Digital Marketing points:
- Analytics for every occasion
- Brand guru
- Anyone called Gary
- It’s called propaganda
Analytics for Every Occasion
Statistics lie, 100% of people agree. You can’t deny that because that 100% is me. This is a truism. What else to be aware of when it comes to the good ol’ stats? Well, that’s the unimportant ones.
For example, impressions. One often quoted by sales guys and usually attached to selling you a banner. An impression means the graphic / banner appeared in a browser, that is all. No one has done anything with it.
Brand Guru
Don’t get me wrong there are a good many good people working as brand consultants. BUT, too often they are more concerned with purely the look and feel, not the sales.
Google is self-serving and like the chino-wearing smooth people of California pays lip service to honesty, integrity and the benefits of doing good. Harsh? No. It’s not harsh. It is a fact that many (not all) of the present digital marketing / product creators are in the business to take your money and make it their own. Nothing wrong with capitalism, it’s the hypocrisy that they spout along the way.
Anyone Called Gary
Not true, some of them are called Simon.
It’s called propaganda
Is this word still known? People spout the words ‘fake news’, because it is simpler and anyone spouting that phrase as a talisman is evil. Said it. Yes. Evil as they are telling lies.
Self-Protection for Digital Marketing
6 Things to Remember
What’s the click through? Ask this when some sales person tries to sell you a banner. If you know how much a lead and a conversion is worth then you can do a quick sum. Click percentage equals how many visitors?
Dear brand person, what is the likely return in terms of sales? They won’t be able to answer that one, because it’s impossible. The question is not the point, the point is to make sure that brand person is not just branding for the sake of branding AND is aware of the consequences if the branding doesn’t deliver.
Google, you have done evil by being a monopoly that takes other people’s content and repositions it as your own. Have a stooge around for Google + Lyrics + website scrapping or even news publishers and what happens to their content. You may even wish to consider all the wonderful content Google keeps to itself on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP’s).
So, your name is Gary…you’ll be wanting my money for spouting bleed’n obvious sh**e so you can brand yourself and make lots of money from speaking engagements and spouting even more sh**e with the aid of a large screen and a baseball cap.
It’s not propaganda, it’s mixture of the deluded, people that seriously need help to better their mental wellness, countries wanting to undermine others and big liars. Amen!
A Final Thing
Go back to source. If you read a stat or are given a fact, check where it comes from. Sadly, we need fact checkers or a range of authorities we can cross check facts with. Yes. I’ve been caught out. There’s so much of this nonsense scaring our digital lives. Just check it before you sow it on within your network.
Of course, I’m full of prejudice, just like you.
Let me know your favourite dishonest digital marketing. I’m keeping a list, o’ and this is not a wholly serious post, just an honest one.
AMEN!
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