When it comes to web marketing, someone has to be responsible for the results. The question is, who?
I have a theory about that, and like most of my theories, it’s not always cut and dried. Also known as, “it depends.”
Consulting: If the client hires an agency or consultant purely for their head-knowledge, then the client, ultimately is responsible for the results. It’s the client’s job to implement web marketing based on the consultants feedback. Keep in mind, even though the consultant’s feedback is based on education and experience, not everything will be gold. Every site is different. Therefore results may be as well.
Client-Led Implementation: In some cases, clients have an idea of what they want and ask for the web marketer to utilize a specific set of skills. That might be focusing on a single area of web marketing, performing research or following a client-led agenda. While the web marketer is responsible to make sure everything they do is of the highest value, the overall strategy provided by the client must be sound for real success.
Web Marketing Campaigns: When web marketers are hired to develop and implement a strategy, this largely put the onus of the campaign’s success on them. I say largely because there are certain caveats that apply. For example, if implementation is taken out of their hands or certain strategies they wish to employ are rejected, this will impact the overall success. But barring those, the web marketer should operate as if the success of the client is in their hands, because it is.
Of course there are other factors that go into a business’s success. If the business itself is mismanaged, then no matter how well-run a web marketing campaign is, the business will still fail. However, if both the client and the business treat the web marketing campaign as a partnership, the chances of success increase exponentially.
Neither the web marketer or the client will get what they want 100% of the time, but a good compromise can often lead to something out of the box that is best for everyone. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]No matter what, the web marketer should operate as if they are 100% responsible for the client’s success.[/inlinetweet] If anything less is provided, then the campaign is almost guaranteed to fail.