We have a lot of conversations about how to tell prospective clients what we do in a way that helps them easily find us when they need an agency such as Motion.
It would be simple if we were just an advertising agency. Or just a PR firm. Or we just did social media. Or digital advertising. Or in-store marketing. Or packaging. Or brand strategy. Or design. Or we just offered marketing services.
The problem is: we do all of these, and more. And we do them well. Why? Because we’re solving business problems using communications. Regardless of which type of communication. An unbiased approach to integrated communications.
Okay, back to the problem: the type of clients we serve often need and want many of the services we offer from a single or just a few resources. It makes their lives easier to not manage lots of agencies and allows for automatically more cohesive programs. But when they’re searching for a firm to provide those services, what terminology do they use in that search? If they search for an “advertising agency” they’ll get a bunch of firms that focus on advertising. And many big firms that aren’t right for their business. Do they use “branding agency?” “Marketing communications agency?” “Marketing services agency” “Integrated communications agency?” Trust me: we’ve discussed the merits of each at length. And the fact that often, marketing people just use the term “agency” or “ad agency” for everything.
In a (short) elevator ride, we’d tell a prospective marketing manager that we are “Chicago’s largest female-owned marketing services agency – forever on the hunt for the perfect marketing mix to give them an edge and keep them ahead of the pack.” But how do we get in the elevator with them?
Well, we’d become a client just like them. We’d define our target. Understand their wants and needs. We market to them on a targeted basis. We’d make sure our website is optimized for search. We create terrific social and digital efforts. And we’d develop content that would help us be found in agency searches. Like this blog.
Shameless. Guilty.
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