There is always room to be a better person

The digital world needs more people of character and authentic inspiration.

Day after day, I keep reading posts from people complaining that marketing is getting harder. They find advertising costs rising, month by month. In my humble opinion, when digital experts are looking for easy fame & money, they tend to invest a huge amount of money to get spectacular traffic results & leads, instantly.

But nowadays the competition is hard. Really hard. Next to that, audiences are digitally mature and are not hooked on bad practices and cold selling. People want to be respected. People seek brands that value their attention and time.

Position Your Brand

Concentrate more to position your brand in front of the right audience, for the right reasons, with the right intentions and the right content. Low quality won’t stand the competition.

As usual, within the first 10 years of every new industry, the market tends to self-correct. No wonder why now, after 20 years of active digital marketing growth, the market has distinguished which factors separate the weak from the strong players.

Some may say that there are numerous technical criteria that define who is leading the game and who follows. Let’s not fool ourselves… people can use their intuitive intelligence still through digital media. Sleazy content & unethical marketing smells from miles away and people loathe it.

Make an effort to not insult people’s intelligence with what you post and what you propose via your digital behavior. Especially, digital marketing professionals should set the best example.

Define your code of ethics for your brand from the very beginning. And always choose to do the right thing in the digital world.

Businesses are competing not only for the same customers but also for their good reputation. They can’t afford to be the King’s jester of the digital village. Nobody forgives the brand that has manipulated them.

We all live in the same digital village

So, more and more companies are silently headhunting top digital marketing experts (in different areas such as SEO, SEM, Content Creators, etc) with outstanding business ethics and a specific set of skills.

As a digital expert, every single decision you make impacts in the real world. The tactics you apply to your client’s digital assets, can bring results but also are tiny stones in the making process of the industry’s legacy.

As individuals and professionals, we create history and the code of ethics for the next generations. We all are responsible for what circulates on the internet. We all feed the digital monster 24/7.

Make way for the best practices, and choose to do the right thing. Not because there is a fear of punishment but for building a better world. All digital actions can cause huge reactions in the real world.

The only way we have to protect our integrity is to publish accurate information and focus on the truth. And no, there isn’t such a thing as micro-management of truth depending on the ears. Truth is the truth. Facts are facts.

The days were some could blame “ignorance” for posting inappropriate or fake content just to gain more clicks, are forever gone.

The Influencers Bubble

I was talking with a dear friend from New York and we were discussing how so many digital experts have countless skills but they lack a code of ethics. Having so much power to influence society should come with guidelines. Without guidelines, the game can become really confusing and dangerous.

The problem with that is, that we are asking young mid-twenties individuals to share their creative eyes but we never consider explaining to them the whole picture. They come up with awesome ideas for videos, texts, or games but they can not comprehend how much they actually affect society.

We, are to blame for that! The generation before them. Like me, you likely have lots of examples around you from young men & women seeking more attention from their social media fans. They push their limits far away from any logical boundaries, just to get more likes and followers.

And what do we do? We call them influencers and then we hire them to boost some of our client’s brands. We are rewarding the weird and unhealthy behavior. Marketing has built a huge industry on the back of influencers.

As social media users, we consume the influencer's struggle to look and live an unreal life, and afterward, we criticize everything they do. First, we ask them to be unreal (and reward them for that) and then we punish them for being unrealistic by calling them the worst names. Kind of an oxymoron, right?

Back to basics

It is time to post and write about real people, about real-life situations, and without any filters that beautify reality. Understanding the need to bring back humanity into the digital world, is the first step to finding a balance between the two worlds.

Why? Because life has no filters or edit mode. Wouldn’t it be great to publish with the same attitude? To be real?

It’s only a matter of choice.

It’s time to take control of your marketing and your digital behavior. We have passed into a new digital adulthood era where teenage tantrum has no place to be. Let’s step to the next level.