If you have strategic growth responsibility, you will be well aware that marketing has and continues to change and evolve at a breakneck pace. What was once an industry that relied on creativity and traditional advertising platforms like television, print and radio, has rapidly expanded to become a multi-disciplined, complex sector that relies increasingly on mastery of modern marketing techniques.

While the core principles of marketing haven’t changed, and many traditional marketing practices are still relevant today albeit re-engineered, technology, customer behaviour, and changes to the media landscape have demanded a realignment of our approaches to strategic marketing and our business models which operate today within a far more expansive, multifaceted and competitive solutions landscape.

At a fundamental level, the inversion of the traditional seller/buyer relationship model is without doubt the major driver for most of the change in marketing today. The information monopoly has now moved to the technologically empowered buyer, who has the power to rapidly access limitless information at their fingertips thanks to smartphone technology.

For those of us who are familiar with statistical analysis and more specifically the distribution bell curve of markets, the impact of this newfound empowerment of the seller depicts a flattening out of the traditional distribution curve.
bell curve format The normal distribution of buyers in past markets typically depicted a heavy concentration in the centre, with minimal deviation in the outer bands. As a result of the internet, buyers now are increasingly dispersing away from the centre as they attain greater awareness and access to an ever-expanding array of market choices better suited and tailored to their individual needs and preferences.

The digitisation of organisations is, in short, accelerating the commoditisation of products and services across all sectors, leaving the differential for businesses’ competitive advantage down to how well you communicate, how well you market, and the overall customer experience you provide.

Today, successful communication and strategic marketing demand that you:

a) Continually re-access your business model, strategic marketing plans, and brand offering.
b) Understand your buyer personas and behaviours better than ever before.
c) Place greater importance on the adoption of a pulled inbound approach to communication.
d) Utilise technologies to market more efficiently and in an engaging and timely manner.
e) Openly consider, trial, and test new market strategies and tactics.

This is no small feat, especially if your business has limited resources. To pull this off effectively, your market research, brand strategy/positioning, and other strategic marketing fundamentals need to be well-considered and developed.

Many small and medium businesses, as well as in-house marketing teams in larger organisations, are struggling to keep up with meeting these demands. A lack of time, resources, and/or expertise means businesses are compromising marketing impact, outputs, and ultimately, profits.

Add to this the pressures of finding time to up-skill staff, difficulties in attracting and retaining appropriately skilled talent, and managing ever-changing customer demands, and you have the perfect recipe for poor marketing outcomes, workplace employee stress, and increased customer churn.

This is why it’s now essential that SMBs change their strategic marketing approach or risk falling behind entirely.

THE TWO STRATEGIC MARKETING SHIFTS NEEDED TO TRANSFORM MARKETING IMPACT & PROFITABILITY FOR SMBs

The first step to resetting your marketing approach and transforming your marketing impact is to be aware of and accept the fact that the marketplace is rapidly changing and that regular reviews of business and marketing plans are a given.

Marketing audits are needed in direct response to significant industry or market events, or when your current marketing activities show a flattening or declining trend in new business growth and profitability.

This review process is often best facilitated through a strategic planning workshop that sets out to revisit the competitive landscape and determine whether the current marketing strategies and tactics are still aligned and appropriate for meeting new market demands and/or the business’s renewed goals and objectives.

In dynamic markets, this review will inevitably reveal the need for changes to be undertaken in consideration of resource capabilities and budget constraints.

It is at this pivotal stage of the review process that two strategic business shifts need to be seriously considered by businesses that are in genuine need of transforming their marketing impact and profitability today.

Those two key strategic marketing behavioural shifts are:

1) Getting the business to adopt greater and/or improved outsource marketing practices, and in doing so, deploy and leveraging project outcomes through better utilisation of technologies, practices, and specialist market insights and learnings.

2) Getting generalist in-house marketing resources to start the transition to upskill their activities towards higher-value strategic activities, and away from low-level transactional work much of which will inevitably be automated in the near future.

Both of these strategic operational shifts are fundamental for improving future marketing success while bringing greater productivity, profitability, and job security for both business owners and marketers.

STRATEGIC MARKETING SHIFT #1: GREATER AND/OR IMPROVED OUTSOURCED MARKETING PRACTICES

If you’re running a small to medium business (20 employees +), chances are you either have a small team of marketing staff, one marketing employee, or are heavily involved with the marketing side of things yourself. This may be all your cash flow allows, or you may be under the belief that handling most of your marketing activities in-house is the best way to achieve effective results.

But ask yourself this – do you or does your team have the capabilities to manage the complexity and demands of today’s market? If not, do you have the time, money, or resources to continually upskill?

Outsourcing marketing is often met with resistance by businesses and marketers, often out of fear that doing so will lead to loss of brand control or job insecurity. While these perceptions are understandable, the truth is that when managed professionally, outsourcing marketing should be viewed as a real positive towards supporting the survival of businesses and in-house marketing staff job security.

Outsourcing your marketing to a specialist in a particular area ensures your marketing strategies are handled by a master in the field rather than a jack of all trades – they are in the flow, up to speed and likely utilising the latest techniques and technologies to do the work more efficiently. They are also better equipped to share valuable information and lessons gained from similar projects to avoid costly mistakes.

3 KEY STEPS TO SUCCESS IN OUTSOURCED MARKETING

Whilst outsourcing your marketing makes abundant economic sense on several fronts, its success is conditional upon businesses:

1) Taking the time to think critically about what they plan to do up-front and being very clear about goals and outcomes before approaching any agency or specialist provider. By doing this, they will avoid many of those unexpected bumps and obstacles that arise down the track which inevitably causes cost blowouts and time delays in bringing their project(s) to market.

