The article talks about why you need to hire a marketing agency in 2022 and how they can help your brand grow in this competitive market.
If you are planning to hire a marketing agency, it is as easy (or as tough) as finding the right life partner! At one level most reputable agencies are proficient in helping your brand grow, but at the same time success rests on finding the right match. If there isn’t synergy between your brand and the agency, you will end up wasting your marketing dollars.
At this point, several questions would be doing the rounds of your mind. Should I hire a marketing agency? Will a marketing agency deliver us ROI? How do we go about hiring a marketing agency?
Fasten your seatbelt as we shall answer all those questions here and share insights into why you need to hire a marketing agency in 2022.
What Do Marketing Agencies Do?
In today’s world where your brand faces neck-breaking competition, you can’t do without advertising. While word-of-mouth marketing is still a powerful means to grow your brand, a good marketing agency brings in the X-Factor that pushes your brand higher on the pecking order. They manage goal-oriented campaigns and boost the ROI while at the same time letting your team focus on the core responsibilities of running the business.
Types of Marketing Agencies
There are diverse types of marketing agencies that specialize in different aspects of advertising. It is important to choose one after you have reviewed the goals of your campaign, your target audience, and the budget.
Creative Agencies
All marketing agencies are creative, but these are agencies that specialize in offering creative design services to their clients. Whether you have set out for a rebranding campaign or looking for banners, posters, and other online and offline artwork to promote your brand, such agencies can help. However, the relationship with such agencies is fruitful when you have an in-house team to manage the campaign but lack expert designers.
Digital Agencies
Small businesses with tight advertisement budgets can’t afford to advertise on all mediums. In case you are looking at digital-only campaigns (which are pocket friendly), this is the kind of agency you need. These agencies primarily focus on digital marketing strategies including SEO, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Influencer Marketing, etc. The core aim of these agencies is to grow your digital footprint while your brand and its core campaign remain the same.
Traditional Ad Agencies
It’s too early to write an obituary of traditional advertising. Though they have ceded space to digital marketing, especially among small businesses they still are important. If you are planning for campaigns on Print, TV, Radio, or through Direct Mail, these agencies can take your brand and the message to the target audience.
Media Buying Agencies
The best campaigns can fail if they aren’t visible. This is where media buying agencies come into the picture and they publish your content and other advertising materials on the best online and offline channels. These agencies have partnerships with major digital platforms and media houses that allow them to give your brand the desired timeframes and space it needs.
Full-Service Agency
Last on our list is the Full-Service Agencies and as the name suggests they offer end-to-end marketing and promotional services to your brand. From ideation to creating the campaign and from running it to measuring results, these agencies cover all aspects of marketing. They let you put your campaign on autopilot and take care of all the groundwork. These agencies typically promote your brand on digital and offline channels. They take care of strategic planning, design, and media planning.
Why Hire a Marketing Agency in 2022?
We have already discussed the different types of marketing agencies you can work with to promote your brand. Depending on your needs and the medium you choose to promote your brand, you can choose one. This brings us to the question we started with – why hire a marketing agency in 2022? Or to put it the other way – can you grow your brand without a marketing agency?
If you haven’t worked with a marketing agency in the past, you surely would have missed several business opportunities. It isn’t without a reason that the global advertising market is valued at close to $600 billion. As the world comes out of the Covid-19 pandemic and businesses rethink their touch-points with the customers, advertising has become even more important. Let us take you through the reasons why you need to work with a marketing agency in 2022.
Amplify The Campaign
The basic idea of advertising is to give a boost to your brand’s visibility and take it to your target audience. It takes much more than a hefty budget, TV commercials, or ads on social media to promote a brand. You need to collaborate with a team that knows the pulse of the market, can give you unbiased advice, and has managed similar challenges in the past. Reputable agencies that have spent years in this industry and have a deep understanding of audience, medium and brands. They let you choose the best medium for your campaign.
Handsfree Marketing
Every minute that you spend trying to promote your brand, you are doing so at the cost of running your business. If marketing isn’t your core area of expertise this can become stressful. In the worst case, this can affect your business operations and upset the quality of your products and services. When you hire a marketing agency you engage specialists for this job. They will create your advertising strategy, take care of the creative requirements and work with media partners to make your brand buzz. This hands-free approach lets you put your focus on the core areas of the business.
Defining The Message
This might come as a surprise as you are likely to know more about your brand and the message that you wish to deliver. While this is true, an agency brings experience across the board in defining that message to grab the attention of your audience. Your in-house team may lack knowledge of defining the message and prioritizing them to make a strong impression on the audience.
