I once reached out to a marketing firm to get some feedback on a copywriting piece that was in their niche hoping that they would want to collaborate. I was told that they don’t give advice for free. So of course with my personality thought “oh! they misunderstood me. I don’t want their advice to post this piece. I want their feedback to know if my writing is to the standard that they would hire for.” To which I explained and never received a response for… because well… that would have been free advice. Marketing is competitive and oftentimes brutal, but I want to change that. Terra Incognita is looking to push the industry to be better. Good marketing can be more than a paycheck – it can save someone’s business.

Marketing is competitive

And not just in general. All aspects of marketing are competitive.

The new trend is to start your own marketing company so you can achieve the financial, time, and personal freedom people crave. Sounds Great to Me!

This means that anyone – even with no experience – can start a marketing company. Which, for those of us that have spent our entire careers learning, growing, and adapting to marketing techniques… can be frustrating.

However, let’s be real…… there are so many businesses out there!!!

There’s plenty of room in the marketing field for different opinions & techniques. So why are so many people judgemental and sometimes downright rude to these types of marketers?

Actual Imposters

Some of my clients have taken the time to hire such businesses because they are usually cheaper. Since these “businesses” have no experience I’m always told about overpromising and underdelivering.

That will KILL your reputation, but it also hurts other businesses like mine. It’s hard for people to trust our industry now. They would rather hire their friend over people who have spent their entire careers studying marketing.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism…You have a voice. You have your own ideas. And if you don’t have anything that you want to talk about that you can’t sit down and write out without looking at someone else’s blog post…. you need to start rethinking your niche. As someone who went to college and took courses on plagiarism, it’s simple to connect the dots.

If you do it, you’re going to get crushed.

So here’s my advice to our new marketing friends.

You don’t have to be a full-service marketing firm to make money.

WHAT?!? You’re telling me I don’t have to know and offer every single thing that full marketing agencies offer to make money?!? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.

Honestly being full service means I often have to do things I don’t like…. like social media! I make my living off of connecting small businesses to marketing techniques that work for them… the biggest one being social media and it’s not my favorite thing. Cue the Collaboration Plan!

How I realized I don’t want to dismiss these new marketing businesses

I was working with a new client who had an office admin that constantly fixed their in-house social media assistant’s mistakes. She loved it. It was fun for her. One day she asked me if we could talk about her marketing firm business plan.

The first question I asked her was… What’s your experience. To which she replied she had none other than the posts she worked on.

I decided right then that I was never going to be like that agency I emailed when I first started. Imagine what could have happened if they offered me to collaborate.

What did I learn? She was hard working and pursuing higher education for it. Most importantly, she was good at social media.

Why in the world would she want to start a full-service firm when there are tons of people, agencies, businesses that need help with content creation?!?

Now, she’s branding herself as a content creator and running her new business like a boss.

Collaboration

If I had blown her off and told her to find a new career… where would I be? I wouldn’t be reevaluating my own brand, I wouldn’t be trying to step up my game to show the newcomers how it’s done, and I wouldn’t have grown as a business owner or even a person.

If we hadn’t talked would she have started a full-service marketing firm? Probably.

Our collaboration taught me a lot, and now when I get those emails or calls, I answer them. I even offer training sessions for my clients. If I have a business owner that isn’t happy with their team I offer them the option for me to train, create templates, and offer office hours – BEFORE they move on.

Sometimes, all you need is an outside perspective and your whole marketing plan can be turned around.

It doesn’t matter if we work together. It doesn’t matter what I think of their business. They’re trying, so I can take the 5 minutes out of my day to aid them. If they listen, great. If they don’t, great. When you collaborate it can help make one person’s business start working for them.

Yes, Marketing is competitive, but it’s a choice. Join me in creating a community that creates growth, not failure. By doing so we will get to see so many small businesses succeed and local economies thrive.

Want to work together? Book a time to meet with me! Click Here