2) Taking the time to discover and explore the diversity of options available across the market and diligently undertaking their selection based on holistic objective evaluations. Relying on current providers and referrals from associates is all well and good, however, it seriously restricts the potential for finding the best-fit outcome and optimising the marketing spend and return on investment.

3) Establishing clear communications and agreement around the working relationships, reporting, resourcing, deliverables and performance outcome measurement and expectations for the project with the solution provider before proceeding.

STRATEGIC MARKETING SHIFT # 2: TRANSITIONING RESOURCES TOWARDS STRATEGIC VALUED WORK

We’ve heard many marketers voice concerns about the future of their industry, with many fearing their jobs will become obsolete if they can’t keep up with the changing landscape. This is a vulnerable time and we understand these concerns, but we believe greater outsourcing of marketing can actually help in-house marketers, rather than threaten them.

Like many professionals today, marketers need to carefully consider what opportunities and skills will be in demand in the future. Expanding technologies will displace many, if not all, traditional transactional type of work, while the rise of a casual and freelancing workforce will force further change onto most marketers.

At Marketing Search, we believe that many SMB employers need to immediately start the process of transitioning, developing, and supporting their general marketing resources, activities, and skills toward focusing on doing higher-value strategic work. By switching the focus to strategic work such as project management, in-house marketers will be better able to respond to modern market demands and optimise marketing investments.

To a lesser degree, in-house marketers with highly specialist skills working in larger companies are also a threat. Their career longevity can readily be cut off by technological advancements, as we’ve already seen with the demise of demand for journalists due to the increasing distribution of syndicated news. At Marketing Search, we foresee specialists increasingly centered within enterprise work environments, agencies, consultancies, and freelancing.

Regardless of one’s work orientation, it’s clear that for many SMB employers today, the generalist transactional job will become increasingly difficult to justify with many activities being more efficiently done by automated technologies. This harsh reality leaves those marketers with two options to upskill for future job security: become a strategic generalist or a specialist.

As marketing becomes more complex, technology-dependent, and dynamic, there will be an increasing need for SMEs to:

• Allocate greater resource attention towards trialing and testing new strategies and tactics
• Manage an increasing mix of projects
• Review marketing plans on a regular basis
• Continuously workshop new and innovative ideas
• Audit performances
• Up-skill resources
• Remain informed on new trends and emerging technologies
• Monitor and respond to strategic market developments

This is the role the strategic generalist can play – a role that will not only present them with more engaging challenges, but through their commitment to upskilling also provide them with greater job security for the future, whilst bringing significant value to the business they work for.

CONCLUSION: IT’S TIME TO RESET YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING APPROACH

Changes in digital technologies, consumer behaviour, and the media landscape are forcing today’s business leaders to seriously question the validity and relevance of their current business models. In the face of all these changes, marketing has become increasingly complex, and the relevance of continuing with past practices and current skill sets is now being challenged.

As the owner of the customer relationship, the marketing function of any business is best placed to take on the responsibility for understanding and leading the changes required.

In order to capitalise on the new marketing order, SMBs need to start the process of transitioning their strategic marketing approach to the way work is done, allocated, and managed. This can be achieved through adopting greater outsourcing to specialists whilst supporting the transformation of the generalist marketer’s activity away from the traditional transactional focus towards higher-value strategic and project-focused work.

Doing both of these things well requires a level of upfront commitment to:

• Basic business pre-planning
• Diligence in search and selection of outsourcing partners
• Improving management and measurement of outsourcing projects
• Supporting in-house marketers in upskilling and winning their collaboration in making the changes required.

At Marketing Search, our entire business model operates on our belief that executing these two strategic marketing operational shifts is how time, resource,s and expertise SMB businesses can significantly transform their marketing impact and profitability whilst at the same time providing their marketers with greater career development and security for the future. Our platform aims to make it easier for businesses and marketers to make these transformations by providing the connections, talent, processes, knowledge, and services required to enable the changes and complete your home run.

It’s time that SMBs change their strategic marketing approach, and we’re here to help you every step of the way.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Strategic Marketing – why it’s time for SME’s to reset their approach. appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

Most business owners can see the demand for their product or service and are eager to dive in headfirst and push their business to the marketplace. The problem is, without proper planning in place they often run into all kinds of issues and challenges along the way. These problems can usually be avoided if thorough care and consideration are given to meeting several fundamental requirements before commencing any agency search and selection. At Marketing Search, we’ve put together a simple checklist of key macro issues you need to consider before proceeding to search for your ideal marketing solution. Our agency search checklist 101 as denoted below provides business owners and marketers with valuable information to assist in minimising the risks and costs associated with outsourcing a broad range of marketing and creative services.

Over time, this agency search and selection checklist will be improved and expanded upon with support and input from our valued network of specialist agencies and suppliers. It will become an essential tool for businesses and marketing professionals to use before searching for and selecting outsourced marketing providers, saving time, and money and producing better marketing outcomes.

AGENCY SEARCH CHECKLIST –
1. DO YOU HAVE A PLAN & STRATEGY?

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” – Sun Tzu

Before you proceed to search for a marketing provider, ask yourself these six key questions:

• Have you developed a marketing plan/strategy?
• Have you devised your key strategies and undertaken research to segment and target your market?
• Are you clear about your purpose and the desired outcomes?
• Have you considered what resources will be available to you?
• Do you have an understanding of the tactics you will use to successfully deliver on the strategy?
• Have you set priorities and assigned responsibilities, time frames and measures for the project?

