Exposing the Dark Truth Behind SMMA

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Here's why SMMA is the worst business model you can start.

Stuff I use & recommend:

You’ve probably seen a ton of ads for starting a social media marketing agency before.

Maybe you even sat through a webinar or two for these digital marketing courses and you’re on the edge.

I was one of them. And so was my business partner.

We were just drooling over the idea of just landing a few clients pay us a ridiculous retainer every month for running what seemed to be a few simple Facebook Ads

And we went all in - we had appointment setters cold calling small businesses, we had a dedicated white label fulfilling the online marketing for these clients, we bought multiple social media marketing courses, etc.

But after months of failure, we decided to throw in the towel and close the doors.

When SMMA started to become popular back in 2014/2015, it was a good opportunity

Business owners were completely new to marketing on social platforms so it was easy for agency owners to get their foot in the door and land clients whether you were good at it or not

But there lies the problem, because if you think about yourself, you’re probably interested in doing this to make money, not because you’re passionate about running Facebook Ads for the rest of your life.

So what happens?

You have people trying to take 13k from business owners and then don't deliver any results.

So what happens to all these business owners that fired the SMMA that they were working with?

They’re gonna be very angry with you, they feel like they’ve been scammed and they’re associate digital marketers with scammers.

THIS is the market you’d be getting yourself into.

All the business owners that you’d be targeting have been screwed

You actually need to be really good at the social media ads you’ll be running, which is pretty hard

Marketing, advertising, and writing the sales copy for the ads themselves is a completely separate skill to master or at least get adequate at if you want to actually get these business owners results.

So there’s really high competition and the lowest demand, digital marketers have a horrible rep with business owners, and you have to learn way too many skills at once to be successful. So that begs the question: why are their so many ads for these courses?

The answer? It’s an easy pitch to sell you a course.

So do I recommend you start a social media marketing agency, a Facebook ads agency, or whatever?... No. Absolutely not.

#smma
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Copyright © 2019 Jake Tran. All rights reserved.

Misha x cocabona - Khaleesi

DISCLAIMER: These videos are for entertainment purposes only. This is not meant to be financial advice. Please always do your due diligence and never stop learning. Best of luck!

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[filip]

Funny how the ad on this video was about SMMA course xD

[kirillpanov]

Took me more than 6 months to get my first client. From there it was so much easier. 2+ years in now. Worked with 10+ clients. Believe in yourself, work hard, there's no quick path to it.

[komigagnon]

Well there’s going to be people who don’t know wtf they’re talking about or doing and get into SMMA. Don’t be them. Work hard with your clients, work hard with your agency and your clients will be happy with you.

[ganzlangeher]

i run a 12k a month profit agency and it took me 1, 5y of full dedication, losing all my clients once, taking courses and trying to become somewhat good at all the skills you mentioned and it here we go - it works.. but it is a fuck ton on work and everything you say in this video is right

[ignishun]

From someone that dabbled in SMMA to actually working at the world’s biggest media buying agency, you need professional experience before running an SMMA. There are so many nuances, strategy and soft skills needed to run an agency. There are so many things I wished the courses taught me that I learnt on the job. The courses don’t teach you anything except the first 2 months of a media buyer’s career sprinkled with salesmanship. Be passionate, live and breathe the real-time bidding, the CPM’s, the ROAS, the reach, the strategy, the data. At the end of the day, we’re glorified stock brokers, except instead of stock we trade media and future SMMAs should be thinking that way rather than the Lambo they think they can buy in a few months.

[RIFLQ]

The key is to do things that makes you happy and get paid doing it and use that money to innovate.

[FJParravicini]

Why are people so mad! You're never going to get a realistic view of things if as soon as someone says something negative you shut them down.

Really, do you think that just paying attention to success stories is the right way to go about things? I'd say that paying attention to failure stories is even more important since they make up the majority of people that try out this stuff, *including the guy criticizing this video*.

