Marketing agencies have a responsibility to help their clients grow. Marketing agencies should be more than just marketers—they are salespeople, consultants, strategists, and visionaries. A marketing agency that wants to be great has to focus on its team’s strengths and weaknesses to determine where it can improve. And what better way is there to get started than by developing a clear vision?
Develop a clear vision
You may be familiar with the concept of a vision and mission statement; it’s a statement about why your company exists, what you do, and how you do it. The idea is that if everyone on your team has a clear understanding of the organization’s purpose and goals, they’ll be able to work toward them more effectively.
In marketing agency life, this translates into developing a clear understanding of what problems are being solved by marketing campaigns–and why those problems matter to customers in the first place. Your job as CEO is then to provide direction for your team by setting ambitious yet achievable goals (like getting more customers or increasing revenue), so that everyone knows where they stand at all times.
It’s also important not to worry too much about whether other people think your goals are realistic enough: if they’re not ambitious enough for them or anyone else who works at your company, but not ambitious enough for YOURSELF!
Align marketing with business goals
You should be able to articulate the problem before you start on a solution. This is particularly important for marketing agencies, who often get caught up in the excitement of new campaigns and forget why they’re doing them in the first place. If you can’t pinpoint what’s wrong with your marketing performance, then it will be difficult for anyone else at your agency or company to know how well they’re doing either–and if no one knows where they stand relative to their goals, there’s no way for any improvements to happen!
To avoid this trap and stay focused on achieving results rather than just creating content, define some concrete goals right away:
- What percentage increase in revenue do we want? What kind of growth rate would make us happy? Be ambitious but realistic; don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unreachable targets (this goes both ways).
- How many new customers do we need? How much more money should come through existing accounts each month? Again: ambitious but realistic–you don’t want people getting frustrated because they’re not reaching their numbers fast enough!
- What kind of new clients do we want to attract? Who are they, and what will make them happy with our work? What’s the best way to reach them? How should we communicate with current customers to keep them happy and engaged?
Develop a strong team
In order to achieve great results, you need a strong team. Your people need to be aligned with the company’s mission, vision and values. They also need to be able to work well together in pursuit of shared goals.
The best teams have members who are passionate about their work–and that passion can only come from having the right skills necessary for achievement of those goals!
Engage your customers in the marketing process
Engaging your customers in the marketing process is an effective way to improve their experience and increase loyalty. Ask them what they want from you, how they would like to be communicated with, and what they think of your work so far.
- Include them in email campaigns by asking them questions about themselves or their business that can be answered via a simple survey or quiz (e.g., “How would you describe yourself as an entrepreneur?”)
- Create content based on customer feedback (e.g., case studies)
- Ask customers to participate in polls or surveys (e.g., “What is your biggest challenge as an entrepreneur?”)
Utilize software for marketing agencies
Software by Function Point is an essential tool for marketing agencies, and it can help you do everything from automating repetitive tasks to analyzing data.
To use software effectively, you need to know what kind of agency software will work best for your business. Here are some questions to ask:
- What type of client data do I want? (Excel spreadsheets? Database tools?)
- How much customization do I need? Do I want something that works right out-of-the-box, or will require customizations in order for it to fit my agency’s needs perfectly?
- Will having this particular type of software benefit both me and my clients/partners in their own efforts as well as mine?
Define and measure success
Define success. Before you can measure it, you need to know what success looks like. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities of running your business and lose sight of what really matters: results.
Define metrics. You should have at least one primary metric that measures how effectively your marketing agency is producing results for clients–and no more than two or three secondary metrics that also help gauge performance but aren’t as critical as your primary one (for example, if “clients served” is your primary metric then “average revenue per client served” might be a secondary). Targets should be set at both an individual level (what each team member needs to achieve) and across multiple teams (for example, if one team member doesn’t hit their target, then this could impact another team member’s ability to hit theirs).
Measure and track. You need to have a system in place for measuring and tracking your metrics on a regular basis, so you can see how well your marketing agency is performing. This should be done both at an individual level (for example, keeping track of the number of new clients each team member generates) and across multiple teams (for example, comparing the number of new clients generated by one team with the number generated by another).
You need a good vision that aligns with your customers’ needs and goals
To elevate your marketing agency’s performance, you need a good vision that aligns with your customers’ needs and goals, a strong team that engages with customers, and measurable success.
- A good vision aligns with customer needs: A great marketing strategy starts with a clear understanding of what you want to achieve for your clients. If you can’t articulate this in one sentence or paragraph (at most), then it’s time to revisit that part of the business plan!
- A strong team is essential for engaging customers: The best agencies are made up of people who love what they do–and it shows through their work product. When hiring new team members or promoting existing employees within the organization, consider whether they have passion for their chosen field as well as drive toward excellence in everything they do (even if it doesn’t always show). This kind of energy is contagious among colleagues who share the same values–and will help attract new clients too!
Conclusion
The best way to get started is to define what makes your agency great. What are the things that you do better than anyone else? What makes people want to work with you over and over again? Once you know what makes your agency unique, figure out how those things can be amplified in order to drive more value for clients.