When you can answer yes to all these key points, you will be in a much better position to proceed with finding the right marketing service provider to fit the needs of your budget, timeframe, resources and project requirements.

AGENCY SEARCH CHECKLIST –
2. DO YOU HAVE STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN & BUDGETING SET?

The earlier you can get input and recommendations from relevant stakeholders, the better position you will be in when proceeding with your outsource marketing search. Consider these key questions when it comes to stakeholder buy-in and budgeting:

• Does your marketing strategy have the support and buy-in of other key stakeholders with an interest in the project?
• Is the budget for your project realistic and sufficient to fund the activities and resources required?

AGENCY SEARCH CHECKLIST –
3. HAVE YOU PREPARED A BRIEF FOR AGENCIES?

Briefs act as a form of contract between clients and agencies and vary in content depending on the activity being undertaken. The primary purpose of a brief is to provide clear direction on what’s important, while clarifying the problems you’re seeking to address.

Spending time writing a brief, no matter how short, will pay significant dividends in the long term, as it generally leads to better work and saves money and time for all.

The act of writing things down forces you to think more deeply about your issues. More often than not, creating a brief will result in you changing your initial approach.

Have you provided the basic information below to give to potential marketing providers?

• Background of the business, marketing strategies, and why this new project is important
• Marketing goals/objectives (what you are setting out to achieve)
• Brand Overview (brand identity, market positioning, what the brand stands for, what’s unique, etc)
• Insights into your target audience
• Project timeframes
• Work allocations (client versus provider)
• Budget Parameters
• Agreed KPI and performance measurements
• Communication processes (how you wish your provider to respond/report and give access)
• Approvals (signatures of those issuing/approving the brief and the agency.)

AGENCY SEARCH CHECKLIST –
4. HAVE YOU RESEARCHED AND EXPLORED THE AGENCY SOLUTIONS MARKET ADEQUATELY?

Given the fragmentation of markets and the proliferation of specialisations that are evolving, finding the best-fit marketing provider to outsource for your marketing needs is today more complex and confusing than ever.

The key is to get clarity around what your organisation requires before you take the first step, which is where the checklist questions above come in handy. Based on that, you can start the process of shortlisting and ultimately selecting the best fit provider for your business and unique project.

Engaging any marketing provider should be approached as a calculated risk. You need to take an objective, insightful look at all the potential pros and cons associated with different types of providers before you make your decision.

For more information, read our guide to finding the best-fit marketing provider for your business.

AGENCY SEARCH CHECKLIST –
5. HAVE YOU DONE YOUR PRE-MEETING PREPARATION?

Before you meet with a marketing provider, prepare a list of key questions to further evaluate their match to your needs.

Selecting a marketing provider/agency that matches the needs and communication style of your business is a complex process. Although you can never fully guarantee success, asking the most important questions will help put you in the best position to make your decision.

Here are some examples of key general questions you might ask potential service providers to assist in your shortlisting selection process:

• Tell us about your brand identity and market position.
• Why do you consider your agency to be a good fit for us?
• Tell us more about your experience and understanding of our industry.
• Can you share the results you’ve had when working with similar companies/projects?
• How do you go about your communication and reporting process with clients?
• How do you propose to measure the success of the project? What metrics will you use?
• Tell us about your internal work approaches and how you manage and control project account costs.
• Who are the people that will be doing the work and can we meet them?
• What do you need from us to get things started?
• What do you consider to be the biggest challenges and how will you address them?
• When can you start and what is your timeline for completion?
• Is this a project that fits with your agency’s market positioning?

AGENCY SEARCH CHECKLIST –
6. HAVE YOU COMPLETED THE ABOVE? IF SO PROCEED TO SEARCH & SHORTLISTING.

At Growth & Search, we recommend you always take the time to think critically about what you plan to do up-front and be very clear about your goals and outcomes before approaching any provider.

By doing this, you will avoid many of those unexpected bumps and obstacles that arise down the track, which inevitably cause cost blowouts and time delays in bringing your project to market.

Having considered the questions on the checklist, you should now be well-positioned to start your search for the ideal provider to partner with. By now, you will hopefully have a better sense of the competencies and attributes required to meet your brief.

We recommend you initially shortlist up to three providers, with the aim to further qualify them to two. Ask those two final candidates to submit their pitch and proposal in person for your final decision.

Good luck!

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Your Checklist 101 before commencing a Specialist & Agency Search appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

When you’re managing a project—and perhaps a team of outsource partners—it’s vital to monitor and measure performance through reporting.

With a large-scale, long-term project, it’s vital to have metrics that indicate success along the way, so you avoid any nasty surprises at the end.

Good lines and systems of reporting will save you headaches, and keep your project on track. But there are a few steps you need to take to ensure successful reporting that effectively and efficiently measures success along the way.

Here’s how to monitor reporting and measure success in your project performance.

What Does Success Look Like to You?

What will be the best possible outcome of your project? Before you start measuring success, you need to define exactly what success is.

Does success in your project solve a problem, serve a community, keep customers happy, or drive your profit margin?

Workshopping and brainstorming at the outset is an excellent way to engage your team, consult stakeholders, and determine a clear and focussed outcome of your project.

Keep Stakeholders Happy

When stakeholders are directly affected by your project, or funding it, they need to be informed of progress along the way.

Reporting is as much about engaging and connecting with stakeholders as it is about providing information and transparency—and every stakeholder is different. Sometimes they simply want to be connected or know what’s going on; other times, they’ll seek a full report each month.

