Author: Michael Menzies

D-Day Marketing – Time to make a stand?

Posted on by Michael Menzies
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D-Day Marketing – Time to make a stand?

  • HeroDday

So why is it that small business really struggles to market themselves?
And what can you do about it?

I deal with small businesses on a daily basis, and one of the things that I can tell you is that almost 90% of them have grown organically. They’ve done so via word of mouth, or with very little marketing foundation, in order to promote their product.

This leads to a significant challenge, when the time comes to try and grow beyond where they are – beyond word of mouth. It happens across two key levels of the business.

The first level is that any growth is going to require, in most cases, an investment in resources: personnel, equipment, product or whatever it might be and that is going to cost the business money. The second attribute is an area that most businesses have never accounted for, of course I speak of, marketing. And the margins in small business are often very compromised especially when they’re being eaten away by a new influence, such as an investment in marketing.

For businesses that have no platform, and have never marketed before, one of the key challenges that they face is the idea that they need to build momentum. And let’s face it, whether it’s running up the hill, or losing weight or achieving any goal the most difficult part is often just getting started. Once you have momentum, it is far easier to maintain it. Much like a cold room takes a lot longer to heat up than it is to maintain once the fire is roaring.

So the investment to make that momentum is often upfront. And that can be a scary proposition for business who don’t know whether the marketing that they are about to undertake will work.

And there is always some risk that your marketing approach might fail, however there is likely greater risk by not marketing at all. I think it was Stuart H Britt that said something along the lines of Doing business without advertising is like smiling at that girl you like in the dark. You know you smiled but nobody else does. So we have to get the message about your business out there and having dealt with so many businesses over a really long time, we can use the experience and insights we have learned to help design a plan that should make that smile shine.

And like most things, be it exercise or a diet the hardest part is often just starting. People procrastinate endlessly waiting for the perfect moment but you just have to get in there and have a go. Now, if you’re a large business with a large budget, it is often easier to forecast what the genuine return on investment will be because you are able to generate momentum immediately through volume of communication all of which builds a certain gravity around the investment that you make, but for small to medium businesses who haven’t got, the platform in place, or the momentum, often we need to pick a Normandy.

For those that aren’t familiar with this concept, Normandy was where the Allied troops struck the German army at the end of World War Two, the idea was that the allies would concentrate as much of their resources into a targeted attack in order to break through what was a significantly robust German defense.

Planning the assault – Marketing Strategy to make noise

And in marketing terms, we must identify a similar scenario seeking out a way to, despite the noise of the “market”, find cut through.

Our approach is to build an integrated strategy that identifies some core channels and some key messaging that we amplify to deliver a sales result. One of these core channels is
social media.

Social media has created a genuine opportunity to cost effectively reach an audience, and more importantly, to build a fan base or tribe. When you think about traditional marketing options, that really wasn’t the case. In fact, even large businesses that had built a fan base found they were often disparate and with no considered centralised connection. Social has changed that, which is why it has been a revolution for small to medium businesses.

Moreover, the digital environment has for the first time allowed us to accurately track and report on the engagement of “fans” and link that to sales and performance data.

This is an enormously powerful situation. But there are some rules to make this happen:

You need a plan
You need great content, written and visual
You need to be dynamic and respond to the audience to fully exploit “Your Normandy”
And, you need a proper budget that is aligned to your desired outcome.

And so one of our greatest challenges is actually educating SME’s in particular on making an appropriate investment in their marketing, because we often find people’s budget simply does not match their ambition. And they need to make a two to three year plan that allows us to build momentum, build the audience, and then mine that audience for sales.

And it is important to recognize that when I am talking about budget I am not just talking MONEY to deliver great marketing outcomes your commitment includes time to help bring this to life and one of the major flaws that we see, and this is not scale dependent, is that your agency is not someone that you just tell what you want to do. It is a partnership, it is a marriage, and you both need to be going in the same direction for a smooth and effective outcome. So what we would recommend is having some clear goals and objectives have a realistic view in terms of both what your team can invest in actively delivering the initiatives as well as having a proper and considered financial budget to match. If $5,000 could turn into $1 million on 3 months then everybody in the world would be doing it.

You would be shocked by the amount of times that I hear businesses say we’d like to make a million dollar sales. And we are we thinking $5 to $10K investment that is simply absurd.

But a 100K to 200K investment over 12 to 18 months might just deliver you results like this.

At the end of the day marketing is a gamble, but for the most part when you partner with an agency like us we have seen what works for many businesses, across many industries. You pay for that knowledge and experience and in the end it will SAVE you both TIME and MONEY.

So, the real question – is are you ready to grow your business???

If so please get in touch and speak to one of our expert team.

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Is Social right for your business? It wasn’t right for Lush

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  • LUSH Cosmetics

Is Social right for your business? It wasn’t right for Lush

Lush wiping the slate clean with Social Media

So, the big news recently was that Lush, the cosmetics company, have departed the social media space.

As a digital agency, you may be surprised to hear that I think that Lush may be just one of many brands that may seek to do this over time. I also believe, though, that Lush’s timing was about getting PR around that concept, as much as it was a genuine thought of we’re going to leave social.

They have probably generated more PR around the fact that they’re leaving the social space than they would have in terms of engagement in the social space itself of late.

Why did Lush leave?

Let’s look at why they might have gone –

Lush is quite a significant business with a global footprint. Hence, they probably do have both the resources financially and internally to manage a proper social engagement. But when you look at where social is going. The genuine reality is, it is no longer the cheap, free and easy platform that it once was.

To peddle your product going forward will become a challenge for big business and small businesses alike (Not that it is a challenge you can’t overcome but a challenge nonetheless).

But what a brand name like Lush does have is amazing owned-platforms in their database and website. It’s one thing that social media companies don’t want the average punter to know and that is that they own the real estate that you are conducting business on and you must pay rent to sit at the table.

So, Lush has done the numbers looked over their engagement rates and ROIs on email and website based campaigns and realised that it’s something that they can exploit to connect with their million or more customers.

Let’s look at social and what value it may provide to Lush versus the value of leaving.

I think the first thing is that, for Lush to compete at a high level as a brand would mean a huge investment in beautiful, well executed content. Now the question for a brand like that is does the brand awareness that they build in the social space have enough gravitas to pull customers into the stores, where they’re probably being led primarily by price, versus the value of their existing customer database, which is now quite extensive, in the ease of potentially converting existing customers to ongoing loyalty.

And I think when you look at it, they’ve made a decision that the cost of acquisition, and brand awareness is probably higher than their cost of maintaining or retaining clients through their loyalty scheme.

