I have noticed with worry the vigorous promotions of a digital marketing program in our Southern African community. It is indeed getting popular by the day and yet without full understanding of how it works, one can be disappointed at the results.
I have purchase the program myself but I have listened, often briefly, to a number of presenters. Therefore, I do want to compare this program with freelancing so that you can decide which of the two suits you. In this post I will share the differences yet there are similarities which I will discuss in a different post.
Digital marketing is a modern form of marketing. Indeed it is a subject worth taking interest on and take classes to empower oneself. I did digital marketing as a course and find it to be very interesting.
| Freelancing | Digital marketing program |
| You can get started with no upfront payment. | You must pay some money, minimum $99 (R 1,800). |
| You are the service creator. | You sell the program, and make your product or service secondary. |
| You set the price. | You take the price. |
| You have an option of working offline | Slim chances of being active offline. |
| You can get started without your own website. | You must acquire your own website. |
| The focus in on working to deliver what customers want. | The focus is on selling more units of the program. |
My advice
Once it is too good to be true, chances are it is. My discomfort comes from three areas:
- The high entry cost. If the program does work you either get blamed for not following the guide and you get no refund.
- The program itself is called a blueprint model. I know for a fact that the African environment differs in many ways from where the program was developed. Each African country has its challenges when it comes to using digital marketing tools. To me then this program is well positioned to rip off uninformed groups.
- The program disassociates itself from multi-level marketing yet it is still promoted as a program worth selling to others that want to experience the ‘success’. Effectively, one doesn’t have to purchase the program unless they either will be selling the same or they have their own product/service to sell.
The positive take away is that if you have fallen a victim of this program and spend your hard earned cash on it, you can apply the knowledge on freelancing. Perhaps that’s an option for getting value out of the program.
If you are interested and want trying out freelancing, I recommend you start by watching the ‘Foundation to the African Online Freelancer’ webinar replay and then go to my Services page.
