Advertising Agencies have a long history of financial success, but in this age of democratized media, can agencies deliver what their clients need?
Old Gatekeepers
Agencies prosper when they have something to sell. In the traditional media world that is T.V. and Radio spots or magazine ads or a combination of both and more. There were audiences that could be impacted by interrupting with a message. Big budgets bought big reach and big impact , making both company and agency a big profit. Unfortunately for them, big impact and to a lesser extent, big reach, are becoming harder to come by. All this brought on by the internet.
What About Online Agencies?
Even traditional online marketers flail about when they talk about Social Media. A local firm told me “We do Social Media, we just don’t know how to charge for it.” Online agencies sell products too. They sell Search engine rank, traffic leads, conversion and display ads. All things easily measurable and quantifiable by the client on a daily basis.
The Social Media Product?
The basic idea of Social Media works like this:
- You have a great product or service and you always offer a great customer experience.
- You like your customers so you reach out to them, talk to them and ask them for input.
- You position your brand as the knowledge leader in your niche and continue to interact with your customers.
- To grow your market you give your current customers a great reason to tell their friends, they love your product and you offer a real compelling reason to them to pass on your name
- You can do all of this with free or near free tools.
Not a lot of room for agencies here.
Social Media is for Partnerships
Social Media is not for the agency, its for partnerships. It’s community promotions, public and blogger relations, customer service, traffic creation, Search Engine Optimization, creative ideas, great copy writing and a story. To create all this you need partners, organizations that are the best at what they do and work together to achieve your goals.
Agencies may try to do that all for you, but if it’s not adopted at the core of your organization, success won’t last.
Truth in Advertising
What are your thoughts? Can agencies offer what Social Media marketing requires of it? What are key aspects of modern agencies that will keep them around for the next 50 years?
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