Branding agencies are good at what they do, packaged goods at what they do, marketing consultants at what they do, and interactive shops at what they do. So, why would a customer go to one agency for the whole enchilada, for everything.
A whole plate of enchiladas is not what the client is asking for today. They want Fajitas; they want the sizzle. With our customers’ best interests in mind, let’s focus on complementing product and service solutions with something that gets seared into the minds of the consumers without bogging down the brand. We suggest micro-campaigns, because they are less expensive to execute, high impact, memorable, viral, sticky. But they are not permanent. As the life cycle of a marketing campaign shortens, so does the need to shorten the sales cycle.
In the crazy, mixed-up world that is marketing and advertising today there appears to be a trend that has fractured the idea and execution of marketing campaigns across all media. Once you have a brand the need for marketing support evaporates. Companies bring maintenance of the brand in-house and the agency loses. Once you build a website with a CMS the need for design and development services dwindles. I could go on, but you get it.
Down economies only increase a company’s desire to keep money in-house by sacrificing good-to-great advertising for good-enough advertising. And so the advertising industry finds itself in a period of transformation. As an agency we can’t put a retainer in front of a customer, because they don’t want to sign an annual contract and won’t. They want point solutions and better control of their budgets, which is fine with us.
The agency of the future, which we like to think we are, should prepare itself for this new customer/agency relationship. When your customer can take a power point presentation, convert it to Flash, add voice over and click “Go”, it’s time to think about your business model. Self-serve marketing has arrived. The question for our agency becomes, “How do I empower my customer?”, not “How do I trap them into a longer-term contract?”
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