Marketing knowledge: Is it time for your company to partner with an agency?
With competition so fierce in the industry, standing out in an increasingly crowded marketplace has never been so difficult, nor so important. Specialist marketing agencies offer brands an opportunity to inject extra firepower into their campaigns, however, there are often misconceptions surrounding what working with an agency actually entails. Dispelling the myths, Accord Marketing’s John Corellis gives six reasons why working with an agency could give mobility brands that competitive edge.
By John Corellis, Senior Account Manager at Accord Marketing
We hear it all the time. Companies are nervous to start a conversation with an external marketing agency because they think it’s the beginning of the end of their in-house marketing team. Or, more often than not, the in-house team recognise that they could really use the help of a fully integrated agency but fear that pitching the idea to their boss may mean pitching their own replacement!
At Accord, we feel the exact opposite should be the case. After all, marketing is hard work. It requires a deep understanding of audiences, markets and competitors and, in order for it to be effective, collaboration is key.
So, here are some reasons why, we believe, you need a marketing agency (like Accord!) in 2019.
- We provide a strength and depth of expertise that is second to none. Everything we do is influenced by our deep understanding of the consumer path to purchase. From awareness to booking through to experience and advocacy, we understand what drives people’s decisions – their likes, dislikes, motivations and inspirations. With this insight, we can devise compelling campaigns based on what is right for your audience, your brand and your budget.
- We offer a unique perspective. While an in-house marketer will know their brand inside out, a marketing agency has a deeper understanding of the wider market and competitor landscape. For each brief, we look to innovate, start afresh and trial new methods – but our process always starts with research and insights tailored to provide unique solutions.
- Our buying power. As an agency of 30 years’ standing, we benefit from excellent, well-established relationships with all of the key media, including national press, regional titles, trade press, digital and radio. Indeed, they’re so good we prefer to call them partnerships. And whilst our recommendations will always be unbiased, we pro-actively (and unashamedly) use our “buying power” to regularly negotiate and secure preferential rates.
- Your brand’s assets are your own personal marketing kit – from your name, logo, visual style, fonts, icons, colours, tone of voice. It includes everything that communicates your mission and purpose. And the challenge of brand management lies not just in creating these guidelines but keeping them consistent across many different formats. Working with an agency will almost certainly result in a brand management system that will give you instant easy access to a library of the latest approved assets.
- First impressions mean everything in business. Website design is the key to exploiting this. It’s your first chance to reach out and grab your audience, to push the meaning and purpose of your brand, to create a tone and personality. But it doesn’t need to cost the Earth! So, we offer a web design service that is perfect for businesses whose main priority is not breaking the bank, but who still want to have a visually beautiful website that creates a lasting impression, improves sales and strengthens your brand.
- We talk numbers all the time. You have financial goals to hit – we completely get that. That’s why we focus on data to drastically improve the metrics that matter – engagement, conversions and sales. Plus, our tried and trusted methods for capturing and attributing data provide the foundation for accurate and consolidated performance reporting.
Today, an agency must think flexibly, learn fast, respond swiftly, collaborate widely, nurture technology, amplify ideas, read data and operate at the very heart of businesses. It must sit at the intersection of data and ideas.
At Accord, we work hard to become an extension of our clients’ in-house teams and deliver integrated marketing campaigns that really get brands noticed. We’re on hand to deliver a variety of work from simple marketing collateral to complex cross-media campaigns. If you’re interested in learning more, please just get in touch today.
Accord Marketing is an integrated marketing agency specialising in the mature market, helping manufacturers and retailers get the most out of their marketing. Contact John on 020 7395 9632 or john.corellis@accordmarketing.com to find out more
