Advertising agency, Inhouse, or freelance contractor?

The heart of this question posed by Brian Regienczuk in Linkledin, speaks to tools, ability, and management when it comes to jobbing out creative services. We are perhaps not too different from our advertising agency clients when it comes to resource allocation. As a small business we know what it means to be agile in augmenting our internal resources with reliable contract help.

However, big difference: our clients are typically not immersed in the advertising industry - with expertise to properly select, manage, and take full responsibility for a complete marketing project of which creative is but a single component. Art, design, illustration, videography and copy writing is highly subjective. Unless a company has a really well-rounded art director on staff, this is probably outside most managers' scope of work - regardless of who they know that does any one discipline either on staff or works outside as a freelancer.

Our agency lives in the B to B world where many smaller accounts understandably feel like they have to do everything themselves. But how much more marketing value could a client receive if a well rounded, empathetic, B to B advertising agency were brought into the picture?

I would say to companies who are actually at the point of realizing they need creative help: make an effort to find an advertising agency, and be prepared to form a real partnership. Raise your sights to find a group with whom you feel comfortable sharing challenges, not just an order taker.

Who knows? In the best possible outcome the company gains a fresh resource to serve as their de facto marketing department. Save overhead while getting (on demand!) new market communications ideas professionally-created and designed to boost sales. Visit http://www.ejwassoc.com/what-we-do/creative/

Manage your next corporate capability publication

Few would dispute the keystone significance of a corporate capability brochure, even as the Internet has (for some businesses) superseded an actual print rendition. Building a website has similar issues. Those who have been through the process know what a minefield the development process can be for any major communications work. Here I share my notes for taking on and managing such projects.

Identify your audiences.
Keep in mind ALL of your companyʼs potential publics, including: prospects, customers, vendors, bankers, employees and investors.

Note the development & production process
•— Concept development
•— Concept refinement with mockups, user interface design
•— Creative development - Research, Writing, Imaging
•— Prototype design and graphics with content text and images
•— Hosted Staging, testing. For brochure: Print ready artwork and print specifications
•— Live rollout. For brochure: Print production and distribution

Plan
A good plan well executed will fulfill its mission, net greater returns, have a longer life than an ill-conceived or poorly executed work.

Involve stakeholders from the outset
Nobody likes surprises, from the executive suite to the boots on the ground. Establish a representative team for the mission. Consider involving important partners, too. With skin in the game the hierarchy ensures that buy in is complete.

Research. Discuss. Listen.
It’s not just a marketing exercise. Collect many points of view from a broad variety of sources. C-level execs, managers, product engineers, department managers, sales and application engineers, HR. Begin with a free-form wish list from each stakeholder. Work this into a more detailed outline:
•— Introduction, company background
•— Capabilities & scope of operations
•— Industries and markets
•— Systems and products
•— How we work, sales & service support
•— Contact information, partner imprint.

However, avoid design by committee
Excessive delays in collecting input, proof approvals, etc., are the bane of any major project. Anyone missing a deadline forfeits bragging/bitching rights later. Not everyone’s opinion can or should be accommodated. Establish which experts will have final say for what project component.

What are others doing?
Review competitors, partners, suppliers samples to set the bar.
Develop a project timeline and stick to it.

Brochure Series completed in 19 days for show

Enlarge

Print thrives, but client expectations for production and delivery now verge on real time. After all, "it's digital, isn't it?" With a looming trade show deadline we committed to our client to deliver not one, but a series of product/corporate brochures in less than 19 days. Answering your question at the outset: Print, who needs it? Fewer folks than before but, then again, who needs trade shows, either? And yet, decision makers continue to rely on both.

In today's everyday world squeaky wheels of marketing tend to languish. Projects to effect performance 30, 60 and 90 days out is considered long term by many, particularly in small to mid size B to B businesses. Marketing plays a back seat to a daily grind of product management and sales.

