POV: Let’s face the facts. Roses are red, violets are blue. Content writers get writer’s block, marketing professionals suffer burnouts
Besides having to grapple with the misguided notions of non-digital marketing professionals and the facade of social media influencers who present themselves as digital experts, there are several other WTF instances that make digital marketing players want to consider switching careers.
On one hand, there’s passion for the job, on the other however, lies burn-outs from keeping up with emerging trends in the digital space, focusing so much effort on algorithms and organic reach, managing unrealistic expectations from clients and consumers, and realizing that tactics that worked last week suddenly don’t work anymore.
To bring to the fore some of these WTFs (you could have read that as What-in-The-First-party data), let’s hear from 7 digital marketing professionals.
WTF #1 The market moves so fast & you need to always stay updated with it
“You can’t really take a break in digital marketing for a few months and expect to meet the industry the way you left it,”- Yinka Bolaji, founder and CTO, Walify.
“The ever changing trends, behaviors and even platform functionalities can be really challenging. We constantly have to stay abreast of these changes, study them and experiment to predict outcomes. Unfortunately, by the time you are almost certain of predicting an outcome, something else changes again,”- Peter Adesanya, Manager, Digital Strategy, All Seasons Zenith
“Trying to learn and work with the new tools coming up, personally, I can’t keep up,”- Mary Jimoh, Marketing Manager, Olivora Cosmetics ltd.
“The digital space is very fragmented and dynamic, so one must always be up to date on trends, culture shifts, new technology and advancements,”- Chisom Bikawei, Digital Media Specialist, All Seasons Zenith.
“The constant algorithm change I have no control over can be terribly challenging. I have to always stay updated with the trends to keep up and keep meeting client requirements,” Chioma Eze, a Business Development Associate.
WTF #2 Influx of quacks and crooks,
“What I find annoying about digital marketing is that it seems anyone who opens a social media account and has a few followers, they are automatically digital marketers. That’s why we have alotta quacks in the industry. Seems people these days try to avoid the rudiments of marketing, the koko of marketing. Shortcuts seem to be the order of the day. Digital marketing is not about being a keyboard ninja,”- Fridel Makun, a marketing communications consultant
“I think the fact that some new entrants are not really applying themselves anymore or patient enough to gain knowledge and mastery of digital skill sets. People are always quick to slam a lot of digital skills on their CVs that they don’t have the required competence for,”- Chisom Bikawei
“There are too many under experienced people in high positions that make the industry look unprepared for the future of sales,”- Kofo Akingbola, Digital Acquisition Lead CCH
WTF #3 Clients want you to make magic
“Another thing is the general misconceptions that digital marketing is just social media management, and that digital marketing is magic, not “marketing” in general terms and this births ridiculous expectations by companies/clients,” Yinka Bolaji.
“Another thing that amazes me is the low client budget but big expectations. Like how?,”- Chioma Eze.
“Digital marketing is as interesting as it can be irritating especially when working with clients who demand miracles..within short time frames when they are at fault for not communicating their actual needs..and mostly comes about because they have a different perception from you as to what digital marketing is,” Mary Jimoh.
WTF #4 “Many companies still don’t understand digital marketing well enough; they underrate and underpay digital marketers,”- Princewill Ejirika, Head, Digital Marketing & Growth, Omnibiz Africa.
WTF #5 “We don’t do full digital in nigeria. What we do is running ads, social media marketing and influencer marketing. Very few people use digital to actually drive sales, and it makes it difficult to impress upon leadership in companies to properly invest in it,”- Kofo Akingbola
WTF #6 “Well coming from Africa and working within the African sphere, our biggest challenges are internet connectivity as well as paying for the digital platforms that we use; If there is a way institutions (be it banks or fintechs) can make this easier, it will make execution of creative campaigns fantastic. Another challenge is having a team that can’t work as a team, hence the delay on deliverables, and with that annoyed clients and customer service that has to cool tempers, and you still have to mentor the team to perform,”- Mary Jimoh.