If they’ve put up cash to fuel the project, they need to know how it’s being spent. Timelines depend on the context of your project, but scheduling a weekly, fortnightly or monthly meeting means that they’ll always know what to expect.

Metrics to Success

Once you’ve determined what success looks like to you and your stakeholders, you can break it down further by using metrics to measure your progress.

There are many different metrics that may suit your project, from Customer Satisfaction to Return on Investment to Cost Performance. See here a list of 10 Metrics to Propel Performance. 

Reflect, Analyse and Make Changes for Improvement

With metrics to measure your team’s performance, you’ve got valuable data at your fingertips. Ensure you use that data widely, and implement it into your reflection and analysis.

Simply taking performance measurements isn’t enough—it’s the way those metrics implement improved changes that really counts.

If your Return on Investment is way off from where you expected it would be, it’s time to take a good hard look at the numbers and predicted budget changes over the timeline of your project. Is your Customer Satisfaction through the roof? Well, good news—you’re doing something right.

Whatever your metrics, keep them active to inform your constant planning until the project is successfully delivered.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 10 : Monitoring and Reporting Project Performance appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

Securing Outsource Partners can be a wise move for your business. Successful projects require a multitude of skills, and sourcing experts can free up time for you to focus on the bigger picture. There are many reasons to outsource. If you only need an expert for part of your project, there’s no point in paying them full-time. Instead, you can hire somebody for the life of the project and save resources for other areas.

By partnering with experts in areas of market research, graphic design, or SEO, you may bring valuable skills to your work.

But it’s important to find the right people, and take some vital steps before signing off. Meet with potential partners, and check in to see who’s on their team, what the cultural fit is like, and to clarify the way that centralised reporting will keep your project on track.

Here’s what you need to know about working with potential outsourcing partners.

Where to Find Potential Outsource Partners

We know there’s a wealth of local talent when it comes to marketing, but finding the right fit for your company takes time and research. So we’ve curated a list of experts, from mobile app development to video production—see our list here and find your perfect fit.

What Next?

Meeting with potential outsourcing partners will give you an idea of how they work, what their schedule is like, and the culture of their team.

You might ask them questions about their work history, staffing, and project successes. It’s like a mini job interview—but don’t forget, they’re sussing your business out, too.

If you both think it’s a good fit, you might then explore costing and discuss the budget, timelines, and delivery.

Discuss Budget Early On

When hiring outsourcing partners, be aware of the various pricing structures they might work from. Some will offer a fixed fee, whereas others will operate as you go, allowing for changes in workload or design.

It all depends on on the scale of your project and the financial resources of your business. Be honest about your budget, but be open to their input. It’s likely that there are extra costs or time that you haven’t even thought of yet, and an outsourcing partner can draw your attention to these.

It’s vital that both parties are on the same page, so be open and realistic about your expectations when it comes to budget, reporting, and success indicators.

Create a Contractual Agreement

Contracts protect both the client and the agency. They help manage expectations, create clear and realistic goals and develop timelines for project delivery.

But most importantly, contractual agreements serve as financial protection for both client and agency, with a clear budget summary and breakdown of costs.

Maintain Open and Engaging Communication

Once you’ve outsourced an element of your business, it can be all too easy to let it run and forget to check-in.

Check in regularly, and ensure you are contactable and supportive if they have questions or need further guidance. By keeping your outsourcing partners engaged, you can avoid problems that occur due to a breakdown of information. 

Click here for more information about choosing potential outsourcing partners.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Meet Your Potential Outsource Partners before signing off agreements appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

When selecting a marketing provider to work with, finding a team with the right talent and culture to fit with your business and marketing objectives is the hard part, but it doesn’t end there. Once you’ve found the marketing specialist or agency equipped to take your business to the next level, the next step is to come to a clear agreement regarding the remuneration model that will best serve your interests.

Talking money is always a little uncomfortable, even in the business world, and it’s not uncommon for marketing specialists and agencies, and SMB clients to reach conflict when the topic of payment arises. Small and medium-sized businesses with smaller marketing budgets want to maximise their results while minimising their costs, and providers can often feel pressured to cut corners to provide cheaper and faster services.

You always get what you pay for

A key piece of advice to small businesses is to remember that faster and cheaper rarely means effective results. When it comes to marketing, like any product or service, you’ll always get what you pay for. Spending the money now can be the key to revenue gain in the future, and will ultimately save you money if you get it done right the first time around.

Establishing payment rates, terms and key performance parameters upfront with your chosen marketing agency is essential to avoid future conflict and ensure the desired results are achieved. To make this process easier, the Marketing Search team has put together a guide to help you understand the different fee structures and remuneration models for marketing specialists and agencies.

Three main models of agency remuneration

These are the three main models of payment used by marketing agencies:

• Commission based – a pricing structure where the specialist or agency earns a certain percentage of expenditure.
• Fee/cost based – a pricing structure where the specialists or agency earns an hourly rate for work provided.
• Value/performance based – a pricing structure where the specialists or agency earns a profit based on how much value they generate for the client.

These three main pricing models can also be combined with a performance-based bonus system, which is becoming increasingly popular for Australian SMBs. We’ve explained each pricing structure in more detail below.

Commission-based payment systems remuneration model

Although there has been a significant shift away from commission-based remuneration models in recent years, the commission remuneration system still remains popular amongst media agencies. This remuneration structure is based on client expenditure, typically meaning the more that agencies spend on media, the more they get paid.

