“This thing, called love, 

I just can’t handle it.”

Said Freddie Mercury in the classic song “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen released in 1979.

And as we are racing towards Valentine’s day quicker than the Milk Tray man abseiling down a cliff and everybody’s getting loved up, I thought it was about time I ‘fessed up about my love affair. Maybe it is a love affair or at least a love/hate relationship with digital marketing.

I have been in marketing for over 25 years, hopefully I am really good at it, like Ed Sheran doing his 10,000 hours songwriting, I have served my time. So what’s with the malaise? Why am I lamenting my cheeky mistress digital marketing? I will tell you why, like any long term relationship  – not only does it need working on but some days it can drive you bloody mad.

Not that mad , like when a relationship is failing and even their breathing makes you want to smash the TV up or the fact that they have put the coffee mugs back in the cupboard the wrong way around makes you want to pull the cupboard off the wall, no, not that mad (yet!).

But, the sort of madness that is quietly frustrating. The sort of madness that whispers just as you are falling asleep, “did i lock the front door?”  Just as you think you have it all under control, something else comes along that throws everything off kilter again (hello AI?) Just when you think you have cracked GA4 , along comes a new privacy law.

You find yourself saying “it’s not you, it’s me.” As you explain to a client again that the best practice you were implementing last month for SEO has changed once more due to the vagaries of the Google algorithm. This month’s results won’t be quite what they were expecting as the goalposts in quicksand, greased by butter and waxed by Google, slip once more.

Have you got any other customers in this sector? Is the equivalent of “What time did you get in last night??” 

And then there are the “Dear John” letters from clients , when it’s time for them to move on, the request for the admin rights to their accounts is as good as lipstick on their collar. 

I think we should see other people 😭

When you are having your M&S “Dine in for Two” with your overpriced single red rose, think of me, beavering away, trying to make marketing happy with polite conversation to fill those voids of emptiness when the conversation has died. Just as love knows no bounds, digital marketing knows no limits in its ability to frustrate and reward in equal measures.

So why do we do it? Well, like a good relationship, the payback is always worth it in the end. What you get back is more than what you put in. To see a customer’s digital journey unfold and eventually all the things you were encouraging, cajoling, arm twisting them to do has paid off. I recently had a client say to me “we have never been so busy, I put it down to all the hard work you have been doing on social media , it’s been new to us but attracted a new crowd.”

You know what, I do love her, that digital marketing minx. (sorry typo, mix!)

“ I kinda like it,

Crazy little thing called love.”

Note: I have referenced the milk tray man and Queen in the same blog post, yes , your assumptions are correct.

I would say “swipe right to connect” but you can’t. But if you want to start your love affair with marketing , talk to me here.