As a veteran marketer who spent many years on the client side, I know that one of the most frustrating aspects about working with agencies and consultants is a lack of clear accountability. For example, if you have a web developer, a PPC provider, and SEO provider and a PR agency handling your Social media strategy, who is accountable for the profitability of your overall Internet marketing efforts?
One answer is that they all are. That may be true, but whose neck do you ring when your ROI starts to go down? Chances are the PPC provider will blame the web site developer for a low conversion rate. Or, the web developer will blame the PPC provider for picking the wrong landing page or keywords. Or, the SEO provider will blame the web developer for technical glitches in the site for a lack of indexing by the search engines. This list can obviously go on and on. Unfortunately, when everyone is responsible, that usually means no one takes responsibility!
One of the most appealing aspects of the WSI business model is that the Internet Consultant, (i.e. ME) is responsible for 100% of a client’s Internet marketing success. As a consultant, I work with business owners to identify their business objectives, and bring to the table those Internet marketing solutions that are most capable of delivering against those objectives.
With virtually every internet marketing tool available at my finger tips, I can offer my clients an integrated solution to meet their objectives and remain completely accountable for the results. When something goes wrong, my clients have “one throat to choke”. However, it is my sincere wish, and tireless endeavor, that instead of having “one throat to choke” they have “one back to pat”, for doing a good job!