The increasing complexity of the media marketplace and fierce competition means some specialists and agencies have started charging smaller commissions, which is not always in the best interest of the client. Using a commission-based fee structure makes it impossible for the client to get unbiased media advice while promoting a culture of rebate retention.

This method made much more sense when mass media buying over television and newspaper was the norm, but in today’s digitally driven world, small and medium-sized businesses may find it’s not the right payment structure for them.

Fee or cost-based payment systems remuneration model

Fee or cost-based remuneration models compensate specialists and agencies for the number of hours worked and resources used (including project fees and retainers) rather than compensating them for their performance. Cost-based fee structures are becoming increasingly popular with marketing specialists and agencies, which many businesses see as a payment model that encourages average work.

Fee-based remuneration models provide guaranteed income for the specialist or agency, regardless of their client’s business performance or fluctuating marketing budgets, which is good news for the provider but not such good news for the client. While this fee structure does have the benefit of providing greater transparency, it means time is the main currency and guarantees a profit for specialists or agencies, regardless of their results.

Value-based payment systems remuneration model

A value/performance-based fee structure is increasingly being acknowledged as the fairest and most sustainable remuneration model for marketing specialists and agencies. Under this payment model, the provider only earns a profit based on the value they add to the client’s business, holding providers more accountable for the value they create.

This remuneration model is gaining popularity as it brings a greater sense of business partnership into the provider/client relationship, provides the opportunity for them to create a better profit margin, and aligns the provider to the client’s goals. It can be difficult to roll out at first and requires ongoing management of the result parameters, which is where the shift towards upskilling marketers into project management comes into play.

When using a performance-based payment system, providers typically set a base project rate and then receive bonuses for achieving pre-agreed objectives.

Remuneration model – which is right for your business?

The remuneration model you enter with your chosen marketing provider will depend on the type of specialist or agency you’re working with and the requirements of your marketing campaign. Studies have found that the different compensation structures vary significantly between provider types, with commission-based agreements higher in sectors like media planning and buying and lower in more creative fields.

There is no right or wrong answer to which remuneration model you choose. Your decision will mostly depend on the priorities of your business, but if you want to move with the times, the general trend is to veer away from commission-based structures to a fee or value-based agreements where accountability is higher.

Whatever fee structure you decide on with your marketing specialist or agency, make sure you have a contract in place that captures all the details of your agreed remuneration model before any resources are committed.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 8: Remuneration model options for engaging Marketing Specialists and Agencies appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

Before you engage the services of a marketing specialist or agency, it’s imperative you agree on certain performance outcomes prior to the commencement of the work. Setting clear performance outcomes ensures both client and agency understand what’s expected from their end, with measures in place to track against the end goal. This is especially important if the fee structure you’ve decided on is performance-based or if you’re looking to build a performance incentive into the pricing agreement.

Benefits of setting marketing performance outcomes

Setting measurable marketing outcomes takes some time and effort but is well worth the energy involved, and even having basic measures in place will be beneficial. Performance measurements are important for the growth of any business and help protect against communication breakdowns between marketing agencies and clients. Key metrics ensure the agency has something to be held accountable for to make sure the client is getting the agreed value for money.

Measures to hold marketing agencies accountable for

The best performance-orientated specialists and agencies will be fully transparent when telling the client how they measure the return of their marketing efforts, but sometimes the responsibility falls on the client to provide clear performance expectations. A large number of tactics and strategies can be deployed with a variety of different measures depending on the area of marketing specialisation involved and it’s vital to tailor your marketing measurement to your specific circumstances and goals.

Here are just some of the common performance outcomes that marketing agencies can be held accountable for as part of their contractual agreement.

Drive website traffic

By monitoring and tracking your website traffic over time, it’s easy to see how many people have visited your site and what actions they’re taking when they’re there. Analytics can determine how many first-time visitors your website is getting, how much time people are spending on your website, and which individual pages are performing the best.

Increase online conversions

Analytics can also determine your conversion rate by reporting on the number of actions taken by a visitor to your website. With close monitoring, you’ll be able to see how many more sales are finalised, how many downloads are made, and how many people subscribe to your mailing list once your marketing plan is in action.

Expand social media following

If social media is part of your marketing plan, it’s important to track how your social media marketing efforts are tracking in more ways than just the number of followers and likes you have. Social media marketing should focus on whether you’re engaging with the right audience, how many of your followers convert to sales, and how many of those followers actually inquire about your services. Trackable metrics include link clicks, shares, re-tweets, brand mentions, audience reach, leads, and conversions.

Increased email & direct mail marketing conversions

The performance outcomes of email marketing campaigns can be measured by tracking the click-through rate (CTR) of a particular email to see how many recipients click on a hyperlink, call to action, image or make a purchase through a landing page. The success of a direct mail marketing campaign can be measured by the response rate, conversion rate, renewal rate, total return on investment, and cost per acquisition (CPA).

Improve blog performance

Having high-quality content on your blog is essential to educate customers and establish authority within your niche, but that content is worthless if it’s not reaching its intended audience. When hiring a marketing agency to create your blog content, measures can be put in place to track the number of interactions with each blog post (the number of comments, shares, likes, etc) and the number of views each individual blog post is receiving.

Other performance indicators to agree on

The tactics outlined above simply provide a snapshot of the key outcomes that can be measured to track a marketing agency’s performance, but there are other performance indicators that need to be agreed upon before commencement.

Here are some of the factors to clarify before an agreement is put in place:

• Time frames – How long does the specialists or agency have to deliver on an outcome in order to receive a performance incentive?
• Agency reporting approach – How are the specialists or agencies required to report on their current performance outcomes and key metrics?
• Client input – What is needed from the client in order for the specialists or agency to deliver?

