Traditional Advertising Agencies
We've all been through the drill. Hot-Shot-Young-Ad-Guy pitches a sexy creative campaign to your team. Everyone gets excited and pumped up about the new campaign that will make you all superstars in the marketplace. They promise "BFF" attention to your business's marketing strategy and guarantee astronomical gains in revenue.
However, after your get the bill for a creative campaign that you may have never used, you start to wonder if they even researched your business. Do they know -or care -what product or service you provide, who your competitors are, what the market conditions are, or where the best place to put that sexy creative will be.
You begin to wonder if they "get it" or if they are more interested in winning Ad Awards that beefing up your bottom line.
MMC proposes that your profitability is the most important goal. The planning should be done first, then the message, then the media outlet strategy, then the creative. The creative should be last. However, most agencies know that clients like to see the creative first. It's fun. Presenting new creative is fun, a lot of fun. However when you take the time to let the strategy dictate the message which dictates the placement, which leads to the creative campaign, the presentation will be fun and effective. | Outsourcing Marketing
Outsourcing Marketing
Making the decision to outsource marketing can be difficult for many business owners. How do you know when to it makes sense to outsource your company's marketing?
Consider the following for your company:
- Multiple media outlets are available to your company.
- Internet presence is now a necessity.
- Negotiation skills and media knowledge are required to creative and implement an effective strategy.
- The standard for excellence in your creative ad materials is exponentially growing.
- You need constant, timely evaluation of your marketing efforts.
- Negotiation skills and media knowledge are required to creative and implement an effective strategy.
It can be challenging to hire a full-time, knowledgeable staff to maximize the emerging opportunities for your product or service.
Most companies have the following marketing needs:
- Strategic Marketing Planning
- Budget Management
- Traditional Media Analysis & Planning
- Buying (print, broadcast, TV, outdoor)
- Creative Marketing Ads and Materials (catalogs, brochures, sales materials, etc.)
- Direct Mail Strategy
- Website Design and Maintenance
- Internet Marketing (SEO, PPC management, internet display advertising, etc)
- eCommerce implementation
- Database Management
- Email Strategy
- Graphic Design
- Public Relations Strategy
- Copywriting
- Evaluation and Accountability
Although companies differ in their marketing needs, some or all of the above functions are necessary for successful marketing planning. The challenge for the average business is finding a staff that has the knowledge to accomplish all these goals. For instance, the personality type that is talented in graphic design is typically not the best person to manage your marketing budget and your website programmer is typically not the best person to come up with innovative ways to promote your business online.
Another challenge in today's marketplace is hiring affordable staff that has experience in all these areas of marketing. For instance, a kid coming out of school with internet knowledge doesn't typically understand the big picture of marketing strategy.
So the average business owner is left with the choice of hiring an in-house marketing department with office space overhead, management needs, and salaries or outsourcing.
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