That is, until a major event threatens to spotlight a company's market commitment. Then, the specter of inadequacy looms large to focus attention on marketing basics, such as: show booth graphics, Powerpoint & video presentations, visitor handouts, brochures. Pre-, during -, and post-show advertising, direct mail and promotions.

Another plus for trade shows. WIthout them how many marketing projects would languish in the lands of Hurry-Up-And Wait. This brochure project, originally approved without a particular timeline weeks before, now leaped to life with company stakeholders on red alert. Design concepts and rough content now moved forward with all due speed to meet impossible milestones. Failure is not an option when 10's of thousands of dollars in company resources are at stake, not to mention image and reputation.

In this industry show of mechanical systems, an all-out, full court analog experience was deemed essential. Brochures arrived on time and had the desired effect on the industry represented there and then and beyond.

In fast-tracking any new creative development, two factors rise in importance to ensure success to avoid crashing and burning: client focus and a solid agency vendor resource.

Call in a trusted partner. In this story, EJW had been working with our client for years. Every project with essential building materials is double archived. On the same wavelength we push the right buttons, ask the right questions, know what works in tight situations. To keep projects moving we become the shepherd herding the proverbial cats when milestones need attention.

Form a project team that includes agency & company personnel. To keep projects moving, fully prep members for expected participation. Assign point persons to manage all of the content likely to be required in any marketing project, such as: special image files, 3D renderings, content sources, vertical market expertise, product and application knowledge.

To Social, or not to Social, that is the question for B to B marketers

A B-to-B company looks back on one of its customers and the history of its last profitable sale. The purpose? Uncover telephone calls, sales visits, dinners, handshakes at trade shows that may have had an impact. An investigator also documents responses to direct marketing, ads, press release programs, and website interactions. A company may even have a social program that has yielded reactions.

What role did each "engagement" play? Which had more sales impact? Most importantly, and the reason we study marketing response, how should we separate marketing activities that are nice-to-haves versus those we need-to-have for next year's budget?

The real questions wrestled by business marketers when building budgets can be boiled down to priority.

It has been said in B-to-B land that Social media is social, more for customer service and not to be judged for lead generating. In that sense it takes on a more foundational role in marketing.

The fact is, for better or worse, Social opens up one more channel from which to support customers.

Instead of asking how to meaningfully count B2B Social interactions or impressions, a company would be advised to carefully study its customer base to determine its current perceptions and likely use of Social before rolling out another communications channel.

Checklist for a Smooth Website Integration Project

Launch with senior buy-in
Who are the sponsors and stakeholders in the project and what is the budget allocation?

It always helps to know the final budget figure, but more importantly senior management must be on board and prepared to give full support.

Detailed project plan
Project-planning can be complex and frustrating.
Formal project plans force everyone involved, to consider all essential phases, steps, and the order in which to proceed. "Work a plan, and plan to work." "Failure to plan is planning to fail."

Team members must be available for meetings, milestone reviews, content provisioning, development support, testing, sign offs.

End user involvement is essential with representatives from every dept providing input from the get-go.

Hardware & hosting specifications should exceed expectations for performance, & integrating with internal systems.

Test, test, test
Testing is essential to project success. Whether it is unit testing (which tests one facet of the system) or integrated testing (which tests all components, including existing interfacing systems), testing should be done by current employees along with a testing script. Detail, ahead of time, what all outputs should look like. Testing data and processes should vet all scenarios, including good and bad data. System and network testing should include load tests with results reports.

Recovery plan in the event of failure
Managers know what go-live success looks like -- and when it's time to pull the plug. Every project should have a go-live backup plan in case failure becomes the only option.

Expert recommendations 
Don't countermand without testing outcomes. Don't hope. Test. Listen to your experts most of the time.

Project plan
Any project with an estimated timeline longer than a few weeks should have a realistic, detailed project plan. Besides forcing stakeholders to consider all tasks and tactics, doing so will force development of realistic timetables. A detailed project plan will win every time versus "best guess" or a gut feeling.