I think the second attribute, and this is one that many businesses really do need to consider is, websites have become the forgotten member of the family.

Think back 10 years ago or more when Facebook was, I guess in its earliest days, it wasn’t the tool for marketing that it is today. And most businesses invested heavily in having a really, really fantastic website, where they have a great deal of content for their audience.

Now, we do know that a huge proportion of the world’s population is hanging out daily on Facebook, Instagram, or even LinkedIn at a professional level.

Drawing that audience to your website, generically from a pure acquisition point of view, is not going to be simple for Lush but with the size and scale of their database… I think what they’re betting on is that they can engage people in their own environment, and have a free platform, in essence, to deliver whatever content they want.

And they don’t have to be concerned about trying to outsmart the Facebook or the Instagram algorithms to deliver that content to an ever increasingly noisy social environment.

So what’s the advice for your business?

The truth is that you have to look at it on an individual basis. So, if you have very, very limited opportunity to resell your product to a customer, or you have a very, very long repeat business cycle, then the database strategy, whilst valuable is probably too long term and not going to deliver you the results, you need to be a brand awareness and acquisition focused.

 

However, if you, like Lush, have a solid set of clients that are heavily engaged with your business, the reality is that you’re 60% more likely to resell a product to that customer, then you are to try and sell that product to a new customer .

The upshot is, if you are going to make an investment, once you have a word that I like to use gravity or momentum, then it can be really, really valuable to become more brand centric.

 

It’s important to note that Lush’s US wing definitely did not close their accounts

So what’s the future for lush? And is that strategy long term?

I think the answer is probably it’s a medium term strategy. In other words, and what they’re doing is, they’re moving away from social so that they can really spend the limited budget that they might have remembering their repeat business, but everyone has budget limitations.

They’re using that limited budget to hone in on what they probably have seen in the data as one of the most profitable aspects of their sales funnel.

In time, that funnel will deplete naturally, because all businesses face the reality that their customers drop away. And at that time, this strategy will need to change. But for the Intermediate Period, it is a very, very valuable concept for that business.

So what do you do?

Well, like I said above, I think you need to focus in on a couple of key things.

How big is your database?

how active is your database?

Do you have any data around the value of returning business?

If you do, and it is all very, very positive then your business may just want to follow in the footprints of Lush.

If you don’t, it’s not going to work. But even if you aren’t going to go down a database approach, I would still be hesitant to suggest that you withdraw from social altogether in the way that Lush has.

And the reason is because it will be much harder to switch it back on again, I refer to this idea of momentum, if you’ve really given up on the audience that was loyal to you in that space.

And another aspect that can’t be counted out is that we often don’t know what might turn the tide on our business, changes in your industry, changes in the market landscape could really, really impact very quickly on how loyal your loyal customers are to you. And so maintaining an audience on a brand awareness level is important.

So that’s our take on what Lush has done, on why they’ve done it, and a little insight into how you might be able to use that tactic or not use that tactic for your business. If you’d like to know any more information about how we could potentially build a strategy for your business based around these concepts.

Please feel free to get in touch with me or contact any of my team we’d be more than happy to help.

 

 

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What businesses often fail to understand about social

Posted on by Michael Menzies
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What businesses often fail to understand about social

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Finding the true worth of social

 

Have you ever sat back and said “I don’t get how social works for my business” or are you doing social and thinking “This is pointless” only to read every second day how people are building empires from social media exposure for their business?

Meeting as many business people as I do, especially men and women in their late 40s through to their mid 60s I often see and hear how they just don’t think social is doing anything for their business.

Sometimes, we will be engaged by a client for social whom we know will leave us after 6 months and question our role and the role of social at all in their business.

We have a wide array of processes in place to try and educate customers on the role of social, the realities of undertaking it, the commitment required to do it well and the potential outcomes for their businesses over time, but often despite all this our customers (a certain, small percentage, mind you) will leave and feel they got nothing out of their investment.

You may be thinking it is unusual for one to be so honest about a failed business relationship, but it is this approach that typifies how social works: being genuine and informative and I think there are lessons to be shared and learned by showcasing failure not merely success.

And as Henry Ford says failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. Which is why each time we have a disappointing or failed experience with a client we further refine our offering to offer and even better service to our current an future customers.

So our success on any project often comes down to a combination of factors, some as an agency we can influence, others we can’t. But here are some are three key factors to consider when looking to find success sin social:

  1. Content
  2. Time
  3. Tracking

 

Content – MAKE IT GREAT – CREATE MOMENTS

One of the greatest mistakes brands/businesses make with social is they merely take their approach to promoting their products/services and plonk them on a social platform.

Social media is NOT an advertising medium in the traditional sense. Yes, people advertise there, but what really gets followers engaged is thoughtful and interesting content.

People in the social environment want to be entertained, intrigued and delighted but above all followers want genuineness… and it is that aspect of social, businesses fail to understand.

Successful brands in the social space don’t just “Brand” content, their content exemplifies their brand, its values, its approach and therefore it speaks clearly not merely about the products or services they sell, but why the brand exists and whom they exist for.

If you take a look at Red Bull for instance their content richly reflects their brand and appeals to those who identify with the more extreme… and if not those who necessarily live that life, at least those who aspire to add a little more excitement to their day. It isn’t about the product itself but the “lifestyle” the drink fits into.

A brand I have worked on – Maccona also has a hugely successful social following, and their content is all driven around the core idea that Maccona (the product) provides its drinkers with a moment of escape, through the taste, through the ritual of having a coffee. So, their content is formulated to provide a similar and simple moment of escape online.

Now these are both beverage brands and when I showcase these examples to customers (not in the Fast-Moving Consumer Good Space – FMCG) they often refute their ability to achieve this when their product or service is so much more utilitarian or generic.

And my argument is simple That is Bullshit.

Sure, your business won’t produce content that emulates Red Bull or Moccona, but there is no good reason why your brand/business can’t make content in the social space that is authentic to your brand and provides genuine engagement for your customers.

So, what is an example. Well if you haven’t followed the NSW police – check it out. Now I reckon the cops have a pretty tough sell on their hand with enforcing the law…. And let’s face it the “constabulary” don’t always have the easiest brand position either. But some of their stuff is pure gold.

Or what about mailchimp. Let’s face it mailchimp sells the ability to send emails to customers and its one of hundreds of similar products. It’s far from sexy, and as a facilitator who exists in a highly price sensitive environment – what could this brand really do to be “social”.

Mailchimp have done three things that I think are very clever for such a pragmatic product.

