The Poisonous Nature of Money-Minded Creatives

Marketing directors and creatives across the advertising industry are all motivated by different things. Some craft marketing messages and content campaigns in the hopes of going viral and getting widespread attention. Others will do it because it’s the only thing they know. At our digital agency, Rock Candy Media, we do it because we love it. And because we love working with brands and companies who share the same passion for growth as we do. But despite some of our best intentions, and those of our colleagues, there still exist several marketers and creatives who do it strictly for the money. For both themselves and the clients they work with.

Don’t get us wrong, your ROI is one of our top priorities. And if we’re not making you money, we’re not doing our jobs well enough. But despite our undying commitment to making you richer and that much closer to retiring to that beach in Maui, we don’t let it guide what we do. What needs to be differentiated and kept separate are your goals and objectives.

Our goal is to make you rich. But our objective is to build you a brand that radiates with a wider audience (or a niche audience if you’re a microbrand) and consistently puts out good content. All too often, marketers let their goal of getting themselves and their clients rich dilute the ways in which they actually get there. They let money guide their actions and ignore the more important objectives like customer retention and brand development. What they end up with are various procedural errors that poison their own punch bowl.

Short and Immediate vs. Long and Consistent

One of the main problems with money-minded creatives is their dominating focus on short-term, immediate goals, which are oftentimes not as valuable as the long and consistent objectives that help a brand grow. These creatives focus on immediate returns and are driven by the need to get inventory off the shelves and customers in the room. While these are great objectives, their rushed manner loses them points in the long run.

Examples of this include coupon campaigns, freebies, endorsements, and lazy influencer promotions. What I mean by lazy, is that they do not spend time picking out influencers who properly represent their brand. And instead, just choose and pay the influencers with large audiences and high engagement. Something that might get you a couple customers, but not any that will stick around. The reason being is because you didn’t take the time to make sure that the influencer’s audience was right for your brand. You were fixated on the numbers and getting that immediate return.

Instead, your digital agency should be focused on finding that influencer with followers who will actually mesh with your brand. They might not have 500K followers, but the ones they do have will use your brand for the right reasons, not just because someone they like is telling them to.

Other long-term development plans include an emphasis on SEO and a focus on customer retention. SEO might not be as glamorous as a vlogged product review, but in the long-term, it’s what’s going to give you consistent results. In regards to customer retention, as important as it is to gain new clients, you should also work on retaining the ones you have. Especially if you have a wide-ranging product or service.

Choosing a Path

We’re not saying that vlogged product reviews and influencer promotions are bad ideas. When executed properly, they can offer a lot for your product and brand. But balance is key, and the absolute most important thing you have to ask yourself is why. Why is your digital agency choosing to go about a certain content campaign or strategy path? Is it to make enough money by the end of Q1? Or are you conducting a certain strategy to grow your social media following by 20%?

Both objectives very well might accomplish the same thing and can make you and your client more money. But as we said, that important part is the way you get there. It’s the journey, not the destination that will put money in your pocket and make your brand successful.

Interested in getting your path to greatness started? Let’s schedule a sit-down, we’ll show you what it takes to get returns in the form of customers and profit, quarter after quarter.