What Today's Marketers Actually Want from Agencies
According to Marketing Week, only 8% of brands are "very satisfied" with their agency partners. There is work to be done...
I just spent the past few days reading countless articles about what marketers were most interested in when it comes to their agency partners. The demands are steep...
Out of the gate, according to Marketing Week:
Only 8% of brands are ‘very satisfied’ with their agency partners.
Here’s what today’s brands are looking for:
#1. Greater knowledge of the digital space
Brands are not confident that their current agency is well positioned to take their brand through the uncharted waters of online digital. According to a national survey done by Sapient, nearly 50% of brands switched agencies (or plan to in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or, have hired additional digital specialists to handle digital work.
In addition, Chris Daly, Chief Executive at the Chartered Institute of Marketing added: “agencies have a crucial role to play in ‘challenging the status quo’ within organizations and bringing in expertise to take a fresh perspective.”
#2. Strategy / brain power
In Sapient’s study on the 10 strengths of the Agency of the Future, almost 80% of respondents cited strategy / brain trust at the TOP of their wish list.
Adding to that, Claire Daniel’s post in AdWeek on “What brands want from their agencies”, cites: “due to the rise of in-house agencies, more marketers are looking for partners that focus on the strategic marketing level, rather than tactical execution.”
“Agencies have to show they aren’t using old tactics and strategies but are on top of things” – Bas van den Beld
#3. More use and understanding of “pull interactions”
In simple terms: dialogue based, 2-way communication vs. just push marketing. To achieve this, consensus across studies say that it is “important / very important” that agencies must understand consumer behavior. Media Vision’s work added to this citing that the most important quality of a standout agency is “understanding clients.”
The brands have spoken:
The agency of the future is strategic.
The agency of the future is digital.
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