  1. In the social space they have taken a very pragmatic approach, their content is typically designed to give real working examples of how to maximise the effectiveness of your communications and in turn they seek to showcase the ease of use, not to mention how to maximise the outcomes using their platform.
  2. They have been consistent in their approach with regular posts across platforms both in terms of frequency and content.
  3. They have spent time and continue to invest in a brand identity (visual style) that goes beyond their logo and underpins the way they present their social communications.

 

This visual style is clever and recognisable and something that not many brands bother investing in. This isn’t just content it is content that is branded both in terms of the strategic approach as well as the ongoing content presentation.

There’s a lot we can learn from these brands, these are not funky products, not emotive brands and yet they have found a way to show their personality despite having boring businesses. They’ve produced genuine content that reflect their brand on social media which keep users alert to their future posts but also keeps their brand front of mind which will allow you to get more followers, build engagement, and grow your business, but let’s be honest to make all of this happen and build a solid following will take…..

 

TIME – ROME AND A SOCIAL FOLLOWING – BOTH WEREN’T BUILT IN A DAY

Building a social following for a retail fashion brand like Boohoo or The Iconic can be rapid and the numbers of followers, sharers and buyers – massive. Again, not every business will have this same ability. So, understanding your business and your customer is vital in determining how many followers you want and having a plan for how long it might take to reach them is just as important.

What is also important in determining the time investment required for your social presence is the latency of your sales funnel/process. For example, if you sell cheap holidays the time between posting via your social channels and seeing a sales response may be a mere matter of days, but if you are selling large mining equipment it may take an extended and ongoing effort to see conversions from social.

In some respects, however your regular sales process should give you some indication around this, so if you do sell heavy machinery don’t expect to put up a post on Linked In once and sell a 1000. Expect it to take some time to build, we suggest that to properly target and build an engaged social following will take a minimum of nine months and up to 18 months before certain business types will see results begin to flow.

But how do you know?

 

TRACKING – SOCIAL SHOULD BE TRACKED – IT’S NOT JUST FOR FUN

This is a big one – And socially savvy businesses consider this often long before they even make a post. How you track success and how you track sales through your social media initiatives are vital to the process and how you seek to measure this will vary business to business and product to product.

Ultimately, investing in systems that track sales and the channel from which they were derived is one thing, but if your business doesn’t have robust digital systems in place, then try simple things like unique URLs, pricing or promotional codes that can help your sales teams track sales coming from your social channels specifically.

This really is very important because, as an example, we worked with a client once who saw a 15% uptick in sales in six months after investing in social with us. We asked them if they could see the correlation between our social campaign and their sales increase. And their response was “no one has specifically said they found us through social, so we are no sure this is working”.

As an agency, there was only so much we could track the performance (within the scope of the brief), so whilst we could see and share from the analytic data showing the increased traffic to the website, see the increase in online enquiries and they reported the subsequent increase in sales Without the client actually finding out where customers found them, we couldn’t close the loop in regard to the effectiveness of the work.

Which brings me back to the crux of this article. Why do some of our clients fail to see value in social?

I think it is often a lack of understanding of one or each the above key factors and the effort that each takes in tandem to find success. Whether you are executing your social in-house, by yourself or with an agency partner you really do have to be invested; invested in the idea of creating meaningful content, invested in the idea of being patient and giving your social initiatives time to work and invested in the systems and processes to track its performance.

As an agency who helps business with social, what I can tell you is whilst our talent at producing great content and managing the complex nuances of each platform is what we pride ourselves in, what makes a truly great relationship and delivers the best outcomes in social is when the client is truly invested in the outcome and knows why social is important for their business.

Give us your feedback – Why is social important or not important to your business?

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6 things to do to get your business out of a funk

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6 things to do to get your business out of a funk.

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Bring your business back to life

 

We are a marketing business, and when you think about that concept, essentially, we have to find the positive aspects of a product or service and we have to use that to showcase the most positive effect your product, business or service can have on the life your desired customer.

We often get called in when there’s a problem (although you should be marketing even when everything is going well) whether it is a dip in sales or completely rethinking tried and tested strategies because the market has changed. And naturally, with all this extra stress at work, they can find themselves in a funk and that’s when we meet them.

Now, I’m not a psychologist (not that you needed to be told that) but being in the “finding the positives” business and the fact that we regularly meet business owners and account managers who are stressed and in a funk at work, we often find ourselves in mock counselling session with a client – before they have even signed on the dotted line.

So, if you need to make some changes in mentality at work (and beyond) here are my tips on telling the FUNK to F-off and in doing so prepare your business to better sell itself.

 

1. Wake up earlier…

This is not one of those work longer or work harder concepts. No. Wake up earlier and make some more time for yourself.

One of the worst things about being a business professional is that you devote so much of your time to the business and in the end, you grow tired and resentful because it takes up all your time.

But this advice goes beyond just giving yourself back a bit of time for you. This down time where you lift some weights, go for a run, or have a latte at the café, gives your brain some downtime. And believe it or not this is when the best ideas will manifest themselves.

 

2. Get out there and meet people.

If you find yourself constantly engaging a certain type of client and they are draining (physically and time), not profitable or not really fulfilling to service, the likelihood is (by virtue of your current marketing activities, referrals etc.) you will continue to attract more of these types of clients.

So, take a moment, have a think about who your perfect client might be and then try and figure out where they are, what networking groups they are in, what events they go to, where they have a beer after work and get there. This is not the promotion of stalking. It is the targeting environments where customers you want to work with are.

And if you can hone in on this, the marketing initiatives we help you with will be greatly improved by your understanding of these customers, where they are and their pain points.

 

3. Shake it up a bit

Most jobs are repetitive, we become good at them the longer we do them because we become more effective and efficient at doing the same task repeatedly.

But over time, for some, this repetition can be quite monotonous. So, shake it up. Change meeting times. Only respond to emails at certain time during the day so you remain more focussed, vary your hours.

Changing little things can alter the way we perceive even what we have grown tired of.

This could be setting aside some time to really work on your thinking around marketing. Be hands on with your agency and inject some new energy into an otherwise repetitive scenario.

 

4. Declutter

Maria Kondo’s is a smash hit on Netflix (great watch if you haven’t seen it) and her show is all about decluttering your home.

Decluttering can go beyond the physical. Declutter your schedule, if you do 4 meetings a day do 3 and take that additional time to focus in on improving one aspect of your work life.

Don’t eat lunch at your desk – go out and have a walk.

Set a time each day to pack up your desk, clean your desk top and be ready for the next day so you can approach it with a clear mind.

Decluttering your time and mind will have a dramatic impact on your performance.

