Some advertising and marketing rookies go on to do great things. Others, however, have to re-think their career plans.
Congrats on your new head of marketing gig. If you have no idea what you're doing, don't panic. You’re hardly alone. We often get queries from first-time heads of marketing who are bumbling their way through the process, exploring new ad agencies, maybe hiring one, maybe not. To make your first campaign/agency interaction a successful one, and perhaps more importantly to save you from looking like an inexperienced boob, please avoid these five rooky mistakes.
Don’t try to reinvent the process.
Startups and tech companies have been reinventing advertising since the invention of advertising. If there was a way to prove success by spending $10,000, we would have patented it, sold it and retired. There is no magic bullet. There is no one way. But if you decide to work with an agency, try it their way first.
Don’t appear dumbfounded when we ask about your company's biggest competitors.
The moment you take over a position as a marketing director, it's important to dive into your company's data and research each of its biggest competitors. When you have a basic understanding of who your most significant competitors are, it will be easier for you to determine what strategies need to be set in place in order to gain ground against them. It’s often better to have a deep understanding of what your competitors are doing than what you hope to accomplish.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Brand Identity.
A strong brand identity is at the heart of every marketing campaign. It’s what helps your business stand out in a noisy marketplace and drives customer loyalty. It’s what makes people interested, it’s what triggers an emotional response. If you don’t have an identity or a point of view, everything falls on your product. And that’s a tough way to grow.
We don’t know this TV show. But someone out their must. And, if it resonates with you, perhaps you’ll be inspired to read this blog post and follow our sage advice.
Trust the research not the random musings of friends or family that you run the campaign by.
If you fail to see things from your customers’ point of view, you won’t understand what they want, or how they think. This can lead to missed opportunities and outright fails—like an ad campaign that doesn’t resonate with customers, or a product launch that falls on deaf ears. Once you’ve done the research and relayed these details to your agency partner, resist the urge to second guess your decisions. Some of the greatest ad campaigns ever conceived, never see the light of day because the marketing director decided to show the work to a spouse who blithely pans it. And, just like that, all the time, money, and research that went into a campaign for a specific target audience gets ignored.
Be Honest About Your Budget.
As I said, we get endless queries from rookie marketing heads. To that end, we often start by asking a simple question; What is a ballpark figure for your all-in advertising budget, including creative concepting, media fees and production? Responding with something vague like, “It depends on the scope of the campaign” or “you tell us what you think” isn’t helpful to you or the ad agency. We ask the question to get a sense of what level of scope to develop. And, also, to gauge whether you have realistic expectations for what your advertising dollars can buy you. If, for example, a client comes to us with a million-dollar budget, that can be quite robust or a pittance depending on what they hope to accomplish with that dollar amount. For more specific advice, please click on the link to our previous blog post: How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Ad Agency?
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at info@divisionoflabor.com
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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top San Francisco ad agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. They also offer brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and smaller brands. Click here for a free consultation.