Set expectations
How is the new system going to act?
How are transactions and transaction times different?
Who do end-users call if they have problems?
How long is the go-live troubleshooting team going to be on site?
Set accelerated support options to minimize customer frustrations.

Training
It's not just users who need training, but project leaders, troubleshooters, and help-desk staff, too.
Delay the project if appropriate training is not given.

Paraphrased from InfoWorld Daily article "11 signs your IT project is doomed" by Roger A. Grimes

Call it Content or PR, it's customer engagement

Editorial is a marketer's most cost-effective tool for enhancing sales without burdening sales resources. 

Whether you do them, or hire an agency like ours, use articles, press releases, blog posts, industry newsletters to 

• Boost customer engagement frequency. 
• Enhance customer loyalty. 
• Penetrate key accounts to target new buying influences. 
• Prime both new & add-on sales.

Few organizations can afford to be in direct contact with all customers, all of the time - much less keep track of the ever-changing customer landscape of buying influences on a timely basis. Yet, without a regular public relations program that might include advertising, social, or content marketing, a company gambles on who has what information during a purchasing cycle.

EJW marketing PR services augment essential sales support obligations, helping clients multiply the efforts of a sales team.  Content with the right value proposition can penetrate old accounts, in addition to identifying new prospects and decision makers. Content can engage customers in between sales calls with your story the way it should be told.

A schedule for release of your company and product news, industry overviews, application information can be planned in advance, with content created as needed.

Press releases, articles, social media, white papers, videos, broadcast spots, websites and website blogs are major outlets for marketing PR. Some PR content can be quickly created and distributed to coincide with marketing pushes. In depth, article-weight content requires an appropriate measure of research and production. Our B to B pros can create it all for you, working with you to define content goals, media mix and final form.

On a project or contract arrangement, the public relations services we perform result in EJW clients establishing an ongoing dialog with their customers - raising awareness, adding to their knowledge, enabling informed buying decisions, and creating sales leads when your sales channel is not on duty 24/7/365.

Adapted from http://www.ejwassoc.com/press-releases.php

Sure, "Ready, Fire, Aim" marketing might work...

...but let's not kid ourselves - it's still a gamble. 

Who are we to judge? We've all been at the crossroads of Time, Money, & Results.  At some point, every marketer has shot from the hip, and shot themselves in the foot, too! In "just doing it" to make a campaign happen - without knowing everything there is to know about a product, its market, and expectations - a marketer is rolling the dice. You can win, but odds are you could have won bigger. And, with Las Vegas odds always with the house, more often than not you'll not meet campaign goals doing READY. FIRE. AIM. marketing.

Some rationals for shooting first and asking questions later include:

• I need results yesterday.
• Don't have the time or money for market research.
• I feel real good about this. Success is in the bag!
• My boss respects the "act now, apologize later" methodology.
• Cost of failure may be judged another day.
• Potential for success is simply too great to delay.

Experienced marketers I've known have almost always regretted not doing a campaign right the first time. Others simply write-off bad results by blaming everything and everyone but their own choices. In "Ready. FIRE. Aim." mode a marketer completely by-passes the vetting we all know should be done.

Yet, I have to say I've seen marketing shortcuts work. Better than doing nothing, or when perfection becomes the enemy of good, a niche, industrial or technology marketer may have just enough insight and experience to take a marketing risk and achieve some ROI.

But here the kidding stops. Marketing is as marketing does. Hero one day, loose cannon the next. There's a reason process, buy-in, creativity, and accountability win out in the end. Ready, AIM, Fire not only reduces risks, but improves the probability of long-term success while gaining the marketing practitioner respect within an organization and (most importantly) among customers!

And if you think you can't afford it, think again. Learn about Marketing Consulting for B to B marketers here. Than look for another link to a "Unique Outside Looking In Trial Marketing Consulting Offer" at the end.