You can also declutter your products, seek out the highest performing products, declutter your messaging – work with an agency like us to make your marketing approach more streamlined and direct.

 

5. Stop focussing on money.

Money, ah, that old chestnut! – We all work or own a business to make it. It’s a prerequisite of life to some degree. Hell, even not for profit doesn’t mean not for money, look at the balance sheets of some major charities and you will see what I mean.

But if you think about the dollars and cents every minute of every day you may overlook the simple joy of service.

Now this isn’t some spiritual humdrum, nor is it overlooking the need to make money. But I sometimes think it’s like this: If you never take your eyes off the GPS whilst driving, there is no doubt you will have a very clear picture of the destination but I highly doubt you will get there.

Your marketing I think could benefit from similar thinking. People often think of marketing as a chore, an expense.

If you change your focus and become part of the process, own it and find joy in it. Make it part of your service delivery as opposed to an external function, I think you will find your marketing will improve greatly. This doesn’t mean you need to become a marketing expert, or do it all yourself, rather it suggests working with trusted marketing partners and together making great things happen

 

6. Be positive.

You know on a personal level, my business has taken some big hits over the years, we’ve been screwed a few times, we’ve made mistakes and we haven’t always been where we want to be.

It can be quite painful at times when things don’t go right.

But, I think you must be positive. After all everything that is wonderful in this world can have a dark side. And so too can your career or your business.

Take stock of the things that have gone wrong and assess the lessons that can be learned, there is so much we can take from tough times.

And this is a key lesson for marketing your business too, SH!T happens, but when you present your business, present the best it can be. Take the learnings, take the bits that aren’t perfect and use your marketing to make a public commitment that as a business you will do things better… customers respond to positive words, even more so positive action.

—

This little list has helped me manage the pitfalls of having my own business, they keep me sane and in the long run help my business run smoothly. They also help me focus on how I externally promote our business. Many of these personal activities can be reflected in the way you market both yourself and your business.

Give them a go and tell me what you think?

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2019 UPDATE: Are TV ads worth it? Super Bowl musings Part 2

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IT’S SUPER BOWL TIME
LET’S TALK FOOTBALL TV ADS

  • TV2

Update:

Last year we did a two part series (part two is below and you can find part 1 here) on Super Bowl advertising and how digital can be intertwined and why small and medium enterprises should think BIG. We enjoyed it so much we thought we would take a look at the ads for this year and see if they passed muster.

Get ready for Grammy Winners, Oscar Winners, Hall of Famers and a Super Model to boot. We’ll use a fairly simple grading system Great, Good Enough, Meh, Bad.

 

ADP – Good Enough


A simple enough premise with pumping music and ADT made a good choice of spokespeople/influencers. You might not know their voices but when the “property brothers” come into frame one is like “oh, yeah, I like those guys”. There might be a bit too much negative language “it’s not about…” but it does a good job of appealing to wide audience and makes the stale idea of security warm and family friendly.

 

Amazon – Bad

I hate this ad – it’s too frenetic; it wants us to be on the joke but we aren’t, it makes no sense and just makes them look like eff-ups. I am not sure if you needed stars for this ad Harrison got an OK role but Forrest, Abbi and Ilana were left high and dry (or quite the opposite) being wasted. This ad just feels like we had a big budget for this ad lets waste it all.

 

Audi – Good

It’s funny, it’s aspirational, it has a message. It’s brand building for Audi done the right way.

 

Avo From Mexico – Good

It’s our first installment from a brand that isn’t familiar in Australia. Overall it sticks with their usual style of humor for their ads, they’ve used Kristen Chenoweth not sure if she was needed but why not throw her in there. It gets a good because it has broad market appeal.

 

Ban & Viv – Meh


Mermaids appearing on Shark Tank – I like the idea but the payoff at the end isn’t good enough for it to be a reveal. Interesting product and an interesting way to tell your products story.

 

Bubly – Good


At last, an actual smart use of a celebrity, I knew we would get there. It’s cute, Bublé is well liked and does a good job.

 

Bud Light – Good


Very interesting alignment, GoT is great at killing off our favorite characters but it’s a bold move for the ad’s mascot to be killed.

 

Bud – Good


Budweiser is notorious for the use of nostalgia in its branding. We are American as apple pie and baseball. This is an interesting ad for them because they play on old-fashioned values but also introduce the environmental element to the company. I’m giving it a good for their market although I find it personally a bit boring.

 

Bumble – Good


Strange as it may sound, I genuinely was looking forward to this ad I’d heard about it coming in an article about Serena but I was left wanting more. But then again I am not the target market – and the visuals and music are first class.

 

Burger King – Bad


I just dislike it, it’s boring who cares if it’s a found footage ad from a documentary. I don’t care how Andy eats his burger and are they insinuating that they don’t put enough sauce on their burgers?

 

Colgate – Great


Luke Wilson is well liked, simple messaging and good backing track – it’s good clean fun just like your teeth should be.

 

Devour – Meh


Risque can always mean risky and in America it might be too full on for the average audience but it was executed fairly well and an interesting nugget.

 

Doritos – Meh


Star power with Chance the Rapper and N’Sync; a funky beat but just feels lame – the mashup between the two seems forced. But it does deliver the message that Doritos is cool but now hot. Almost good.

 

Expensify – Good


Who doesn’t love Adam Scott; Two rap stars in a row. It does automatically give you street cred but does it lose street cred for the rappers? Regardless again the scene is set up nicely, there’s humour and the messaging is on point.

 

Google – Meh


Did this hit you right in the feels? It didn’t for me – it felt like the kinda schmaltz that you expect from a multi-national but not really Google. Humans are good and so are we…

 

Hulu – Good


Very different, very interesting, and with an already popular product Hulu did a good job.

 

Hyundai – Great


Why would we need to tout how good our cars are when we can tout the least important part of a car the buying of it? It main sound like a silly concept but it’s actually quite ingenious – because most people don’t like shopping for cars but also most people won’t go on many test drives so if you can be one of the few by offering a great experience buying. And I have a huge soft spot for Jason Bateman.

 

Kia – good


Not that we would know it in Australia but Kia have tubthumped their American factory often for the US audience so when the Super Bowl is being played so close to your factory why not try and cash in. It may not work for me but for the intended audience – it works.

 

M&Ms – meh


M&Ms are well known for their humorous, childish personified red and yellow M&M characters. And this is a great twist on the rambunctious kids in the back seat trope but it is more than a little jarring to see a mum say they will eat their kids… even if it is Christina. Maybe I am holding them to a higher standard but that’s only because they have set that standard themselves.

