Why Cheap Marketing Costs You More in the Long Run

Julia McCoy

Julia McCoy

Creator and Co-founder

why cheap marketing costs more in the long run

FACTS: Cheap and marketing should never go together in the same sentence.

Unless you’re a brand-new startup with absolutely no funds.

And even then, your cheap marketing mindset should only last a few months before you phase it out.

If you have an investor in your business, or more than $75 in the bankespecially then, don’t be cheap. Be invested from the get-go.

I believe great, successful marketing is never cheap, just like anything else great in life.

You can’t have productivity without investing in your health and day-to-day work setup. You can’t have an awesome, fast, long-lasting computer for just a trade off of hundred bucks. That investment = success list goes on and on.

You must invest in your marketing and discard the cheap marketing mindset, to move up in your brand authority, recognition, sales, and ROI.

Mindset plays in, absolutely. If you have a poverty mindset, you could go play to the weaknesses of low-cost marketing, and learning how to market with no budget.

All of that leads you down the wrong road – FAST.

Not only does cheap marketing bring about a cheap look, feel, and position in the marketplace, but the dangers of cheap marketing go way behind just looking crappy on the internet. Cheapening out on your brand can harm your reputation and damage trust, causing leads and prospects to walk away.

Why Cheap Marketing Costs You More than the Savings

True story: A marketer once paid a low fee for 50 social media posts from Fiverr, and began to copy, paste, and post the deliverables.
 
Turns out, the first post they used was copied directly from my profile.
 
It was recognized by a friend, because this post of mine had gone viral that week on multiple platforms.
 
cheap marketing facebook post
cheap marketing linkedin post
 
This story was written with a specific formula, taking me over ninety minutes to develop and write!
 
I found out, and called the culprit out publicly. Getting blatantly copied by another entrepreneur and my content used to build their brand ISN’T cool. I will call you out on it.
 
Talk about brand reputation management that day.
 
In ten years, I’ve never published a story that wasn’t mine to tell.
 
I’ve never tried to have content written for a dollar a post. I know that content that cheap, will either be plagiarized (stolen from someone else) or utter crap.
 
And neither gets you far.
 

Hiring cheap marketing help opens you up to situations like this, where you could place your brand and reputation in extremely precarious positions.

If you hire a marketing firm or a marketer, it should not be at a cheap rate.

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Not sure how to tell the difference?

Here are three ways to avoid the dangers and pitfalls of the negative ROI of cheap marketing, improve your mindset, and get with it in terms of paying real experts to authentically help you improve brand ROI.

1. Avoid cheap marketing tactics and test the content or marketing deliverables you do hire out for.

When it comes to original writing to grow your brand – don’t use a $10 Fiverr gig to write five, ten, or fifty posts. Just don’t do it. Hire a proven writer. For example, that marketer could have hired a social media writer for $13/post, from Express Writers, and received 100% original content. However, 50 original posts would cost her $650, not $10.

Know you’re getting original content. You can easily do this by running your content through Copyscape, which will tell you if it’s plagiarized or not, before posting.

Business owners – do your diligence. Use Copyscape to check the content you have someone else write for you, before you post it. It’s costs you 5 cents per article to run the content through Copyscape. The editorial team at Express Writers runs all the content our writers send in through this tool, just to be sure we’re upholding what we say when we guarantee 100% original content to our clients.

copyscape

That five cents is your peace of mind.

So, know you’re not stealing someone else’s content. Even if someone else writes for you, ultimately, the responsibility of plagiarism lands on your head. Do your homework.

2. Be real on the internet (be yourself).

This should go without saying—but if you tell a story, make sure it’s yours.

Don’t fudge the truth or tell a story that’s been copied and pasted from someone else. Just don’t do it.

It took me five years to open up about telling the story of how I escaped a cult.

I was fearful of the response, and held off for years until the call was too great to put off any longer.

When I began to share this story, I received more traffic, built more trust, and heard more kind words from my audience than I’d ever heard in all five years of just talking about marketing.

Wow.

I encourage you to tell your story. In a bigger way than you ever have.

You will not need to copy and paste ever again.

julia mccoy's youtube channel

3. Understand what goes into a winning campaign.

It took me SEVEN years to know how content strategy and marketing really worked.

I wrote a 380-page book on the topic of content strategy, and launched a content marketing course with 70+ videos. Doing that was me proving to myself that I am the expert I position myself to be online.

When I hire a writer, a creator, a strategist, a CRO expert—you name it—I pay thousands to get the best.

Or, I take on a mentoring role if not and invest my time.

It’s worth every single thousand you spend to either learn how to be the expert, or get the expert when you’re marketing your brand.

Don’t cheapen out.

Trust Is at a Global High—Don’t Ruin Yours

Trust in informational sources is at an all-time low, per Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer report.

At the same time, trust in individual businesses is at a global high—consumers are turning to businesses for information.

But when that information is copied, plagiarized, or incorrect—and the consumer finds out—what happens? Potential customers could be turned away for good.

In 2020, Edelman discovered that trust is now the second reason your consumers buy, right below price as #1.

edelman trust study

In 2021, the repercussions of cheap marketing for your brand is the last thing you needs. So, be the expert. Be real.

Know your stuff, or hire an expert that does. It’ll pay off.

Heighten your chances of success by investing where it counts. ❤️

Need to build not just real content strategy and marketing skills for your business, but ALL the skills, strategies, and systems that will take you to the next level? I’ll teach you everything inside my 1:1 mentorship program, The Content Transformation System. Learn more and enroll here.

 

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