I worry a great deal about digitally challenged companies.

Having spent years working with and around such companies, I’ve learned to identify the symptoms (blurred vision, night sweats, weight gain, etc). Suddenly, the CEO or someone in a senior management role decides that the company must become digitally active—all this because:

1) Their teenage offspring have finally introduced them to Facebook, or
2) They’ve recently attended a seminar on the emergence of social media.

The astute senior manager, most likely in his or her 50s, realizes the dynamics of digital media are out of his realm and seeks outside counsel. The less astute senior manager says, “How hard can this be when kids are doing it?” Then proceeds to implement a few digital tactics, either by himself or through someone inside the firm.

Want to take a guess as to who has the most success?

After ten years’ experience, I can freely admit that the world of digital media is not a particularly difficult one. But it is amazingly time consuming, requiring a great deal of patience and, actually, some financial investment to build audience and get results.

Few medium- or small-sized companies—unless they are retailers—can implement a successful digital strategy all by themselves. It’s just too time consuming. The internal staff member charged with this task will simply wear out. While it is fun for a few weeks to follow the analytics, senior management loses interest quickly when continual blog posts and constant Facebook and Twitter entries are met with little response.

History seems to be repeating itself here. Go back a decade or so to the great website boom. For small- to medium-sized companies who tried to build and manage their own websites, the results were disappointing; they ended up with schmaltzy online brochures. Those who sought outside expertise were much more likely to prosper.

Now we’re learning the same lesson all over again. And as I constantly tell my students, there is an easy way to learn, and a hard way. The easy way in the digital world is to seek help from day one. The hard way is to try it yourself for a while, feel the pain and only then get the help you need.

Take it from that blandly handsome actor in the pharma commercial: if you’re experiencing the symptoms, you should contact your doctor immediately.