 

Mercedes – bad/good


Mercedes are for… ahem… wankers and I guess this may appeal to that market. Bad for me, Good for them.

 

Michelob Light – bad


One part of a good ad is being memorable, and this off the wall idea might have worked especially with a young fan favorite like Zoe. But in the end it just comes off as pretentious.

My word there are a lot of ads in the Super Bowl… Don’t worry we are passed the halfway mark

 

Microsoft – Great


Where Google failed Microsoft succeeded you don’t get to say that often anymore – but this human interest story is a winner. I was hooked.

 

Mint Mobile – Great


A brand I am unfamiliar with but it has all the elements of a solid ad: gross-out factor, animal mascot, smart language, and a good deal to spur action.

 

NFL – Great


This is clearly a winner for the Super Bowl audience. The targeting is on point! The humour is there – even if you don’t get all the references you can have fun with it. It does a great job of including the female audience. It embraces the leagues history. The only thing I am wondering about is that it is the end of the season why unveil it now?

 

Norwegian Cruise Line – Good


This achieves its intended purpose makes the ship the star of the travel. Rather than the picturesque destinations it will take you to. It may slightly try to make everyone happy, a couple relaxing on the same boat that kids are zip lining and go karting on? not too sure if they want to be on the same cruise. Overall it’s a bit of fun and might convince some people that hadn’t considered cruising yet.

 

Olay – Good


A really nice change from the stuffy world of adult moisturiser advertising. Another celeb making an appearance this time it’s Buffy!

 

Pepsi – Good


More star power for Pepsi with Steve Carell, Cardi B and Lil Wayne. Interesting concept trying to reposition itself rather than the alternative or the ok. Simple, effective.

 

Persil – Meh


Not much here – a few bells and whistles although the FX could be better.

 

PLanters, Mr Peanut – Meh


A few more celebrities to go in the countdown, in this installment we have Sheen and ARod, it might appeal to their target market (assuming someone that would watch two and a half men). Do we use footy players in our summer ads, NO and America shouldn’t be putting baseballers in their Super Bowl ads.

 

Pringles – Meh


I’m not sure if I get this one. Is stacking your Pringles with different flavours a thing or are they trying to make it a thing? Either way more power to them if they can get more people opening different flavours at the same time sounds like more profit. Plus I think it might be a bit too hipster leaning for me.

 

Simplisafe – Meh


I know our worldview would tell us that Americans especially viewers of a certain channel are peddled with fear on their news all the time but this ad seems to lean in too hard, especially as they are a technological product and making technology out to be a fearful thing. Interesting concept although I think it’s too exaggerated to elevate it passed “meh” for me.

 

Sketchers – Meh


Tony Romo is likeable, he is a football dude makes perfect sense for the Super Bowl. The messaging is ok but not nearly as inventive as they could have been.

 

Sprint – Good


Another athlete this time Bo Jackson – this one is simple and effective.

 

The Washington Post – Good


The best celebrity get so far Tom Hanks, the star of The Post. Although, it may seem to earnest to some – this spot works well in the context.

 

T-Mobile – Great


I could say this is derivative: a mobile screen typing or the often used what are we for having for dinner dilemma or a little on the nose music choice. But it works together really well and the thought of free tacos is a winner.

 

Toyota Rav 4 – Meh


Antoiette Harris deserves all the accolades and sponsorships for being an out and out star but over all the challenge expectations mantra that is being extolled here falls short for Toyota.

 

Toyota Supra – Great


This… now this is fun – it’s a little retro, a little futuristic. A cool little ad – that’s all about the car, then pinball, then finishing off on the car. This works.

 

Turbo Tax – Great


Robo-child cool. Accountants are real people especially at Turbo Tax CPAs to boot. Great Ad.

 

Turkish Airlines – meh


Behind the camera celebrity this time with Ridley Scott at the helm for this ad that led into a six-minute short film. The story is ok, shot well, Turkey is beautiful – but did anyone really care about this ad?

we are almost done don’t worry

 

Verizon – bad


If you haven’t figured it out yet – I am not the biggest fan of cheesy schmaltz and this ad that pulls at the heartstrings with Real American Blue Collar Heroes does not do it for me (though they are heroes – I am not here disputing that).

 

Weathertech – bad


I don’t own a pet or a heart so it’s hard for me to get on board with this one.

 

Wix – meh


I have been seeing Wix ads with Kloss ads for a long time in pre-rolls so it doesn’t feel new to me. Even though Wix do offer a fine product – I bet all Wix websites would look amazing if you have a style guide, a super model and professional photography at the ready.

 

We did it

 

If you read our discussion yesterday about TV ads and the cost of a Superbowl, you may have come away wondering how your business could really benefit from such an event.

After all, your budget may not go anywhere near that far and in many respects, whilst the Superbowl provides the ultimate exposure, it simply isn’t open to the average size business.

There are a couple of lessons business of any size can take away from the Superbowl regardless of how big or small you are.

You can reach a lot of eyeballs and it doesn’t have to cost the earth.

There is no doubt that a one off event like Superbowl will throw a spotlight on your brand if you were willing to stump up the cash to buy such massive exposure but buying high quality targeted exposure can actually be a whole lot simpler. The beauty of digital (which is why we love it) is with budgets nowhere near as large we can create immensely targeted campaigns that can deliver real results for your business.

Don’t think just one channel – We deal with an array of companies large and small, and many have a variety of marketing initiatives across an array of channels. What the Superbowl ads often do is create a great narrative and produce a phenomenal TVC, but this isn’t where these campaigns end. The ads are merely the tip of the iceberg for most of the advertisers. Each ad will be supported with search, social and dedicated landing pages to ensure that after the audience has seen the ad they can find it, share it and learn more about it. There is a natural PR aspect to Superbowl that your average campaign may not have, but if you work to create a great brand story there is no reason why you couldn’t integrate some tailored PR around your marketing approach whatever channel you use.

Ultimately, Superbowl is an ad campaign on steroids. Whilst the spotlight shines upon the ads themselves the fundamentals of having a great creative story, a targeted message and a fully integrated approach really apply from the Superbowl right down to the most basic of campaigns.

 

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The client always comes first… but isn’t always right.

Posted on by Michael Menzies
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Customer Isn't always right - providing great service in the digital industy

 

The client always comes first…
but isn’t always right.

Our job is often to create something new almost every day. I am not always sure that customers or even those around us appreciate how difficult it can be to create something from nothing nearly every hour of every day of your life.

For us, as artists, that can be both thrilling and terrifying all at the same time, and it can also be draining.

