These are the biggest red flags in marketing

We’ve probably all had our fair share of dating red flags; those situations where you just know something’s going to end up being a disaster. The warning signs were there, your intuition was on high alert, but for whatever reason you persevered and it was a s**t show.

But what are the red flags in marketing? Or in any business, for that matter?

I’ll start with a client who once asked if I could make the payment plan more favourable to him. Instead of paying half upfront and half on delivery, he wanted to do four payments across the project term. Then he told me he couldn’t start yet because he had cashflow issues.

That was obviously a red flag.

The guy clearly had money worries, and effectively wanted a line of extended credit. If anything, I should’ve made the payment terms stricter in that instance, and got 100% of the payment upfront just to make sure that he could pay.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“Pretentiousness is f***ing irritating” 

Breakfast networking meetings are a hotbed for red flags. The ‘Bacon Sandwich Brigade’ types who bang on to you about how busy they are and how great they’re doing.

As soon as I know someone’s bulls**tting, I switch off. I mean, I don’t want their life story – but if I ask someone how they’re doing, I want a real answer, not the BS one. Pretentiousness isn’t just a red flag. It’s f***ing irritating.

There’s a balance, of course – obviously if you want to make a good impression and there’s a potential client in the room, you’re not going to tell them you’re not busy at all.

But boastful business owners are walking red flags. I’m not talking about success stories, which can be super inspirational and really help people.

I mean the people that walk into a room and start boasting about their business, unsolicited.

“They give me the business ick” 

These are often the kind of people who use the first 90% of everything they say to talk about themselves. I can’t work with people like that, they give me the business ick.

I also don’t like it when people leave me answerphone messages. It better be a f***ing emergency.

Another red flag – and the inspiration for this post, actually – is when someone does an unsolicited audit on something you’ve done.

A website, a report, whatever. The point of these ‘audits’ is to tell you what a terrible job you’re doing, and how they can fix it. But they’re full of BS. They leave out important metrics or stack things to look a certain way; you can make data say anything you want.

That’s why when we do reports for our clients, we also send a Loom explaining the report.

We do this because in our game, there’s not enough transparency. So many agencies are spinning the numbers to make a positive out of the negative. We’d always rather be honest; if a client didn’t get as many leads that month, we’ll explain why.

 “Who’s decided it’s worth that?”

The ‘oversell’ is a massive red flag. Those people who put up ads that say: “Get my course worth £15,000 for just £4,000!”

Like, who’s decided it’s worth £15,000? Where’ve you plucked that number from? Demonstrate to me where you’ve ever sold that course for £15,000, and I’ll write you an apology.

Trapping prospects into a sale is another one; brands or entrepreneurs that don’t let someone out of a sale scenario until they’ve bought. And that person ends up becoming your worst client, because they’re full of buyer’s remorse.

They didn’t actually want to buy, or they couldn’t quite afford it, which is why they were on the fence in the first place.

Never do someone a deal for the sake of doing them a deal, because they’ll be a nightmare. If they’re willing to sign up for 12 months, of course do them a deal. They’re bringing in two businesses at once? Do them a deal. Their tenth visit to your carwash? Deal.

But someone who hounds you for a deal? Forget it. All that will happen is you’ll be asked to justify what you’ve charged for the rest of that relationship.

“There’s no trust after that”

If you feel yourself going against what you know is right, and overselling either through a deal or by inflating the possible result, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Loyalty should be rewarded, of course. The clients who’ve been with us for a long time don’t pay the same rate as our new clients, and that’s how it should be. Not the other way around.

A classic example is Sky. They’ll do a great deal initially, and if you’re getting multiple services that you’d otherwise have to buy separately, it makes sense. But when the renewal comes through, you realise it costs more to renew than it would if you left and came back again. That bothers me, because I feel trapped.

There’s no trust after that, you’re doing it grudgingly.

Another huge red flag in the marketing world is when an agency promises you results without asking you any questions about figures or past sales data. A good agency would turn you down if they can’t get an idea of your numbers. They should also turn you down if your numbers aren’t viable or you don’t have much margin.  

“It’s all just vanity metrics” 

Agencies who talk too much about vanity metrics like reach, impressions and likes? Red flag. Of course, it depends what your goal is. But when an agency spouts things like: “You’ve reached thousands of people, so a lot more people know about you now.”

Well, the till hasn’t rung, and it probably won’t after just one ad.

Like what’s the frequency? How often are these people seeing the ad? Is it super clear that it’s your brand in the ad? And will these people even remember they’ve seen you?

Because my recollection on almost anything is minimal. Even with some of my favourite foods, I’ll be like: “What’s it called? What’s the brand? Flump, but who’s it by? Barrett’s. Yeah, Barrett’s Flumps.”

So, key takeaway. If you approach an agency or freelancer to do your marketing, know your numbers. And after you’ve crunched those numbers with them, if they’re not talking to you about viability?

F**k them off.

Don’t miss the next episode of Stay Hungry – we’ll dive into straight-talking insights on business marketing, growth mindset, and the realities of running a business. And if you want to take the hassle out of your marketing, we’ve got you covered with our done-for-you service.