It happened to me again yesterday.
My computer finally reached boss level for shutting off my wifi at inopportune times – like during a training video or while using GoToMeeting.
I Googled how to fix the problem.
I checked every setting I could find.
Then I finally caved and called my IT person. He fixed the problem in 4 minutes and didn’t charge me a dime.
I guess you could say I’m an “IT dummy”.
This sort of thing happens to me all the time. I work on something, study it, Google how to fix it.
Sometimes I figure it out. But more often I give up and call a friend or an expert.
What’s funny is that my customers and group members tell me some variation of this almost daily when it comes to marketing.
There’s always some marketing-related concept they can’t get their arms around.
Like the prospect I talked to today who was amazed at the blog content another site that we manage. He couldn’t believe how well the client expressed their ideas in such a compelling manner. He was fascinated.
His exact words were: “I feel like such a dummy. It would take me a month to write a blog post like that and I’d probably still hate the final outcome”.
I had to let him in on the secret. We wrote the blog post, not the client.
Is he a “blogging dummy”?
Am I an “IT dummy”?
I’d argue neither of us are dummies. In fact, the opposite is true. We’re both incredibly smart.
You would never call someone a “dummy” who identified a problem and studied how it might be solved, then evaluated whether or not they should fix it themselves or find outside help.
My new prospect is a successful mortgage banker. He wants to understand digital marketing so he can decide which pieces to implement for himself.
If you look at Amazon’s “bestseller” list for the “Dummies” series of books, you’ll find these titles at the top of the list:
- Anatomy and Physiology for Dummies
- Algebra 1 for Dummies
- English Grammar for Dummies
You can see what they have in common. Concrete things that can be itemized and systematized.
What about more abstract concepts like IT or digital marketing? Nowhere near the top.
People often say they are “dummies” when they come to digital marketing.
But what they REALLY mean is they’d like for someone to explain complex concepts so they use that information to solve a problem.
I think that’s incredibly smart.
So don’t be embarrassed. Ask your questions. Find a solution. You’ll be smarter for admitting you don’t have all the answers.
Not sure where to start? Contact us today!