One thing is certain is that designers, writers, videographers and producers all inherently attempt to make something great each time. And that too can be as much trouble as it is worth sometimes.

Especially when those for which you are making things for (we’ll call them clients) are often not necessarily trained nor geared to think or do what we do.

Now this article is not to place us on some pedestal, nor to belittle clients, after all what we do exists 99% of the time solely for you, but it is an article designed to offer some perspective and perhaps seek to help clients better understand the process we go through for you.

So let’s role play here a little:

  • You’re a client and you need a logo, a brochure, a video or something…
  • You brief your designer, now there are a few key phrases we hear almost daily:
    • “I’m not looking for anything fancy”
    • “Don’t spend too much time on it”
    • “I need it quickly”

Each of these phrases is the beginning of the exact same process, effort and compromise as someone saying, “really make it awesome, invest as much time as you can in getting the right result, but the deadline is X”… You see the only real difference is the mentality the client brings to brief, because from this point on a client’s expectation is generally the same, but ironically, the one who suggests any of those first phrases I mentioned, are likely to be the most difficult client to deal with.

Why?

There are a couple of key reasons, the phrases themselves reflect a lack of appreciation of the time, effort and inherent skill the designer and design process entails. It also generally shows a lack of genuine personal investment in the achievement of the outcome which is distinctly different from their desire for the outcome itself.

When a designer (or, a design firm, or agency) present a client with something or a range of options, one of the most difficult aspects of our job is the flippancy for which customers either dismiss ideas, overlook the thinking that went into the work or again underestimate the skill that went into its creation.

Now, I am not insinuating that we are always right, but at the same time I am insulating that customers aren’t either.

If we have selected a certain image, or left s p a c e in a design it’s generally a considered approach to a design problem, it has been worked on and tested in all matter of ways to get to the end result – a result that attempts to blend the aesthetic requirements of the task with the need to showcase and clearly display or convey information.

Now all the words in the world can succinctly showcase my point so I thought these short videos might help.

Don’t get me wrong, you are the client and your opinion matters, but if the logo is a certain size, or the designer has left space for words to breath, it is not some sort of attempt to frustrate you, but rather it is years of education, thousands of hours working at their craft and an eye for aesthetics that make them specialists in their field being provided to you as part of their service to you.

As a designer, they will always put you first, a business we will always do the same, but the creation of all the work we do, we are always open to suggestions, but before you make them, take some time and consider if your feedback reflects the best interests of the project and if it may go against the approach your design or agency partner has put forwards with the best interests of your project, your message and your audience.

Enjoy the videos.

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5 TIPS TO HELP MARKET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

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5 TIPS TO HELP MARKET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

I regularly meet with small business owners, and almost every single one procrastinates in some way when making marketing decisions. Typically, for one of three key reasons:

  1. They want total assurance that it will work.
  2. They think they can/want to try to do it by themselves.
  3. They don’t have the budget, but are keen to invest in it when they do.

I can empathise, on this last point especially, as someone who has worked with some of the world’s largest companies where budgets are often much larger. I can also understand the hesitation for small businesses with small budgets who feel like it’s all very intangible and question whether it will really work and be worth the financial investment.

If you are keen to improve your business’s marketing but feel stuck or unsure of what to do next, keep reading!

Below are 5 tips on how to stand out and be noticed by potential customers and clients.

 

1 – Have clear objectives… not just that you “want to sell more”.

Small businesses rarely actually know what they want. They want growth and they want more sales.

But what does that actually look like. Be real, I want to sell 10 more of that or I want to make +X in revenue.

Once you clearly know your objectives, it is far easier to assess the value of your proposed marketing initiatives.

And remember, if you have no marketing collateral, no social media presence or have never reached out to your customers before, you have to factor in what I like to call momentum costs. Just like exercising after “letting yourself go” for a bit, the first little while in the gym will be hard and won’t show much result. So be patient. All great things take time!

 

 2 – Add value

Ok, so you are starting to market yourself – awesome! Unfortunately, so many small businesses leave marketing their business until they reach a moment of desperation. The problem here is two-fold:

  1. If you have not engaged and cultivated your audience before now, then there probably aren’t many people listening. Big businesses can make noise, small businesses rarely can. So don’t leave it until the last minute. It takes time to build an audience, and only then will results be achieved.
  2. When you are desperate, you head to last resort alternatives like sales. Discounts are often of value in a retail environment but for most businesses I meet, one of my first marketing tips is to look at the product and see where you can increase sale or margin through value-adding… Not only does it potentially mean selling less for the same result, but you don’t undermine the value of your product, or look “desperate”.

 

3 – Consistently publish great content and maintain your presence

Consistency is key and the concept of an “always on” approach is something often unachievable by small businesses because when you get busy, your marketing falls off the priority list. So, find a partner and outsource it.

Now there is a cost to this, so make sure you understand the genuine value of marketing to your business, and make sure that your marketing costs are factored into your product or service costs.

It would surprise you just how many businesses I meet who don’t factor marketing into their product pricing, and the thought of eating into margin generally sends small business owners into some sort of small seizure! So do the numbers and be realistic!

High quality content will improve your reach and your brand exposure, but beyond this, a solid investment in content speaks volumes to the consumer. It makes your business look more legitimate, which in turn makes the decision-making process for the potential buyer much easier.

Great content also helps with SEO, which means you are getting more bang for your buck.

 

4 – Reinvent previous content

There is nothing wrong with reusing existing content that has performed well in the past. We do this often – and think about it, it makes total sense! If you invested time or money in good content in the first place, it deserves to be reused. It may be seen by a totally different audience, which means lots of potential new customers!

We have hundreds of articles and some of them are really great (who are we kidding, ALL of them are great), with lots of super insightful information. So, pull out the very best and create small pieces of new content.

 

5 – Budget

I have worked with lots of of SME’s (all the way up to those with $50 million turnovers), and not many have a realistic budget when it comes to marketing.

Great social media is not free. Nor are great articles, graphics or videos. Yes, there are tonnes of people out there touting cheap or DIY solutions and I am not discouraging them, but believe it or not, marketing is a skill. An agency like ours knows exactly how to deal with all of the marketing challenges your business might stumble across; and we feel pretty confident that we can build you a solid strategy and execute it with more success than you can likely do on your own (no offence)!

You perceive yourself as a highly skilled professional (individual or organisation) of your field, so:

  1. Focus on doing what you do best. Saving a few dollars on marketing doesn’t make much sense when you should be spending your time in your field of expertise, and improving your craft! Let a marketing expert do their thing, while you do yours!
  2. If you can recognise your skillset and experience in yourself, make sure you recognise these in your selected marketing partner. Trust that they are skilled (and do your due diligence, of course) and work with them to deliver your objectives.

