One of my biggest pet peeves is of so-called “marketing experts” who don’t practice anything near what they preach.
You know the ones who seem more snake oil salesmen than legitimate business or marketing coach/consultant.
Just yesterday a friend asked me to check out a website of someone who is soliciting her business.
She said “He seems really nice and told me all the things we need to be doing:
- updating our social media
- blogging regularly
- reaching out to our contacts
- . . .etc.”
So I went out to his site and checked things out:
- his Facebook page hasn’t been touched since July 2012 and his business description is “check out our free 6 hour consultation” (yep, that’s it)
- his last blog update was on August 30, 2012
- he has one place on his website to join his list — it’s on the blog page which has no activity
- . . .you get the idea.
This stuff ticks me off. It’s not about the “cobbler’s children having no shoes”. It’s about a “business owner” (quotes intended) not taking care of business. How the heck are we supposed to trust him to give us good advice and help us with our businesses if he’s not doing it for himself?!?! Reminds me of the snake oil salesman of old. . .in my opinion, it’s not ethical.
Follow it up with the business/marketing coach who preaches “heart-based blah blah blah” and then sends out an email that’s almost word-for-word the same as a hardcore internet marketer. Really? It’s incongruent and does the coach a disservice. She’d be so much better off being herself.
It’s absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt possible to have a successful business by being yourself. By embracing your strengths and acknowledging/delegating your weaknesses.
Please share this post and comment below if you agree — and if you disagree, I’d love to have a discussion on why.