Leverage Your Budget
There is a common misconception that bypassing marketing agencies can help you cut costs of advertising. This is far from the truth as brands micromanaging their campaigns often end up spending more! When you hire a marketing agency you get access to their vast network of digital platforms, TV, Radio, Print, and other mediums. They have the power to negotiate the best rates for your brand and hence let you leverage your budget and achieve maximum exposure for every dollar spent on the campaign.
Swim With the Tide
The global advertising market is evolving, and we see new trends coming up. Take for instance influencer marketing which has become the talking point in recent years. It can be difficult for an outsider to stay updated with the latest trends in advertising and draw mileage out of it. Marketing agencies stay in sync with the trends and implement these in your campaign. They have specialists looking at the trends in different channels. Your in-house team can’t have a similar grasp over the latest trends.
Break The Barriers
If you are managing your campaign, you are likely to copy the best practices in the market. Agencies on the other hand are constantly playing with new ideas and breaking the barriers. They don’t merely follow the trends but also set them to boost your current marketing strategies and keep your brand ready for the future. By partnering with an agile agency, you will be setting trends and choosing new channels and formats.
All-Inclusive Campaigns
If you are looking to advertise on all mediums and channels you would do yourself a world of good by opting for a full-service agency. They bring expertise across the board and ensure that campaigns across different channels complement each other. This also saves you time as compared to coordinating with different agencies for campaigns across various channels.
Local Knowledge
Expanding into a new market is always a challenge for any brand. Lack of knowledge of the local market, its people, and its sensibilities can prove disastrous for any brand. Campaigns that grab the attention of the North Americans may not trigger the audience in Europe or Asia the same way. When you are entering a new market hire a marketing agency that knows the nitty-gritty of the local market, its culture, and language. This will help you run a successful campaign.
Data and Analytics
Modern advertising campaigns are data-driven, and you need to measure the success of the campaign at every stage. When you hire a marketing agency you also get access to their in-depth knowledge of data and analytics. Reputable agencies have access to advanced analytics tools that offer deep insights into the campaign. You will know if the message is reaching your audience, triggering interest in them, and driving them towards intended actions. It is difficult for a small business to replicate the same in-house.
Experimentation
Marketing a brand isn’t only about choosing to run campaigns on channels that you are aware of or what your competitors are doing. It is also about experimenting with new mediums. For instance, you may have ignored influencer marketing in the past since your in-house team lacks access to such networks or influencers. When you hire a marketing agency for the job, they will take your campaigns to new channels using their expertise. This lets you target an audience who may not have been part of your target group in the past.
When to Hire a Marketing Agency?
We’re sure we have convinced you enough about the need to hire a marketing agency in 2022. However, this partnership would yield tangible reasons when you set clear objectives for the partnership. You must have an idea for the agency to take it forward. A good partnership can push your brand in the right direction while a bad choice might do more harm than good. So here are some of the objectives you should keep in mind while hiring a marketing agency –
- You have a good understanding of your goals from a marketing campaign and need an expert team to take those goals forward.
- Your present marketing efforts have stagnated, or they have started to show diminishing returns.
- Your brand is looking to reinvent itself and you are planning to launch a new product line where you had no footing in the past.
- Your brand needs more exposure in the market, and you are planning to get into newer territories.
- Your business is planning to explore new channels of marketing and boost your exciting campaigns.
- You have a limited marketing budget and wish to generate maximum ROI on that budget
What To Look for In a Marketing Agency?
Choosing the right marketing agency isn’t the easiest of tasks as you will be overwhelmed with choices. Here are a few things you should look for in an agency.
- Expertise in the medium and channels you wish to market your business. The best traditional ad agency is unlikely to run a stellar digital marketing campaign for your brand.
- Honest and upright opinion on your idea and campaign goals. You don’t want to work with people who don’t hold a mirror on your face and give unbiased opinions.
- Look at the clients they have worked with in the past and the results they have delivered. Always look for KPIs and measurable data to judge their performance.
- The agency you hire should be willing to design tailored campaigns for your needs. Stay away from agencies that employ a cookie-cutter approach to the job.
- The agency must be able to deliver within your marketing budget. The real test of an agency is to improve the brand’s visibility within a tight budget.
Partnering with The Right Marketing Agency
If you are looking to hire the right partner for growth, Cyrusson Inc. would fit into your bill perfectly. We are a boutique digital marketing agency with years of experience in serving clients across industries. We keep updating our skills and remain in sync with the latest trends in the business of advertising and marketing.
Partner with us to take your brand to greater heights. In the post-Covid world where advertising has become the fulcrum of success for brands, we are helping our clients navigate through the competitive waters and stand up to be counted. Reach out to us and let’s get your campaign up and running.