Have you ever felt manipulated or misled by a marketing agency you were working with?
Regardless of whether they promised instant results or weren’t clear about the services they’d be providing; you may have already had a run-in with the ‘dark side’ of marketing.
To help you avoid making this potentially costly mistake, the team at Aqueous Digital explains how you can spot the signs of the dark side of marketing.
What is the dark side of marketing?
So, does marketing have a dark side?
Within every industry, there’s plenty of reliable and honest companies you can trust to put your best interests first. However, there’s also a handful that you can’t.
While the exact ‘definition’ of the dark side of marketing varies depending on who you ask, this term generally refers to any dishonest or immoral behaviour employed by marketers to generate more business for themselves at the expense of their customers.
This can include everything from customer manipulation and mis-selling to over-exaggeration, overstating, and misleading. For example, if a marketing agency purposely exaggerates the amount of traffic their services will generate for your online business and then can’t deliver on this promise.
If you’ve been misled by an agency, it’s easy to see how this dark side of marketing can make you feel wary about the industry as whole.
However, marketing that’s done right by honest, reliable agencies can be a real game-changer for your business.
How to spot the signs of the dark side of marketing
To help you with choosing a suitable marketing agency to support the success of your business, it’s important that you know how to spot the bad ones, too.
They have poor reviews
It’s no secret that a significant number of poor reviews are always a clear sign that you should avoid a business. However, if the reviews are consistently mentioning that customers feel misled or have been over-promised results, this is sure sign that you’ve stumbled upon the dark side of marketing.
It’s too good to be true!
As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Dishonest marketers may try to lure you into a long-term deal with big promises and impressive predictions. Subsequently, their customers are left disappointed and eager to leave, but can’t because they’re tied into a contract.
They promote instant SEO results
While there are some quick wins that technical Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) changes can generate, SEO is typically a long-term strategy that often requires at least a few months to start delivering results. Therefore, if an agency is promising instant SEO results, it’s a sign you might be being mis-sold.
A marketing agency you can trust
At Aqueous Digital, our award-winning team is proud to do things differently.
We don’t exaggerate or mislead potential customers to generate revenue. Instead, our core values revolve around trust, loyalty, and collaboration (TLC).
This means we offer honest guidance and transparent prices with all the digital marketing services we provide.
If our team believes that a paid or organic search campaign won’t deliver the results you’re looking for, we’ll let you know and offer alternative suggestions instead of simply taking your money.
For answers to more questions like ‘does marketing have a dark side’ or to find out about our wide range of digital marketing services, why not contact our friendly and helpful team of SEO experts today?
To get in touch, you can either call us on 0800 285 1424, send us your enquiry via email to hello@aqueous-digital.co.uk, or use our handy online contact form. We hope to hear from you soon!
