Is it Always Better to Do What the Client Wants?

Every digital marketing agency that has been around even a few years has definitely had a client or two whose strategy didn’t make sense to them. They either wanted to forgo SEO, a contact form, or any appearance on social media. It might seem maddening to you that they would say no to such a powerful asset, but it will always happen. Online marketing is not easy to understand, especially for small businesses that are still growing an online component. So what should you do? Is it always better to do what the client wants?

Of course! You should always do what your client wants.

This is not a “the customer is always right” situation. There is no confirmed right answer. There will always be multiple options with diverging paths, each with its own risks and rewards. This means when you’re marketing for someone else’s business, the only right path is what they want. You can and should try to convince them that they should want to use everything available to them. You should even offer them lessons and support in how to use them because you have to upsell yourself too. But if they say no, here’s what you do.

You Should Always Support Their Marketing Strategy

You may know online marketing, but they know their business model better than you. They are the ones with experience in practicing law, selling clothes, or cooking food. If they decide that the way they make their money is not conducive to SEO and social media marketing strategies, you do what they say.

If a client thinks they’ll get the clients they want through word of mouth and an attractive–though not SEO-friendly– website, it’s because that has worked for them. They didn’t decide that having a lot of information on the page was bad for their strategy on a whim. They have experience with success that has come from getting to the point rather than filling their pages with content.

You Should Always Create Marketing They Understand

More importantly, a client may not know how to leverage SEO or social media. If they thrive off of talking to potential clients and sending them to a web page that’s quick and to the point, they’re not going to know how to sell their services with a tweet or a long SEO-optimized page. If you try to force them along, you’re setting them up to fail, and failing the point of marketing altogether.

Your client always needs to be able to sell themselves or their product with what they know. You can bring in the leads, but if they can’t close the deal because they’re dealing with a lead who’s too far outside their target audience, it’s useless.

They’re Paying You To Do What They Want

This can’t be emphasized enough. It doesn’t matter how much you know about online marketing, how many leads you can get them, or how successful you’ve helped others become. Your client is paying you to make the site, the marketing strategy, and the content they want. It is your responsibility to provide that so they can use it the way they planned to. If there’s ever a question of doing what the client wants and what the client needs, you do what the client wants.

Get Into Their Heads

It can be frustrating to try and explain how if they optimized a page or two, they could potentially have more leads, and thus, more sales/revenue. As online marketers, things like SEO and social media have become second nature to us.

Many businesses are small, with a few employees, possibly even family-owned, and haven’t thought to make their business a Google My Business profile. This is true of industries across law, sales, dining, and more.

They’re going to focus on what they do know just as you focus on what you know. It’s fine to give a client what they want rather than what they need when they’re in conflict. They know what they need to succeed more than anything. We, on the other hand, know what they need to do to raise their Google Search rankings more than anything.

A Marketing Agency That Does What the Client Wants

ENX2 Marketing has been lucky to have had a diverse array of clients over the years. We’ve helped businesses market themselves across several different industries, including law firms. Some clients want our advice on how to get more site visitors and how to expand their social media outreach. Others just want a website, a new logo, or a landing page.

ENX2 Marketing can do it all, and we’ll work our hardest to make sure you receive what you want for your business as our client. Contact us today for your web development and marketing needs.