Photo: Laffy4k on Flickr

Amber Naslund, over at Altitude Branding, blogged yesterday about “Real Work Isn’t Sexy.” Oh how true that is.

I just finished my first outside-my-day-job consulting project. It was more of a testing ground for me to figure out some new tools, find out what challenges I may face when selling myself as a consultant and building a portfolio of case studies to present to future clients.

The first thing I noticed was that almost everything that needed doing on an immediate basis was implementation.

First, I had to help my friend get his business current, digitally speaking. He needed a new website and he needed to digitize his contact list (think written address book); he needed a way for people to sign up to receive information from him via email. He needed to ensure people can watch his videos online without having to download a 50+MB file to their machine to do so. After all, he sells entertainment. That is his business. If people can’t preview it, he’s got nothing.

It is only now that all of that is in place, however quickly and inexpensively it was done, that he is ready to have me help him look at future strategy, customization, driving awareness etc. But just getting him current took real dirty, non-sexy implementation work.

Even a new site on a free wordpress.com theme took copying all his existing web content over to the new platform. It took setting up his URL and DNS and it took formatting images and video. It took uploading mp3 files and linking them up. It took revisions to his graphics in the creation of a new banner and wordmark, and it took setting up the widgets ordering the pages.

Digitizing his contact list was an even more arduous process. Manually populating excel spreadsheets with the required data is not on my list of favourite evening activities. While someone else did that initial data entry work, when it came time to uploading the files to his newly implemented email management tool I found the “name” was all one field vs. first name and last name, so I manually separated them… another hour or two. But that hour or two was quicker for me to just go ahead and get it done rather than look for someone who wanted a couple hours of admin work yada yada.

Having a well rounded skill set as a social media marketer is a good idea. Even as a marketer in the general sense, it’s a good idea to be able to manipulate graphic files, layouts, web pages etc. Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, html coding, Office suite, and any other software packages you can get to know will only serve you well.

You don’t want a conversation to go like this:

Client: So I need a new website, can you build it?

You: No, but I can hire someone to do it for you and I can help with managing the build from a best-practices perspective. There’s the guy I know who is fantastic and has an awesome client list. I’ll set up a meeting with him.

Client: Oh, okay. I’d also like it to look different than it does now… like a new identity, sort of. Maybe a new logo and colour scheme… Can you do that?

You: No. You need a graphic designer, but I know a really good one. Hey, I also think you should optimize all your photos so they don’t take so long to load on your site.

Client: Oh yeah, that’s a great idea. Can you do that?

You: Um, no.

Client: So, you do what, exactly?

Awkward.

I think it’s important to remember that it’s the doing that clients need. Especially when it comes to small business. Larger companies probably have some resources to handle some of the doing, and maybe that’s where you want to focus your efforts entirely. In fact, that may be where there is more money available anyway. Small business, on the other hand, needs someone to help with realistic implementations that will drive leads and sales. Bottom line.

Even the longer term strategy of this current project will require even more doing: a custom theme, adwords, blog tagging and editing for SEO (and teaching him to do this himself), monitoring…

If you’re like me, and you have a heart for small businesses having equal opportunity for harnessing the power of the internet in their marketing efforts, a little hands-on skill goes a long way… even if it means an hour or two of data entry every now and again.