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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
A Good marketing rep is dropping seeds everywhere. The boards are just a portion of what needs to be done.
Now what is most important to me is not only they drop the seeds but they stay around to cultivate and watch as the business grows. In this business where many are a one man band you need to have excelent follow up skills. Be tenatous just dont be obnoxous! (Sorry for my most excelent spelling skills!!!)
Mindy - some people have trouble being tenacious without being obnoxious. several programs guaranteed i would never promote them by nagging and annoying me. i'm sure others have had the same experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by basschick
Very true, but I can not tell you how many put you aside cause they are so busy and your friendly reminder keeps them from ditching your deal all together!
that's true. it's a fine line...
lee, your posts don't talk about whether the rep is taking care of affiliates. support is often a full-time job, and a very important one.
Good note Mindy !
Agree.
if you're hiring a rep, that is someone who is out there solely to represent your business plan/vision, you should have a clear job description laid out for them when they start. A *good* supervisor lets the employee know exactly what is expected of them and provides clear and precise goals. If those expectations are clearly stated and the marketing rep is coming up short, it will be no surprise to either the rep or the supervisor that the situation isn't working.
I've seen a lot of people look to hire a lower-paid "rep" and expect them to play the role of the visionary. In theory, the rep should step into a company that has an established marketing plan. If you're looking for someone to create that plan, you're not looking for a rep, but a higher level manager or director.
Yea clearly you are not happy so let him know that !
Communication is the key !
If you feel they are not doing "their" work or what you discussed with
them (job description) just fire him/her.
Just say the magic words "don't take it personal it is just business". :twink:
Good point but do you think of that person as a marketing rep for an individual company or, a marketing company promoting an individual program, there are differences between the two.Quote:
Originally Posted by basschick
Actually, come to think of it, has anyone on GWW used a marketing company in the adult industry to push their sites and if so, how did you find the results for you?
I know a few companies who have used a PR firm over the past 3-6 months who have been extremely unhappy with the services they received, in some cases paying $1500+ a month for nothing more than posting 1 message every few days on a few forums that have next to no gay presence at all.
However i guess the same could also be true for companies who have a dedicated in house rep who only posts on boards with very little market exposure.
Your thoughts and feedback on companies handling the marketing needs of more than 1 client at a time?
Regards,
Lee
It has got to happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
If the client is going to be able to pay an outsourced marketing rep less money than they'd have to pay to hire a dedicated one in house, that marketing rep is going to have to work for more than one company in order to be able to pay their own salary. That's just the way it is. And so by that marketing rep having a number of different clients, each client can pay a fraction of what it'd cost to bring on someone full time.
It's then up to the marketing rep to be sure they fairly balance their time between clients according to what the clients pay and what promises the rep has delivered.
But unless and until a client wants to hire someone fulltime and put em on the payroll they best expect that rep to be working for other people as well. A good outsourced marketing rep should still be able to generate return for the clients that makes them even more appealing than a full time employee, generating revenue and exposure and being of value to a disproportionately higher degree than they're costing the client. And a good fulltime, dedicated marketing rep should be able to generate revenue and exposure and be of more value than a cheaper, outsourced option. hehe.
You fire a rep when you'd fire anyone else - their value to your company no longer justifies the expense they constitute, and a reversal of that situation simply doesn't seem likely.
I was in the same position earlier this month deciding whether to keep my marketing guys or not. As it turned out, they dropped me! Problem solved.
I just started reading this thread and saw Michael's and Rainey's response. I so totally agree with you both.Quote:
Originally Posted by RainGurl
I was talking to a business friend the other day who was getting pissed at one of her people for not doing something right. My first question was, "Did you lay out exactly what and how the person is supposed to do this?"
Her response was, "Well, no! But it's not the way I want him to do it."
Of course my response was , "then he's not doing a damn thing wrong."
Unless you lay out a solid plan and how to make it work the way you want it to happen and the boundaries in which he or she is allowed to vary, you can't complain about how it's getting down.
Now, if you've laid out a concise plan of action and it's not getting done... then do what you have to.