Make sure you allocate a budget that is realistic to the task. If you want to make $1million in additional revenue, $5K is not a realistic budget (sadly)! If we could all spend just $5K in marketing and make $1M, everyone would be pretty successful!

Don’t get me wrong, you will always hear those sensational stories of people who made millions by investing just $500 in marketing, or who did it all by themselves overnight, etc. etc. , however these are genuinely “right time, right place”, stories. Be realistic!

And finally, budget doesn’t only apply to money. Make sure you are realistic with the time your budget needs for success. Just how making $1M by spending $5K on marketing is probably underdoing it, 5 days to achieve $1M in sales is probably not realistic either. Here at Remember, we tend to work in quarters or six month blocks as for most businesses this is more reflective of the timeline they will require in order to achieve meaningful and measurable goals.

Happy Marketing! Feel free to drop us a line if you think we can help you!

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Hungry Vegans… Hungry Jack’s

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Hungry Vegans… Hungry Jack’s

There are approximately 11.5% of Aussie’s who now identify as vegetarian/vegan (I do recognise the difference – but they were the stats I had)… and my wife happens to be one of them. And I can tell you, as a meat eating cannibal, that your vego types can be hard to cater for in a world besotted by meat.

Now, in saying that, there are some sensational vegetable dishes that even the most dedicated meat eaters would really enjoy if they were more aware of them.

But let’s face it the vego/vegan thing is in some ways still seen as an obscure sub culture by many. And so, with just 11.5% of Aussies it is easy to understand why this market is often overlooked.

But Hungry Jack’s recently launched a new Vegan Burger and the subsequent ad campaign and media coverage is for me a masterstroke and no doubt McDonalds will be closely monitoring its success if not desperately trying to conceive their own vegetarian options.

There is a tremendous lesson in this for business. Hungry Jack’s have combined product planning and marketing to effectively own a space. With Australia, the third fast growing Vegan market and them getting a run on their key competition, Hungry Jack’s get to own the space and the narrative. They get to build traction around them and for a time at least have a genuine point of difference.

There is risk in this strategy, but whilst many businesses would overlook the trend or wait to see if there was genuine interest in this vegan thing. Hungry Jack’s have taken a considered gamble that, whilst genuine vegetarians/vegans may only be 11% of the market currently, the trend for healthier choices is growing and whilst many may baulk at the idea of a vegan burger from Hungry Jack’s resembling anything like a healthy option, there may be a few out there sitting on the fringes who will see what Hungry Jack’s have done and give it a go.

And in a market where there are few alternatives (as in “healthy” or vegetarian fast food) and at a time where your key competitor isn’t even in the game yet, these are moments where businesses can redefine their market position and even gain market share by changing it up.

…your key competitor isn’t even in the game yet, these are moments where businesses can redefine their market position and even gain market share by changing it up….

And your marketing and marketing team can play a big role in this too…

Marketing is often overlooked in terms of its role in product development, but in a modern context – user or customer experience is both driven and communicated by marketing. Great marketing should reflect a genuine insight into your customer and those insights can have a tremendous influence on understanding the needs and expectations of your customers. A well-integrated marketing team should be seeing the emerging trends and opportunities for your brand across the broader market place and then suggesting ideas like improvements to service or new products.

Once these recommendations have been assessed and implemented through the various areas of the business that bring them to life – marketing then plays a huge role in communicating that to the customer.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your organisation integrating these functions of your business will better connect it to your customers’ needs, so be sure to get your marketing team or agency in on your planning for future products and service delivery changes, because it could change the way you do business.

Well done, Hungry Jack’s.

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Image Credit Hungry Jacks via Fashion Journal

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7 useful steps for scaling your network

Posted on by Michael Menzies
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7 USEFUL STEPS FOR SCALING YOUR NETWORK

  • scalenetwork

A business consultant was telling me how “digital is all well and good, but you know that referral will always be your strongest sales machine”. I looked at him blankly for a second knowing full well that he was implying that digital couldn’t provide the 1 to 1 referral opportunity that you get from your trusted network.

In a presentation he gave later that day he then touted – “that everyone needs an assistant to do the grunt admin work for his or her business…” because how can you possibly grow when you are limited by your own capacity.

There seems to be a contradiction going on here, apparently, some parts of your business function can be delegated but the holy grail of business networking cannot.

He is right, in a way, some things can’t simply be delegated to some junior or outsourced and maintaining your network certainly falls into that category because networking is all about building relationships and trust.

But how do you continue to grow if we are limited in both our capacity to meet new people and service our relationships?

I think this is where the previously mentioned business consultant is wrong – and the answer is Digital!

In this day and age, there are so many platforms in the digital world that allow us to build and maintain “virtual” personal relationships and share what appears to be “personalized” information widely. From email newsletters to social platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, or a website/blog – we can keep in touch with our network and remind them of what they liked about us in the first place with solid regularity.

So, if you agree that there is only one of you and that you want to engage your network of referrers more regularly – here are 7 good ways to do it?

Small to medium businesses (we are one too y’know) usually do not have a lot of time or the biggest budgets so in our case we have to choose wisely regarding how and where to invest so as to maximize how we connect with our network.

But regardless of size, you simply can’t throw it to someone else. You need to either dedicate time yourself in crafting your communications or build a relationship with a trusted partner to work with you generating the RIGHT kind of content to engage your network.

Just like a face to face conversation: what you say, the way you are dressed and the way you present yourself is very important – so don’t skimp on your approach to this. Treat each piece of communication as if you are in front of that person and provide them with a quality insight that reminds them of your value. I am not going to lie – it takes time and perseverance to scale your network online and you have to be involved to some degree to keep it authentic.

1. Plan

Spending a bit of time (and money) up front to develop a strategy for your online activities can save you money and countless hours (which is the idea right? We are trying to streamline efforts, aren’t we?) in the long run. Pay attention to how you will choose:
• your platforms and tools,
• how you will create the content
• how you can cross share content and
• how you can engage your network continually

Keep a high standard and try to be consistent in your messaging – the end goal is that your network feels and gains value from their interactions with you and your brand at each touch point.

2. It’s not working – what do I do?

First of all – think back to when you began “real life” networking or implemented referral programs for your customers – The results weren’t likely perfect straight of the bat right?

You no doubt tested a few territories, tested your pitch etc. So if you’ve been trying to get a foothold on a platform for 6 months and nothing is happening it might be the right platform for you… for example I heard recently that the Royal Blind Society gave up their Instagram account… There is an obvious laugh to be had here, but it would be interesting to consider their strategic thinking behind both having it and walking away from it.

