The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast is brought to you byEsther of IPA Group, bringing premier online promotion to your business.
And Melanie of STOMP Social Media training who empowersbusiness owners to manage social media and marketing for themselves. And we'reback with another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. Today we'retalking about "good, fast or cheap - pick two". Okay, so this issomething that comes up a lot, especially in the realms of marketing and especiallyin the realms of design for marketing. So the concept here is that if you wantsomething to be good and cheap, it's going to be slow, you can't have it fast.If you want something to be good and fast, it'll probably end up being poorquality. If you want something fast and cheap, it's definitely going to be poorquality because it's not going to be like they're not going to be able to spendthe time doing it or maybe have the expertise to do it.
Or fast and cheap could be inconsistent rather than justpoor quality.
Yeah, absolutely. But if you're trying to do things, and I'mtalking directly to marketers and designers, graphic designers, web designers,if you're trying to do things for your clients quickly, cheaply and well, it'snot sustainable, you are going to burn out. It is going to be so hard to keepthat up because you're going to want to put your best work into everything. Butto do that quickly, you're not going to be able to do it cheaply because of allyour knowledge. And if you do sell it off cheaply, then will people actuallyrealise just how good you are?
And the other thing is, if somebody can do it fast and do itwell, you're not going to pay cheaply for it because they're only good and fastbecause they're so damn good at it.
Yes, because they have all the knowledge, you need itquickly, so you're going to pay a premium for it. So if you think about it, ifyou're one of these people who are asking your graphic designer or your socialmedia manager to throw this up immediately, it's not going to be the bestquality or they're going to charge you an arm and a leg because they maybe havetheir time set aside for something else. We're coming back here to theexpectations that we set for our customers and for ourselves as well. This ispart of the expectation. So if somebody comes to you and says, I need, in ourcase, I need a website next week, okay, totally possible. But it'll either benot up to our standards or if it fits within your budget
You wouldn't do it because it's your brand that's out there.
Yeah, exactly.
There are people out there who could do a quick job for you,but if they don't have a discerning enough or strong enough, personal orbusiness brand, they'll just whack it up there for you and get it done. But ifthey've got a good plethora of excellent recommendations and testimonials andbeen established for a number of years, if they did that for you, they'd losecredibility.
Yeah, absolutely. Okay, let's give an example outside of themarketing realm. So think about it. If you're building a house, the foundationsthat you never see when you're in the house probably take longer to put in tomake sure that they're solid, to make sure they're dry before they build thewalls around. It probably take longer to do than the actual building of thewalls. So if you put that into the context of your marketing, this strategy,the plan, the terms, what's it called, brain freeze when you're building upyour buyer personas, all of that stuff that your customers will never see, allof that stuff will take a longer time to do. When you hire a social mediamanager and you're just like, oh, I only want these things done, that's not allthat they will do for you.
It depends on who you approach, isn't it? Again, if you'regoing to a virtual assistant, they tend to be really good at certain things,like social media managers. There are some people who are well recognised asbeing excellent social media managers and ads and other people who are reallygood social media managers and content creationists. So it's fundamentallyunderstanding what's the most important thing for you to do. Now, we could bespeaking here to people who are looking to get social media managers and wecould also be speaking to people who are actually social media managers, buttrying to be all things to everyone, it's just not sustainable. And you'remiserable as well.
Yeah, you're miserable, your client's miserable. And it'snot a fun time because even you were saying there by content creators, not allcontent creators make images. So just because you create the content doesn'tmean you create the image to go with the content or the video to go with thecontent. It might just be the text or the blurb that goes with the content. Soyou might need to really sit down. Not might, you do really need to sit downwhen you are starting a new project. And this goes for web, it goes for evenwriting for a newspaper. What do you want to get across to the person who willbe interviewing you for the newspaper? What do you want them to write about?What homework do you need to do to send to your web designer to say, I likethis page, this page, this page? Can you do something similar? Okay, so nomatter what you're doing in business, if you're making a piece of jewellery, ifyou're making a candle, you're not just going to throw all the stuff togetherand hope for the best. You have a plan, you have a description of what you wantto achieve. You have a process that you follow that your customer at the end ofthe day will never probably see or realise the number of hours that go into it.So when you're pricing things up, you need to take all of that intoconsideration.
And I think that's why planning is so important andstrategy, because if you want to make things more affordable for yourself andfind good quality people who can help you achieve your end result, youroutcomes that you're looking for, then planning well ahead. Because people payfor the urgency of stuff, don't they?
Oh, yes.
So if you can plan well ahead, it then means that you canput in more of the work needed to make whatever you're looking to be resolved,fixed, worked out cheaper. It's like websites, for instance, if you can go upto your website developer with all the copy, with the site map, with a gooddose of the images, and then literally all they need to do is bring it alltogether and improve the customer experience. But nine times out of ten, werock up and we're not entirely sure what we're looking for in a website. And sothey have to come back with numerous ideations and that all takes time andmoney
And money. Or if you rock up and say, I need this websitetomorrow, then it'll be done on a template that thousands, or if not millionsof other people also have the same. So your website will look and feel exactlythe same as so many others, which then detracts from your business and detractsfrom what you're trying to do and trying to get across. Because if somebodylands on your site and goes, oh, but I was here the other day thinking it wassomebody else's site, then you're not going to stand out, you're not going tohave that "je ne sais quoi", you're not going to have that somethingspecial, that little extra that you would have got by spending more. I'm notsaying it has to be. A lot more.
But I think as marketers, we also want to be seen as fastand good as well. We want to attract two different types of clients. We wantthe good and cheap ones and the fast and good ones because the good and cheapones are the lead magnets and the people that go on their email list and thatsort of stuff, who you build a relationship with and you get to know over aperiod of time. And then the fast and good ones. So we want to be seen as fastand good ones by people who need our products or services now.
Yes. I mean, you have training ready to go. Yes, but thattraining has taken you years, so that wasn't fast for you. It'll be fast forthem to get, but they'll have to pay for your knowledge,
Especially if they want to come out with as much knowledgeas they would like.
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, even putting it again inanother perspective, if you think about renting a house or buying a house andyou want it fast and cheap and in a good location, no, you're not. Because ifyou want city centre location, you're going to pay the high prices and it'sprobably going to be small. If you want the countryside, then you're going tohave issues with commuting or with internet or with numerous other things. Sowhen you think about that, why should you be looking for good, fast and cheapin your business? Why should you be delivering good, fast and cheap in yourbusiness?
I think the only time that there would ever be somethinglike that is maybe if you're quiet, work wise and then you become a unicorn.And the downside to becoming a unicorn then is you could potentially get anawful lot of work from referrals and this was amazing, great experience, butthen you can't maintain it.
No, because you get like too many clients at the one timeand then you get burnt out and everybody always feels that there are so manypeople in their industry that they're competing against. But at the end of theday, you make yourself and your business unique. So find something that makesyou stand out, find something that nobody else has and people will pay forthat.
You just need to be situationally aware and have a sense ofwhat people are looking for. And I do honestly think if you can pick two ofgood, fast and cheap, I think you're well on your way.
Yeah, definitely. So think about it, guys, which way wouldyou want to go? Good and fast. Fast and cheap. The other one.
Honestly, really?
Library and it's Monday morning, so what way do you wantyour business to grow? How do you want people to know you? Do you want peopleto go, oh, she'll do a really quick job, won't be that great in quality, butreally quick and really cheap. Do you want that? Or do you want to be known asyou might have to wait three weeks for it, but it will be amazing leaving youwith that little question. That's it for today, guys. We'll be back next weekwith more Monday morning marketing. Until then, bye bye. Bye, guys.