Thanks for sharing your experience man! Glad to have found your channel

[lcd]

Please don't listen to this. Every business is saturated the problem is for most people in order to succeed you have to have a good offer and you have to have skills in order to be able to deliver your offer. Instead of asking for a fixed retainer at the start, have a guarantee of this many results delivered and then get paid. The problem with these online gurus is they always say too saturated every business is saturated. Stop treating it like a get-rich scheme and treat it like a legitimate business. Drop shipping still works and it will continue to work same goes for SMMA.

[abramespinoza]

This is almost everything you do, I can say the same thing with college degrees. Having one doesn’t mean you will be a job. It’s all about being unique and different. A coffee shop for example could be seen as “saturated” yet I’ve seen many coffee shops being successful even though there can be 15 shops in town. It’s all about building a loyal clientele and provide good value. These Bussiness models do work, it’s the person who determines the success of any thing you chance in life. Don’t be close minded and hustle

[adrianzyskowski]

It's funny because just yesterday I talked on the phone with a guy who started in 2019. He nows has 10k/m. Took him 2-3 months to sign first client. He tried to niche restaurants but that didn't work. What worked for him was e-commerce

[leaksmotivation]

I find it really frustrating how no one is talking about how there are hundreds of thousands of new business every year

[SanderStage]

Watched about half the video, so I sincerely apologize if there’s something I didn’t catch.

Now my view on this topic is strongly biased, as I run an agency myself - and I teach people how to do it too.

As much as it is true that competition has risen dramatically over the last couple of years, it is also true that I continue to sign new clients for my agency very often - and I find it quite easy to do.

On top of that, I’m delivering great results which means my clients stay with me for a long time.

If you tried to run an agency for 3+ months with no success, it’s because of your lack of skill in sales and result generation - not because of the competition in this industry.

Just like any other industry, there’s competition - but always room for improvement.

[mambasneak]

winners never quit, quitters never win. you need dedication towards it, smma doesn't suck the practitioner does.

[avakinzerochill]

Sounds like you tried and failed, honestly. I have gotten 5 clients within 3 months and have never purchased a course. The market is not oversaturated, not all businesses have tried it, you CAN get them results, and you can jire people who have skills you need but may not have.

[Tboltross]

I've been in Digital Marketing as a 9-5 for 3 years now and everything he is saying is true. Copywriting isn't easy, at least good copywriting. Most business owners are much more knowledgeable on the subject now. If you really want to do it for the long term, work at an already established agency or business that is in an industry you like (automotive, fashion, etc.) And work for them for a little while if you really still want to start the agency go for it. You'll have gotten paid to make mistakes and now have the real know how to get results.

[steveroche]

I've been running an agency for about 2 years. I'd agree these so called gurus make it sound a hell of a lot easier than it is. Their may be a low barrier to entry but that doesn't make it easy. If you're doing it for the money then stop now because it won't happen. If you're truly passionate about marketing then do it, just know there will be a 1000 obstacles between you and a successful agency. It takes a lot more than knowing how to run a Facebook ad. I almost quit a few times but knowing online marketing was my true passion I kept going back.
Moral of the story is don't listen to all these bullshit gurus trying to sell you a dream. Try and get some work experience with an actually agency and get an idea of what it takes.

[AdamDukes]

100% spot on!!

Not many of these guys talk about retention of their clients. Most of them are 1 - 3 months, as the client is not getting the results promised. Most local businesses have unrealistic expectations bc of marketers (I am guilty of this) who make it seem SO easy and every ad campaign is a success.

I got started running FB ads in 2012, and 75% of my ads STILL fail! That's the name of the game with advertising.

Also, client work is quite difficult. Not many talk about this either. Can be extremely stressful, if not set up properly (like setting boundaries)

[SoDavey]

I'm amazed by people starting a SMMA before knowing how to market. Is this a common practice, like do people go into groups and ask other people to do all their homework???

[josesantiago]

As long as there are businesses there always will be a need for marketing services. As simple as that. Just because you didn’t make it or quit after a few months doesn’t mean that it sucks.

[notjustbaggish]

My advice to anyone who wants to make it in life:
Stick to what works for millennia
1. Plant trees
2. Open a brick and mortar business, and nowadays list your products online as well
3. Loan out or rent out
4. Learn how to buy low and sell high.

Forget any flashy programs no matter what they try to sell you.

Live content, happy and free.