Blow Up Your Brand — Marketing in the Digital Age
image, original photo: Josh Black — Ford Mustang pony — ground effects
Marketing. It’s an integral aspect of growing and sustaining a business. There is a variety of methods to promote a product or service. Some long standing: print, radio, television all were once the domain of companies with deep pockets or those willing to gamble in the name of exposure. In the contemporary business world, the number of channels or platforms to advertise has broadened. Digital marketing is king with multiple methods to achieve brand notoriety, such as social media, affiliate marketing, blogging, vlogging, and info-mercials. The buzz phrase for a successful ad campaign is, “gone viral”.
It is interesting, brands no matter how well established they may be, continues to depend on advertising. If Pepsi or Coca-Cola ceased advertising tomorrow it is likely one would wonder, what happened to Coke? The ad dollars a name brand spends is a huge crutch. An expense not easily curbed. It’s like a trap, once a brand hits a target revenue figure, the ad budget is considered sacred. The mindset of executives is, we arrived in large part because of branding, don’t rock the boat.
Digital marketing agencies understand the co-dependent nature of brands and advertising. Try an internet search for “digital marketing” in your city, pick the top five search results. It is likely all of the agencies list Fortune 500 companies as clients. In some instances, the same “Wall Street” giants are clients of more than one of the agencies. The advent of digital marketing has opened up a lucrative new sector of the advertising game. Rightly so, the same old same old, needed a shot in the arm, so to speak.
Although the internet as a public forum has existed for a generation, there continues to be a high demand for pushing creative boundaries. Some smart digital marketers have found ways to be in high demand such as, being expert with video campaigns, or experiential campaigns. The latest frontier is virtual reality (VR) which is making a splash with the big boys of commerce.
How do we determine which of the myriad digital marketing agencies to hire? It’s all about due diligence. There is no fail-safe method to hire the right ad team. How do we narrow down candidates?
· Online search for compatible prospects
· Ask fellow business owners for referrals
· Read executive and creative staff bios
· View content of completed ad campaigns
· Compare rate card with available ad budget — be willing to negotiate
Searching online, reading bios of the executive team, the creative staff and viewing their portfolio of completed ad campaigns, if the content resonates with your vision it’s a good start. Meeting with the new wave ad pros, hearing their version of the campaign vision AND hearing first hand why the campaign will work. Allow their creative team to impress you with their vision for you. Next is determining if their fee structure is in line with company ad budgets. If their rate card is not in your expense range, the rates are not written in stone, everything is negotiable. A smart ad executive is willing to offer alternative advertising options or possibly a discount for a commitment to a longer-term ad program. It is also important to understand contractually ownership of original content and rights of use. Some ad agencies maintain ownership of some or all of the content, be aware of this section of any agreement.
A handful of times when reviewing balance sheets, we observe an inordinate advertising expense. Often the response is, the digital marketing agency told us how successful and original it will be. Creatives might inflate a valuation on their work. It’s not a knock, on artistic types in any way. It is completely natural for the creative team to price their creative work as they see fit. Art is subjective. An ad campaign isn’t fine art however; it is absolutely a creative process. Some of the most celebrated pop art is in fact ad campaigns from years gone by.
In summary, hiring a creative agency is an important aspect to grow a brand. It can be a cost- effective method to level up sales and exposure to the masses. It is useful to assess advertising expenditures annually if not quarterly. As a brand grows, usually the advertising budget swells at a similar rate. Being mindful of the ratio of revenue and ad dollars spent is valuable to keep in check. No advertising campaign or expense is sacred.
Originally published at clarastellabc.com on October 25, 2018.
