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Fire Fake Friends: How to Tell if Your Partners are Committing Subtle Sabotage

Fire Fake Friends: How to Tell if Your Partners are Committing Subtle Sabotage

We’ve all had that person in our lives who we knew deep down was much more interested in our failures than our successes. We’d catch a glimmer in their eye when we hit our low points and a scowl when we reach a milestone without them. Frenemies, fake friends, bad boyfriends and the like. It’s not that they want us to fail necessarily… it’s just that they don’t want us to win if they can’t benefit or take credit.

It’s easy to spot a fake friend in your personal life, but what about at work? How often do you as yourself if the partners you work with, from banks, to vendors, to agencies, really care as much about your business as you do?

Your Friend May Be a Furtive Foe If…

  • They Don’t Play Well with Others:

    If you’ve brought in a third party that you need to work with your partner and they are resistant or downright combative, you may want to rethink your relationship. While raising legitimate concerns about the third party’s capabilities in a respectful manner is helpful, continually making weak excuses because they are threatened is not.

  • They Keep Secrets:

    We have been working with a PPC client for a few months who had an extremely tough time getting the correct Google Analytics data from his website. His web company had added a new Analytics property to his site rather than his already established property. When he requested to be added as a user to their property they declined and said they could only provide screenshots of the data. After several weeks of pestering, they finally added his original property to the site along with their own. Limiting access to proprietary software is one thing, but Google Analytics is a free tool and as a business owner it provides valuable data you need to make decisions about marketing and more.

  • They Don’t Adapt:

    Google announced in 2017 that beginning in 2018 sites without https:// would not be prioritized in search results. We immediately notified our clients and urged them to make the switch ASAP. However, we work with a client who uses another web company who did not reach out to them about making this change as a standard practice. It was not until the client reached out to them in December of 2018 that the change was implemented. Similarly, we have had several instances where we’ve used UTM tracking codes on email blasts or PPC campaigns and noticed that the content on the pages does not load properly on the client’s third-party website when the codes are attached. These codes are essential for measuring the success of various marketing campaigns and should not impact the content on the page at all. Both are examples of technological advancements that have become standard and if your web company hasn’t caught up to them then they’re making sure your competition is leaving you behind.

  • They Don’t Deliver:

    Any partner you work with should be able to tell you, in detail, what they are doing for you and give you data on how it’s working. If you aren’t receiving regular reporting, ask for it. A good partner will help you understand the data and develop solutions if things are down rather than hiding it from you.

While you may have another F word for fake friends in your personal life, here’s one for those you work with: fire them!

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Creative Director/Senior Designer

Tom DiGrazia

With over a decade and a half of professional design experience, Tom brings his knowledge of design principles and focus on user experience to every aspect of his contribution to TTG. Paying special attention to each client’s brand, personalized needs and individual interests, he strives to create compelling concepts utilizing intuitive and highly-refined design solutions. In addition to traditional and digital design work and oversight at TTG, Tom also boasts a wide portfolio of web development projects with the company, allowing him to stretch his CSS and HTML skills across multiple platforms and disciplines. He feels that being a designer in the digital landscape of websites, eCommerce solutions, email marketing platforms and social media, it is important to understand the code that goes into these areas as it assists his ability to tailor designs specifically targeted to achieve the best end result and further builds understanding and communication with backend development teams.

In his off hours, Tom is an avid pop culture enthusiast, staying up to date on the latest shows, films, comics and games. He can also typically be found taking part in a whole host of artistic activities that help him further stretch his creative legs. Regardless of the activity, Tom is always accompanied by his dog, Eli, and his cat, Tib.

Specialties:
Design, Photography, Illustration, Digital Imagery Manipulation, Wesbite Development

Platforms/Tools:
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, HTML/CSS, Wordpress

Analyst/Strategist

Courtney Dumont

As Senior Marketing Strategist & Analyst at Technology Therapy Group, Courtney is energized by the ability to flex both her left and right brain daily. Courtney discovered her passion for Marketing at Bryant University, where she spearheaded research on students’ perceptions of Social Media Marketing for her Honors Capstone Project. After graduating Bryant in 2012, she joined the Technology Therapy team, where she’s honed her skills in social media, search and social advertising, email marketing, SEO, and more.

Since joining the team, Courtney has created digital marketing strategies and managed campaigns for clients across the country, ranging from plastic surgery centers, to jewelry stores, to construction companies. With a cohesive, cross-channel approach and a focus on data-driven decision making, she has increased their leads by up to 217%. But Courtney doesn’t leave her zeal for social media at the office; she also runs a local foodie Instagram account with her husband to document their meals across Rhode Island and beyond. Check them out: @hoppilyfed.

Specialties:
Marketing Strategy, Data Analysis, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Social Media

Platforms/Tools:
Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Facebook Creator Studio, Instagram, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Emma Mail, Google Data Studio, WordPress, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Microsoft Office