Research consistently shows that setting clear goals and objectives sets the path for improved performance, with higher goals generating better results than low ones. Not only does setting measurable performance outcomes lead to better results, but it also holds marketing providers accountable for their time and expenses, giving businesses better return on investment.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 7 : Performance outcomes for Marketing Specialists and Agencies appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

Today, finding the best-fit marketing specialist or agency solution for the unique needs of your business is more complex and confusing than ever. Given the current fragmentation of the service provider landscape, finding the right specialist can be a stressful and time-consuming process, one that often deters businesses from sourcing professional marketing help entirely.

The truth is, finding the best fit solution to outsource your marketing requirements to doesn’t need to be a difficult task. With the right knowledge and a comprehensive database of suitable specialists and agencies, hiring should be something that removes your pressures, not adds to them.

If you’re looking to hire the services of a marketing specialist or agency, consider these tips for finding the right fit for your business and use our DIY and/or concierge search functions to find your best fit marketing solution be they locally or interstate based.

Tips for finding the best-fit marketing solutions

The first key step in finding the best fit specialist for your business is to be clear about what your organisation requires. Once you’ve established your needs, you can start the process of shortlisting (and ultimately selecting) your partner.

Engaging any marketing service provider should be approached as a calculated risk. It can be a significant expense and influence the outcome of your business decisions, so you need to take an objective, insightful look at all the potential pros, cons, and associated risks.

Growth & Search minimises these risks for you, not only by presenting you with a carefully curated portfolio of best-in-class agencies but also by helping you make better decisions about who to select. We don’t accept any old marketing providers to our database – they must be approved through our referencing process and then benchmarked against our best practices checklists and related content.

Once you’ve identified and shortlisted your best-fit marketing agency specialists using the platform, we recommend you always make initial contact by phone. Email and contact forms may seem like the easier option, but having direct contact with their customer service representative will help you get a better feel for their potential fit.

Even better, arrange a personal visit to their offices, where you can meet the team and fire some probing questions their way to see if you like their answers. Initial questions you may want to consider asking include:

• How do their skills and experience match your project requirements?
• What is their typical communication process with a client throughout the duration of the project?
• How do they project manage budget expenditure?
• How does their business culture and personality fit with you or your business?

We recommend you pick a minimum of two to three specialists and/or agencies for initial comparison and then narrow your list down to two for final selection before committing to a contract. However, this may vary depending on the scope of your marketing project and the levels and scope of specialisation required from your best-fit marketing provider.

Things to keep in mind when finding the best-fit marketing solution

In a perfect world, hiring a qualified specialist in any profession would guarantee the high-quality results you are looking for, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. When figuring out who is the best fit for you, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind:

• All specialists and agencies have their own strengths and limitations.

• When making your selection, consider more than just costs. You also need to focus on the fit of their team culture, their pricing and contract structure, their communication style, their project control management, their level of industry experience and references, and their reputation.

• Price is certainly not an indicator of the best-fit marketing solution nor the ROI on your marketing spend and if you choose someone purely based on their low price, they can end up costing a lot more than you think. Don’t buy cheap – we believe quality generally pays the best return in the long run.

• Agencies, especially growing ones, have difficulty saying no to work they do not specialise in. To avoid future problems, we encourage buying primary specialisation in the selection of your best fit to get maximum value.

• Be wary of agencies who outsource a large element of their work as this will generally add to your costs and lead to inconsistencies in the quality of deliverables. That said, there’s nothing wrong with outsourcing specific tasks to experts with highly tuned skills however your best-fit marketing solution is more than likely to have those skills in-house.

• Consider the option of hiring a freelancer – in many cases, it doesn’t always equate to lower costs but can be ideal for small projects and minor work requiring one or two areas of specialisation. Freelancers can also be a good add-on to an existing in-house team.

• Keep in mind that creativity cannot be commoditised and be wary of sales pitches from marketing specialists, especially if they tell you they have a secret sauce (their own proprietary method), as marketing is an open field today.

• Take a look at the potential best-fit providers’ websites as this can often give you a fair representation of their attention to detail and styling.

Small vs large marketing specialists and agencies – which is better?

Small provider businesses often have a more creative, collaborative approach with lower rates. Many businesses think that by going to large providers, they’re guaranteed high-quality work, however, that is often far from the case.

Many large providers outsource their work to smaller agencies or design firms due to the volume of work they get, or simply to make a bigger profit margin. It’s cheaper for them to outsource than it is to hire full-time employees, so large providers typically have core staff who work on the most important projects and then use partner firms, subcontractors, or freelancers to handle the rest.

In order to compete with the bigger providers, small creative specialists and agencies focus on teamwork and creativity. In many cases, small teams are carefully crafted to consist of talented individuals that excel in their area of expertise, who all work together to achieve a common goal. For this reason, smaller providers are often able to deliver outstanding results in a shorter amount of time. They will typically also be able to offer competitive pricing due to their lower overheads.

Full-service agency vs specialist agency – which is better?

Today’s marketing ecosystem is complex, and agencies are now required to have a significant amount of skills, competencies, and knowledge to stay up to date with all technologies and platforms. This demand is challenging, not to mention difficult to sustain.

A full-service agency offers a one-stop-shop arrangement, providing an array of skills with a host of experts available under one roof. An advantage of using full-service marketing agencies is that they’re better placed to provide customers with campaign cohesion across multiple channels and strategies, as the project is managed collectively by one team. This allows the benefit of collective synergy in creativity and more timely outcomes.

