Is a marketing expert faking his expertise with "marketing Chinese"?

A few days ago, I once again had the dubious pleasure of speaking on the phone with the marketing manager of a major service company, who had come across our website while Googling. After the conversation, my ears were ringing. Because the statements of the marketing manager were so peppered with "Anglicisms" and "buzz words" from the (online) marketing field that I - although I am not uninformed in this regard - had trouble understanding:

• What does the man actually want? And:
• So where does the shoe pinch for his company?

Dear marketing expert, I don't understand you!

This began with his statement at the opening of the conversation that his company was currently conducting a "review" of how it could increase the "impact" of its "marketing activities" by optimizing its "targeting strategy". I had to mentally translate that statement for myself, and after that I wondered, "Why doesn't the man just say we're currently studying how to increase the impact of our marketing efforts on our core target audiences?"

When I asked what he specifically meant by this, he replied that the primary goal was to increase "brand awareness" and "lead generation" through "sales funnels." I had to mentally translate that statement, too, but I understood it, although I probably would have been more likely to say, "We want to increase our awareness among our target customers and the number of their responses and inquiries." And to describe the how, instead of the buzz-word "sales funnel," I probably would have used the term "sales funnel," which every salesperson knows.

Dear marketing expert, do you yourself understand what you are talking about?

But this was just the beginning. The deeper we got into the subject matter, the more anglicisms and technical terms from the online marketing and SEO sector flew around my ears - so many that I sometimes asked myself: Does the man himself actually still understand what he's saying? In part, I only guessed. That's why, for example, after our phone call I first Googled the term "link juice", because I was unsure exactly what he meant when we talked about online PR, website optimization and link building on websites.

Why am I writing this here? For one simple reason: I know from many self-employed people such as consultants, trainers and coaches that they often feel the same way after talking to so-called online marketing and SEO experts as I do after talking to the marketing manager:

• Your ears are ringing and
• they have the feeling "Apparently I'm living behind the moon in the marketing field because I either don't understand or only partially understand what these experts tell me in the tone of full conviction."

Accordingly, they are often unsettled after the talks and ask themselves: Have I slept through the train of time?

Dear marketing expert, how fit are you in terms of craftsmanship?

My impression is that these experts often have little idea of the practical marketing craft (not to use the term "operative doing"), and they present facts that are only assumptions or presumptions.

This was evident, for example, in my conversation with the marketing manager of the globally active service company, who certainly has a degree from a renowned private university in his pocket and spent some time studying in the USA:

• He does not know the difference between a press release and a (technical) article; at least he used these terms synonymously (excuse the foreign word!).
• He assumes that publishing articles in print and online media works similarly to placing ads, yet there is a world of difference.
• He is rock solidly convinced that he knows what you have to do to get a website found well on the web and to have lots of active followers in social media, even though neither Google, nor Facebook, nor YouTube, nor LinkedIn have ever disclosed their algorithms, which is why all credos in this area are either more or less well-founded assumptions or subjective empirical values.
• At least unconsciously, he harbors the mistaken belief that marketing in the B2B sector works like marketing in the B2C sector and that industrial goods and services can be marketed like clothes and makeup, which is why he is totally "into" social media, which - according to his credo - "the future belongs to".
• ......

Dear marketing expert, to what extent do you understand my business?

The situation is often similar with the so-called online marketing, social media and SEO experts: at least of B2B sales, they usually have little idea. And they may be experts in their special discipline, but they are mostly unaware that, for example.

• the consulting market, which is primarily made up of small companies, ticks quite differently from the automotive market, for example, in which there are a maximum of a dozen manufacturers, and
• most consulting services in the B2B sector cannot be sold like shoes at Zalando.

That's why many problem solutions they offer may be suitable for corporations and branded companies as well as web stores, but at least for consultants working in the B2B sector, they usually don't fit.

Dear marketing expert, please talk so that I understand you!

Therefore my recommendation to you as a self-employed person or consultant, trainer, coach. Don't be put off by the many Anglicisms and technical terms (such as Rankingvalue and Linkjuice, Pillar-Page and Topic-Cluster, Landingpage and Sales-Funnel,....) that marketing consultants often use: What distinguishes a good and experienced consultant, but also trainer and coach? Among other things, that he can explain complex issues in generally understandable terms, because this is - so I am convinced - a sign that he has understood and "digested", i.e. lived through and processed things. So be wary of all consultants who maltreat your ears with "marketing Chinese".

To the author:
Bernhard Kuntz is managing director of PRofilBerater GmbH, Darmstadt, which supports education and consulting providers in marketing their services. Among other things, he is the author of the education and consulting marketing reference books "Selling a Cat in a Bag" and "Fat Booty for Trainers and Consultants". www.die-profilberater.de