The key is experimentation – see what your audience likes and play to that.

As a tradie, if you notice that a video of a job you finished recently really resonated with your audience perhaps consider doing that for each of your projects.

Or if you’re a mortgage broker – could your audience be encouraged by regular video updates of how your customers are benefiting from your ongoing service?

Remember just like your pitch – you must be clear about what you do and remind your network why you do it. Show them the joy you get from the successes you have with your client. And if you can’t seem to find results – it may be time to call in the experts; often they can see you business, your customer and how to reach them in a way you can’t.

3. Referral

So, I am expanding my network but how is this going to generate any referrals for my business?

In any digital strategy, advocacy should be a main theme. We all know that it costs more to gain a customer than keep a customer; hence advocacy amongst your network is crucial on two levels, recommendation and repeat business.

How long has it been since you reached out to your customers?

4. After you’ve reached out how do you turn that customer into an advocate?

From our perspective, we focus on two distinct advocacy pathways “active” and “passive”.

Much of the advocacy in Social Media is passive they may like or comment on one of your posts.

A like = endorsement.
A share = a hearty endorsement
A share with a person tagged is pretty much a referral – one of your circle has seen your content and said, “Hey Jo, you really have to check these peeps out”.

These are valuable and the more touch points where you can engage your network to advocate your brand the better. The wonderful side effect of these sort of environments is they have a capability to improve the reach of your network too….

If you haven’t done so already a more active approach to referrals could be to reach out to your network and ASK THEM TO refer your business. Remind them of their importance to your business and the importance of them telling their network about you.

Many business people will be engaged in real world networking events and clubs and in these environments people are encouraged to outline the types of referrals they are looking for. Don’t feel scared to do the same in the digital world either.

5.Be available.

Be sure to answer comments and respond to questions or enquiries. It’s called a social network for a reason – make sure you can answer any comments or questions in a timely manner.

Don’t be afraid of negative comments – A negative comment gives you an unusual chance to have an even more memorable impact – remember the old adage there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

If someone has a gripe about your service be polite and allay their concerns or consternations as quickly as possible – hopefully it’s a misunderstanding, but if not, you have a direct customer insight into an area where your business might not be providing the best possible service.

Celebrate your wins too. If your winning accounts, selling lots of products let people know – just think how often people have said – let’s eat here, it’s a full restaurant it must be good. If you show your full of happy customers that can have the same effect.

6. Tire Kickers

Am I inviting more timewasters into my circle by doing this?

Ultimately throwing your networking into the digital world opens the potential for engaging the wrong audience.

It is important to understand that this itself presents two distinct opportunities:
1. To better hone your messaging to weed out the wrong type of client and
2. It may reveal an opportunity you didn’t realise existed.

7. Competitors

Aren’t I just showing off all the goods so others can copy me?

ep, if your content is good enough to copy, well then, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. If you focus on your strategy and continually improve your positioning; someone copying you will always be one step behind.

So if referral is your “strongest sales channel” don’t overlook digital as a genuine opportunity to engage,, build or even re-engage your network. And remember there are only so many hours in any given day. Digital offers you a way to be working on your networking almost anywhere at almost anytime.

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Should I go with a big agency or small agency?

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Should I go with a big agency or small agency?

  • Small Agency - Superior Service Digital agency

Digital Matters – Bigger Agencies Vs Small
Should I go with a big agency or small agency?

I had to laugh when meeting a potential client the other day… let’s call her Jane… Jane is a middle aged entrepreneur.

We had met me at an event and we got to talking, as you do, and Jane spoke of her desire to find a big agency to help market her product. She had a marketing background herself and loved the idea of working with the BIG names. Jane asked me about about my business and I said I thought I could help her with her marketing challenges. As I discussed my business she said “I’ve never heard of Remember Creative”. I explained we were small, but growing. Later on in the event we had connected on LinkedIn and after looking at my profile “oh wow you have worked for X,Y and Z… You must be really good” I sheepishly thanked her for her kind words. As the conversation drew to a close she said “Why don’t you work for the big guys? You’re clearly good enough”.

I pondered her question on my way home and I thought there was value in sharing some thoughts on big vs small agencies…

 

In the current climate (I know there are digital climate change deniers out there but it’s hard to refute that digital has changed the marketing conditions) it’s hard to know where to put your money when it comes to marketing.

As in-house teams are getting larger (http://www.agencynewbusiness.com/combating-the-rise-of-in-house-agencies/), and depending on which blogs you frequent the generalist and specialist are both growing in prominence, the waters are becoming increasingly muddied – even for the well initiated.

Caveat – I am writing this, and work for, a small agency myself so this list is obviously as impartial as they come.

Less Overhead
There is a bulk that comes from being big that’s the nature of the beast. So if bang for your buck is a major concern then a smaller boutique digital agency might be for you.

History of success
There is a certain comfort going with a much lauded agency – the runs on the board can speak volumes but will the creative team that made you consider company X be the same that will be working on your project?
And yet, the pocket sized agency will usually have a director who have, themselves, been the creatives that have run and been responsible for a number of amazing campaigns – which in turn led to the genesis of owning their own company.

Less polished at presentations
This is a feather in the cap of big agencies for sure, they have the resources to throw at a presentation or pitch meeting and they are doing it far more regularly. Their presentation game is tight!

More Importance
Your business might mean that much more to the smaller agency and with that comes added benefits of your digital agency going that extra mile to make you happy.

A one stop shop
A smaller agency may not be a 360 degree agency which means that you might need to go to more than one source or that the agency will need to collaborate with another niche agency to make the grand vision you have into a reality. This can be a positive in the case of the specialty agency as they have to choose agencies that do good work (to make them look good) and that work well with them (to make everything run smoothly).

More Access
With a smaller creative agency you will find that you have much more access. You might find yourself regularly conversing with the boss or Creative Director rather than a newly vetted project manager.

Familiarity
Perhaps intertwined with access is familiarity – The high demand, churn and burn nature of a bigger digital agency often means that you might have a different person running your account and different team members doing your work often. Seeing as you will quite often be conversing with the senior management and/or owner there is less chance to see the owner moving to another organisation.

And if nothing else, there is the simplest rule Follow Your Gut. Your comfort level with your new agency is tantamount to your sanity, progress and productivity.

If there is a level of apprehension then you will spend more time worrying, checking in and checking up on your new outlay and less time doing what you should be doing running your business.

Remember is a boutique agency and proud of it. If you would like to have a discussion about our processes. Here’s my email.

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Written By: Michael Menzies