In theory, working with a full-service agency makes complete sense, as having one agency voice to communicate with and manage makes life that little bit easier. However, the reality is this integration is often more difficult to achieve than you might think, and working with full services agencies isn’t always smooth sailing.

As a downside, the one-voice approach of the project leader means the diversity of specialist perspectives and challenges often go unnoticed. Also, when dealing with full-service agencies, work is often passed around and can be handed to junior or less experienced staff, especially when it comes to social media marketing.

A specialist marketing agency offers highly specific knowledge in a certain domain, providing skills and insights with expert focus and personal delivery.

If you’re running several projects with multiple specialists, naturally this approach will require greater levels of communication and inter-agency coordination. However, campaign cohesion can still be achieved by having a contact person for each agency, an integrated marketing plan, and establishing appropriate agency protocols upfront.

When choosing a best-fit marketing solution, whether it be a full-scale agency or specialist provider, the key to a positive return on investment is for the provider to have expert skills in a particular competitive service area. Both models have their merits, and it may be worth considering a combination of full-service and specialist agency models to get the best possible outcomes.

Overall, what really matters is understanding the experience and skill level of those who will actually be doing the work. If an agency outsources, sends work offshore, or is operating under a white-label service, these approaches present an added risk to your marketing project and you need to carefully consider those risks before going down that path.

Once you’re satisfied on that front, take time to do your research, with basic pre-preparation and due diligence around what you need before starting to search and select your best-fit solutions.

When you reach out to marketing specialists and agencies, make sure you’ve prepared a marketing brief first.

Benefits of using Marketing Search for marketing service provider selection

Providing users with a database of high-quality, professional marketing specialists and agencies with outstanding reputations for providing expert service is something we at Marketing Search take very seriously. It is our mission to help users find their best-fit marketing solution for their unique needs and to do this, our selection criteria adhere to a strict list of values and guidelines.

We believe that no one agency is the best option for everyone, and as such, we are impartial on selection or promotion. We simply deliver a detailed search function and display of reputable, qualified providers to make it easier for you to find the best-fit marketing agency for your project and business overall.

Email us with your requirements and we can assist you in finding your best-fit marketing solution today at enquiry@developer.wordpress-developer.us

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December14th , 2022

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 6 : How to find the Best Fit Marketing Specialist or Agency Solutions for your Business? appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

When you begin the hunt for new marketing agencies or specialists to outsource your marketing needs to, scoping and developing clear marketing briefs should be a key part of your pre-preparation selection process.

Marketing briefs are documents that are used to lay the groundwork for the marketing campaign or strategies your business is seeking to launch. When crafted properly, it provides a solid foundation to ensure both internal staff and outsourced teams are on the same page when it comes to successfully executing the marketing strategies. Marketing briefs also help ensure you attract marketing agencies that have the skills required for your project(s), as they’ll be well-informed on your requirements from the get-go.

Benefits of creating marketing briefs

The primary purpose of marketing briefs is to provide clear direction on what’s important while clarifying the problems you’re seeking to address. A strong, well-thought-out marketing brief can provide the following benefits:

• Reduce overall costs by ensuring details are clearly laid out from the beginning
• Provide better synchronisation between internal and external teams
• Save time and improve communication overall
• Improve alignment of expected outcomes
• Clearly identify your target audience
• Help attract the right fit marketing specialist for your business

In addition, sometimes the simple act of writing things down can force you to look at things differently. By taking the time to create a brief for a marketing agency, you just may find that you change your initial approach – writing a brief can be a valuable learning tool. It is especially helpful when done after conducting a marketing audit.

At Marketing Search, we thoroughly believe marketing briefs are an essential step in the outsourcing marketing process – a good brief can make or break a campaign. Below are some helpful tips to consider when coming up with marketing briefs to provide to potential marketing providers.

Keep the marketing briefs simple

The golden rule of business applies when creating your marketing brief – keep things as simple as possible. Avoid using jargon, industry-specific lingo or acronyms and stick with language that’s easy to understand. Keep the document clean, concise and to the point, as there will be plenty of time for more details later.

Give your briefs the time and consideration they deserve

Your brief will become a fundamental part of your marketing strategy, so it should never be rushed. It doesn’t have to be a long document, but time and consideration should be taken to ensure the brief clearly outlines your objectives, timeframes and the scope of the work. Rushing through the brief will inevitably result in even longer time delays further down the track than if you approached the project without one.

Get key stakeholders involved

The earlier you can get input and recommendations from relevant stakeholders, the better position you will be in when proceeding with your brief. Seek stakeholder contributions as early in the project as possible and things will run much smoother, with everyone on the same page from the start. When creating your brief, list all stakeholders involved in the campaign and their responsibilities within the project – this will help define accountability later on.

Clarify your goals and objectives

Clarifying what you hope to achieve out of the marketing strategy is an essential part of the briefing process. Discuss this with other staff and stakeholders first to ensure everyone involved is working towards the same end goal. Consider:

• What is the overall goal of the campaign?
• What are the main reasons for this campaign?
• What are the associated risks?
• What are the problems you’re hoping to overcome?
• What is the key message this campaign hopes to communicate?
• How much time and money are available to implement the best end result?

If you struggle to be clear about the objectives, consider who, what, why, when, and how this marketing campaign hopes to deliver.

Leave room for solutions

When creating your marketing briefs, remember it’s not your job to come up with the solutions to your problems – that’s what you’re hiring an external marketing professional for. Be concise about what you hope to achieve, outline any current issues and leave room for flexibility. This is where you get to take advantage of the skills and expertise provided by external agencies and this is their chance to deliver.