My best,
Gary-Alan
i just stopped being a marketing rep for a company... well, sort of. the job grew and grew, and somehow i never got a chance to BE a marketing rep. i was too busy supervising the designers, choosing and zipping and uploading the member content, writing the text, dealing with the new content, choosing new niches, changing the member areas...
so they hired ANOTHER marketing rep - one who was shared between 3 companies, and as a result, wasn't identified with any one company. it didn't work out well.
i think a GOOD marketing rep who is identified with your company can be a real asset - as long as they don't send people "i don't know" or "everything is working fine" emails when there are problems. a person who carries your button in their sig, who answers all threads that come up about your program, who keeps in touch with your affiliates in a friendly way to let them know what's new or reminds them to send traffic, who keeps track of threads like "what programs offer custom banners?" or "what program offers fhgs?" and answers them - that's a of a marketing rep.
also i think a good marketing rep may think of ways to get the program known, will find good advertising opportunities, will write press releases that draw interest and will know where to send them. they may approach people representing programs that might benefit from knowing about your company.
but honestly, this can vary from company to company. there is no handbook describing exactly what the job entails, and people who feel their reps should automatically know should consider their business needs and figure out what they want. no one should have to guess what their job is, but some of us will at least be out there doing stuff even if there IS no real job description.
Lee, obviously you know that posting a couple threads a day is not being a marketing rep. although if a company hires someone who isn't sure what to do, that could easily happen.
Well said. I laid out everything in advance with my marketing rep. and had them give me an estimate of what they would be able to accomplish with my site minimally, how long it would take, what investment I'd have to put in, how much time they'd work, weekly sales reports to keep on track, etc. etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by RainGurl
This business is difficult and success depends on so many factors. That being said, the goals my last marketing reps set for themselves still weren't met 5 months later and I ended our working relationship. These are the first marketing reps I've ever hired.
My reps got Falcon as an advertiser on my site, or so they said. All advertisers are supposed to pay in advance, but my rep didn't request that for some reason. Falcon has never paid. Here I am three months later giving them front page free advertising on my site. I don't know if my rep was scamming me, or has even contacted Falcon regarding payment. My rep says he has contacted them and has given me excuse after excuse, for over 3 months now, as to why they are late paying their advertising bill.
My reps and I separated on good terms, I thought, and I was told "I will be getting you the list of webmasters we have been contacting on your behalf tomorrow, we are just compiling them for you now." That was on April 12th. I've been waiting patiently so I could write my contact at Falcon, after getting his email address. They still haven't contacted me about being paid by my advertiser, after excuse, followed by excuse the last three months.
I've been saving my money for IVF and thought I'd invest in marketing and make more money, instead I lost money every month to the tune of thousands of dollars now, have advertisers that don't pay, endless emails to sort out where things were. I've had to postpone the IVF now because I'm out all the money and still, after all this, they don't feel responsible enough to give me a list of my webmasters and get my money from the advertisers they brought on? I feel like I was led on the last 5 months, and after our working relationship ended, I was just thrown away like trash.
I'll be happy when I find a good marketing company that does what they say, meets their own goals, and helps make my company a profit. I'm easy to work with and just expect people to do what they say. If there's anyone interested let me know. :high:
Damn that kinda sucks, how much were you paying them to 'market' your sites out of interest?Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirt
Well i have to say that would be grounds for a collecton agency or lawsuit right there. If you are owed money, you should get it either from Falcon or fro your ex marketing firm $0.02Quote:
My rep says he has contacted them and has given me excuse after excuse, for over 3 months now, as to why they are late paying their advertising bill.
See above :)Quote:
They still haven't contacted me about being paid by my advertiser, after excuse, followed by excuse the last three months.
Again that sucks, even if a working relation ends both sides should still be in contact with one another, especially from a marketing firms point of view. Just because business wasnt there up to the point your relationship with them ended, that doesnt mean it wont come in after it ends. It does sound like they were your 'buddies' as long as you kept paying them though.. Unfortunately there are many people in the industry like that and people only find out after they have spent a lot of money, may i ask if you got references from their previous clients before signing on with them?Quote:
I feel like I was led on the last 5 months, and after our working relationship ended, I was just thrown away like trash.
Oh and who was the company out of interest id like to know so we can stay clear of them as im sure others on GWW would like to know who they are too.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience Squirt, on the bright side though, you just learnt a valuable lesson and im sure its something you wont let happen again :thumbsup:
Regards,
Lee
That really bites. Sorry to hear that.
What's IVF?
dzinerbear