82% of agency search consultants say that brands are looking for a 'differentiated experience' when selecting a new agency partner (Avidan Strategies) and that...
57% of a CMO's decision making process is complete before even engaging an agency (CEB)? and that..
In two years, 90% of companies expect to compete almost entirely on the basis of customer experience(Gartner)
So what does this mean for the future revenue growth of marketing and ad agencies? It means that the marketing world is racing down the tracks at a breakneck pace and the very core of what it means to be a relevant agency is on the line. How do you differentiate? What does a CMO find when he researches your agency? Compelling content? Regular thought leadership pieces from your senior strategists? Insights gleaned from across your client base? A community portal for answering questions about marketing challenges? All of your fully engaged employees serving as brand advocates across social media? A personalized experience that tells a story and leverages the latest technology to effectively nurture this new relationship? Unfortunately, a look over many agency websites and social presence delivers little of this. A total reset is needed. Here's a framework:
1. Blow Up Your Website! The typical agency website looks like this: A ton of random videos, 'who we are' sections, 'awards' 'the team', 'client names' more jargon, 'services' and more videos with no context. The agency that truly wants to differentiate needs to take a challenge focused approach to its web presence. Are CMO's looking for specific awards you won or rather trying to solve important business issues? Are they just looking to web surf for cool videos or seeking partners that understand their challenges? Marketing leaders need to be agile, customer obsessed and data focused. They are trying to navigate an abundance of new marketing technologies, developing and reporting on metrics for success, assisting in setting the strategic agenda with the CEO, outlining a seamless customer journey which delivers personalized and contextual conversations across the digital and mobile terrain, converting and retaining customers and oh yes, delivering profitable revenue gains. While you might be doing this all day long with your current clients, your site needs show how you address these challenges. Position yourself to proactively set the buying agenda as opposed to reacting in a shootout with ten other agencies.
3. Build an Online Community Learning Center IDC, in its Worldwide Social Business Predictions for 2015, lists the continued growth of online communities in support of business innovation (+30%) as its #1 prediction. The newly renovated agency online image should include a community learning portal which will bring together agency employees and prospects in a socially engaging, welcoming and low pressure environment. Prospects can interact with agency thought leaders, execs, and 'regular' employees to develop and nurture an authentic relationship built on credible information and trust. Trust, by the way, is moving to the top of the list of foundational components needed to drive revenue, and social media is an ideal way to develop and nurture this trust. The Edelman Trust Barometer of 2014 shows regular employees and subject matter experts to be the most credible sources of information about a company--more so than the senior executives. Companies that have deployed online community learning sites have seen impressive results. Performance Bicycle realized a 300% increase in traffic to its e-commerce site in the first four months with a 20% higher conversion rate.
4. Create an Employee Advocacy Program- In addition to deploying a new online community, agencies can leverage the power of the many to become a fully socially engaged business. Your non-sales employees are a huge source of untapped potential and Employee Advocacy channels their passion, personality and knowledge across their social networks. It acts as compound interest for the agency and delivers significant benefits for a very low cost investment. Advocacy programs maximize the chances of reaching the right person at the right time with the right message from a person they trust. While still a relatively new concept, IBM is one company that is delivering impressive results through Employee Advocacy and there are a number of platforms which can automate the process. In an initial run with 200 internal thought leaders, the company pushed out 146,000 shares which delivered 188M impressions and 603,000 clicks-an organically generated program which would have cost potentially $1M in paid advertising.
5. Look Out for Oracle, Dell, Salesforce and Adobe! These power house tech firms have all recently rolled out "marketing cloud" initiatives and are going after the CMO's budget. And they are leading with technology. Software is starting to eat every industry. Is marketing services next? Competition has always been fierce and costly for agencies. There are now some very big and powerful players looking for a seat at the table and agencies need to show more of their chops around the subject of marketing technology to continue to thrive.
By radically transforming its online and social presence, agencies have the opportunity to leverage its exceptional brainpower and the strength of its full organizations to ride the next wave of massive opportunity in the marketing space.
No comments:
Post a Comment