Ten years ago, when Christopher and I started The Go! Agency in 2009, online marketing was like the wild west – no real rules, a lot of tumbleweeds, and only a few people striking it rich.
Since then, we’ve moved away from the traditional sales and marketing strategy that most of us cut our teeth on. You remember: pagers and pay phones, faxes, and lots of one-on-one meetings. Now instead of having to tell two people, and they tell two people, we are finally able to just tell hundreds of people at once. As a result, this allows us to be in many places at once.
Before these changes, it really was a ghost town. There were pockets of people and groups doing it right and being consistent, but they were few and far between. Restaurants, bars, and big brands took pretty well to social media. But with both Chris and I coming from a professional background, clients we had lots of experience with (those in the healthcare, finance, legal, and other more formal industries) wanted nothing to do with this crazy new medium.
Soon after, the ‘sheriff’ arrived in town and brought along rules, hashtags, and order. Then everyone started asking about best practices: “Should I use images?” “How many characters can I use?” “When is the best time to post?” “What’s an online marketing plan?” “Do I really need to do more than just create a page, hoping that people will want to do business with me?” “Should I ‘buy followers’?” And of course, lots more.
Fast forward to 2019. Now we can now pinpoint our clients’ target audience(s) to a city block, a specific income, their age, interests, job titles – all allowing them to spend smarter and get maximum bang for their buck. We’ve seen major platforms come and go (MySpace, Google+, Vine). We’ve seen platforms that have been #1, but then have dipped in popularity (LinkedIn, Snapchat) and been overshadowed by Instagram and YouTube.
It’s been a wild ride – but I’m so proud to say that The Go! Agency has anticipated the twists and turns, and flourished. Why? I really think it’s for a few good reasons. First, integrity. We truly put our clients first. Second, transparency. We don’t think of ourselves as ‘experts.’ We’re way too humble for that…AND, the rules still change daily. We’re merely specialists – continually learning. Lastly, it comes down to investments. In our team, in their education, treating them like family, giving them a really nice place to work, and always being open to suggestions from them. Plus, our Go! Agents are awesome.
What do the next ten years hold with digital marketing? Although no one really knows, I think it will be pretty amazing. And you can be sure that The Go! Agency will be involved, as we’re constantly keeping our eyes open for anything that will help our clients’ digital marketing campaigns succeed. “There’s a saying among prospectors: ‘Go out looking for one thing, and that’s all you’ll ever find.'” – Robert J. Flaherty
If you’ve been a client of ours in the last ten years; thank you. If you are a future client (or know someone to refer) we can’t wait to work with you!
