Why Digital Marketing Packages Don’t Work: 7 Myths Debunked

While marketing packages can appear convenient and affordable, they’re rarely the best fit for businesses seeking effective and value-driven marketing solutions. The unfortunate reality is that prepackaged marketing plans inevitably fail to understand the nuances of your business or how to achieve sustainable growth.

We’ve seen this dynamic unfold countless times. Businesses sign up for a packaged plan and they’re initially happy with the service. But, performance eventually dips and communication goes with it. Suddenly, your marketing “partner” won’t answer the phone because the services you’ve paid for no longer solve the problem you have. You’re left with two options: upgrade your existing plan or find a new agency. 

To avoid this trap and make a sound marketing investment, let’s examine what defines quality marketing, why packaged marketing doesn’t work and why a holistic marketing program from a responsive marketing agency is a smarter choice.

What Makes a Good Marketing Agency?

The right marketing strategy means the difference between your company thriving or merely surviving. According to an article posted by Adobe, seven of the top traits a successful marketing agency should exhibit include:

1. Good staff
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Ability to execute
5. Problem solving
6. Data mastery
7. Transparent billing

Unfortunately, packaged marketing doesn’t readily support these qualities. For each, let’s look more closely at how a holistic marketing plan vs a packaged marketing plan factors:

1. Good Staff

• Holistic marketing plan: A good staff listens, understands your needs, pivots as needed, and innovates solutions to your problems. They provide high-quality service and deliverables that elevate your company. 
• Packaged marketing plan: Agencies that sell packages at a discounted rate don’t have the resources to retain the top talent. You may not get the experts you need to target your ads, write quality content, and work tirelessly toward your long-term business goals. 

2. Creativity

• Holistic marketing plan: Marketing is founded on creativity. You’re paying someone to make your business stand out. An effective digital marketing agency highlights your unique qualities in every aspect of your marketing strategy. 
• Packaged marketing plan: Marketing packages typically follow a laundry list of services that are ticked off each month. They don’t offer room for creativity or innovation beyond the pre-programmed steps. 

3. Communication

• Holistic marketing plan: You always have easy access to the marketers who work on your account. From the person running your paid advertising program to the SEO specialist doing keyword research, you get detailed answers about your specific programs from the specialists executing them.
• Packaged marketing plan: Packaged plans come with packaged answers. They lack the level of nuance or detail that you need to understand how your marketing dollars are spent or how your programs are performing. 

4. Ability to Execute

• Holistic marketing plan: An experienced marketing agency develops proprietary practices based on past outcomes and clear data. They invest in understanding your business and developing a marketing strategy around your specific goals. 
• Packaged marketing plan: Execution means running the same program for you as every other client. Specific requests and tailored campaigns rarely fit within the pre-paid box. 

5. Problem Solving

• Holistic marketing plan: A responsive marketing agency identifies potential issues before they become bigger problems and offers creative solutions when challenges arise. 
• Packaged marketing plan: Like a square peg, packaged plans aren’t always designed to mitigate ongoing challenges. They run their program and hope for the best.

6. Data Mastery

• Holistic marketing plan: Data is key to tracking and improving any marketing program. Your agency should deliver the metrics you want to see along with the insights you need to make informed decisions.
• Packaged marketing plan: Reporting is limited to the dashboard you paid for, and insights around your program will likely scratch the surface of a much bigger picture. 

7. Transparent Billing

• Holistic marketing plan: With itemized invoices and detailed reporting, you will see exactly how your money is spent each month. If you want to change any aspects of your program, adding or subtracting services is easy. Special projects like email campaigns, website audits or landing pages can easily be included month-to-month. 
• Packaged marketing plan: You pay a flat rate each month with limited accountability. Adding or subtracting services is difficult unless you want to purchase a different, more expensive package that includes the new services.

Hear Our Experts Discuss Packaged Marketing

Our organic team lead, Sarah Rancone and Paid team lead, Joel Meirovitz sat down to discuss their experiences around packaged marketing. In their conversation they discuss: Client horror stories, a full funnel approach to marketing, the pitfalls of only focusing on leads, reporting, improving your ROI, accountability, “set it and forget it” practices, and responsiveness.

Why Holistic Marketing is Best

At Gemini, we believe that a holistic approach–one that adapts to your business–offers significantly more value than a packaged marketing deal. This holds especially true for our home services and B2B clients who depend on us to keep their schedules full and their leads flowing month after month. 

As technologies and best practices change and evolve, our specialists continue to discover new ways to serve our clients that packaged marketing programs simply can’t compete with. A prime example is our proprietary AI automations that give our clients a distinct edge over their competition.

To learn how a custom program can leverage your business’s unique strengths to grow your business, contact the Gemini team today.