Things to include in your marketing briefs

• Background of your business
• Your marketing goals and objectives
• Information about the success or failure of previous marketing strategies
• Details about your target audience
• Insights into your competition
• Brand overview (identity, market positioning, USP, etc)
• Project timeframes
• Communication preferences
• Agreed KPI and performance measurements
• Budget Parameters
• Terms and conditions, legal requirements, and disclaimers where necessary

Once you’ve delivered your brief and have selected a marketing agency to handle the project, it’s vital to make sure everyone’s on the same page before work commences. Set up a meeting and request all attendees thoroughly go over the brief ahead of time and come prepared with any questions.

Use this opportunity to ask the agency what ideas they have for your project and whether they foresee any potential problems with your proposed budget and timeline. This is where you’ll really see the value of your brief paying off.

For more help with finding the most suitable marketing specialist, use our comprehensive checklist for finding the best marketing service provider.

Prepared your marketing briefs and ready to search for the best-fit marketing provider? Use the Growth & Search platform to find a marketing agency or specialist with the right skills and culture for your project.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 5 : Marketing Briefs for Specialists & Agencies – invest in pre preparation it pays great dividends. appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

They say two heads are better than one, and in business, it’s true: the best ideas can come out of workshops.

By getting together with others, we have opportunities to create bona fide “think tanks”, discover fresh perspectives, and brainstorm ideas.

Workshopping your project early on can be an excellent way to identify any potential problems, find creative solutions, and gain valuable insight into your target audience.

The Sky’s the Limit

Workshopping is a great way to share abstract plans, ideas, and inspirations in an open space without judgment. By workshopping early on, you’ll be working within the planning stages of your project proposal. It’s a great way to explore the full potential of your plans, without existing limitations of staffing and funding.

The initial stages of planning should be expansive and without boundaries, before you start refining and clarifying your ideas into something that is workable, both practically and financially.

Who Can Workshop?

Anybody working on the project. Stakeholders might be keen to get involved with the planning, but don’t forget your front-lining and lower-down staff—they have unique perspectives and are often directly involved with the delivery of plans. They see things you don’t, and may already have creative solutions to problems you haven’t even thought of yet.

The point of the workshop is to get to the heart of the project—the opportunity and the problem it should solve. Workshopping should explore the limits of your project, and then refine it into something focused and workable.

Bring in the Experts

Having a third-party facilitator can bring valuable objectivity to your workshop. They’ll keep things running, and record all ideas while guiding you through planning for problems and roadblocks.

An external person can keep the group dynamics in check and ensure everybody’s ideas are heard. They can keep a watch on time, set short-term session goals, and assist you in summarising the group’s

Be SMART

SMART is a useful and well-known acronym for identifying project outcomes.

They should be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.

Use your workshop as a chance to explore ideas before running each deliverable through the SMART measure.

Knowing how to workshop your project can be daunting. We’ve found some handy hints on running a successful and efficient workshop to launch your project.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 4 : Workshop Your Project appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.

You’ve got a brilliant idea for a project. You’ve identified an opportunity in the market and you’ve started formulating a plan. Things are going great, but suddenly, the money dries up.

Even the best projects need some serious cash flow to get things moving.

Getting an early buy-in is paramount in launching a new project. You might have the budget and funding all lined up, but without an early cash injection, you can jeopardise the entire timeline of your project.

Stakeholders: Find the Right People

Identify a list of stakeholders. Be open-minded about who might affect, or be affected by, your project. Who are they, and what are their needs?

Be thorough in identifying who has a stake in your project. That way, you’ve got a clear idea of who you need to consult, or at least have on your side, for the successful delivery of a project. Finding an early buy-in can often stem from the people closest to the issue at hand, so be open about the financial requirements in your proposal.

Stakeholders can be community members and customers, suppliers, workers, management, or government departments.

Find the right people and get in touch with them straight away—this way, you’ll involve them early, and find some potential funding along the way.

Create a Solid Proposal and Business Case

Once you’ve identified the right people, you need to secure funding by presenting a strong, well-written business proposal and case.

While a proposal might outline the preliminary scope of the project, a Business Case is a map and justification of all the elements of a project.

A Business Case can identify an opportunity or problem that the project is based on. It maps out the benefits, risks, staffing requirements, task allocations, timeline, and success indicators.

To secure early buy-in to fund your project, you need a professional and well-presented plan. Nobody wants to buy into a project that has no market research or budget breakdown. Do your research, take care in presenting professionally, and be realistic about the limitations or potential problems within the project.

Get in Early, But Allow Time

Remember that for the stakeholder, it can be a risk to buy in. Your Business Case should convince them why you deserve funding, and exactly how the money will be spent. Give them time to peruse your case and assess whether it’s worth their financial sacrifice.

Foster Communication and Engagement 

Be clear, concise, and polite. Keep stakeholders engaged and informed about the progress of the project, and be creative in how you deliver information. Stakeholders might like regular reports on the project, but they might be more engaged by  flyers, videos, presentations, and one-on-one conversations.

If things go wrong, demonstrate resilience and quick thinking with creative solutions, and ask them for their advice.

Written by Neil Anderson
20th December 2022

Neil Anderson is the founder and director of Growthandsearch.com a privately owned business specialising in the provision of business growth-related knowledge and services for Australian small and medium size businesses operating in the services sectors.

The post Step 3 : Get early Stakeholder Buy-In to ensure project success. appeared first on GROWTH & SEARCH.