The Ultimate (Litmus) Test Of A Great Marketing Agency

Smart marketing agencies reevaluate their brand, sales prop and business objectives every year. This evaluation is the ultimate way to answer How are we doing? Is the industry passing us by? Are we set up for 2018 or 2019? Are we happy? Should we change?

Sorry to be so simplistic. But, as you head towards 2018, ask yourself how you will make $$$ (more $$$) in 2018. It’s a great challenge and now is the time for evaluation and planning.

Here are some questions to get your engine rocking.

• Do you re-evaluate your goals? Do you have the right staff? Client compensation system? I’d do this on an annual basis. Here is some smart thinking on compensation from down under.
• Has your business (what you do) and client base (who you do it for) shifted in the past couple of years (digital would be a change driver)? If so, what planning can you do to take advantages of new market opportunities?
• Do you ask your clients for feedback? As in “How are we doing / what can we do to make you happier?” I used the net promoter score when I owned my agency.
• Have you evaluated your brand position and sales proposition lately? Maybe its time to morph. Is your market morphing?
• Ask what is and is not working with your business development program? I hope you test your specific efforts and platforms? Do more of what works, less of what doesn’t.

You should be entering a time when you can take some time off to clear your head. Read up on best practices, read a book on marketing (I am reading Scott Adam’s Win Bigly;. It’s about Trump and the art of persuasion – love him or not, he persuaded a lot of people to buy into him) OR! just let go for a few hours. Being an advertising agency, design agency, digital agency, experiential agency, marketing agency is always a mix of serious fun and, well, some angst.

Talk

I talk to lots of agencies. Many just want one or two insights – I learn from them as well. Some become my clients, some don’t. I still like the conversation. Take me up on my Corleone Offer. Go ahead, just do it.