The Golden Thread…
Using agencies is a cost-effective way to carry out specialist marketing activities and is something I highly recommend. Some companies I’ve worked with have little to no in-house marketing team and employ the use of agencies instead. For others, agency use offers an extension to existing in-house teams. It allows for a greater marketing output without increasing headcount.
The most important thing to always ensure is that all marketing activity supports your strategy. This is the golden thread.
But who is responsible for that golden thread?
Where there is no Marketing Director or Strategic Marketing Manager, responsibility often sits with other people and departments who likely have other priorities. It’s easy to keep agencies just ticking along as long as the monthly reports look ok (assuming they are being looked at) However, your marketing activities will need to evolve as the external environment and competitor activity changes over time. Your internal focus may also shift and results may be dropping without anyone really knowing.
Your own teams and even Managers may also be stuck in the churn of the day-to-day, too busy to take a step back and evaluate the overall performance of the Marketing function. The threads could be tangling around them and it’s difficult to see through. This could lead to the marketing function working harder – but not smarter, ploughing into the tangled web rather than cutting through it.
Graphic designers, social media agencies and Google ad agencies often work on excellent but different projects. Occasionally, their focus may be misaligned. For instance, promoting product/service X broadly may generate sales, but not necessarily substantial profit for your business. Shifting the focus to product Y or directing efforts towards a more specific audience could lead to a more cohesive approach, generating a much improved return on investment and ensuring alignment with your strategic goals.
I can work with your business to learn your strategy (or help you create one) and then manage your existing teams and/or agencies on a part-time basis to pull the golden thread and knit your marketing activities together.
Gold socks for Christmas anyone?
