You may think that an advertising agency like ours is only useful for those clients that don’t already have their own internal marketing division. But that’s not entirely true. Here are just a few reasons why Mad 4 Marketing is often used by companies with their own marketing departments:
1. Outside perspective: It’s easy to get trapped in a routine of redundancy when your brain is firing the same circuits day in and day out. Hiring an external marketing agency can give you that breath of fresh air your company’s marketing outlook might need, even if it’s a one-time consultation. An external marketing agency is looking at a business’s pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses with a new set of eyes and ideas that deviate from the beaten track. Furthermore, insiders may be subject to pressures from within the company — perceived or overt — that wouldn’t limit the creative methods or thought processes of an external advertising agency.
2. Greater resources: Often, an internal marketing division has a fixed amount of resources at their disposal and tends to favor repetitive strategies that have worked in the past in order to (theoretically) minimize risk (especially in terms of labor, time and budget). A full-service external marketing company has a wide array of resources at its disposal, including local connections (think: print/manufacturing/regulation/distribution) and a broader outlook of what will and won’t work in similar situations, based on a longer history with a lengthier list of clientele. Sometimes it’s hard to even know that there’s more out there than what you’re used to working with until you sit down with an external marketing agency and compare notes. In the end, for internal marketers it can be like a child with a brand-new treasure chest filled with new toys. Even just handing over the reins on a project that may need a bigger scope than usual can send an internal marketing department back to the drawing board the next time with a whole new slew of ideas and a willingness to explore outside of the box. Working with an external advertising agency can kick-start that process.
3. Improved efficiency: Similar to the point discussed above, a marketing company with greater resources whose sole focus is providing cost-effective solutions is apt to perform more efficiently than a more compartmentalized internal division that may be limited by oversight from within a larger business. An external marketing agency can streamline a process and often cut costs along the way, thanks to its own workforce (people who solely focus on their niche marketing specialty for a living) as well as ongoing partnerships with outside collaborators. With greater outreach, increased resources and fewer limitations, an external marketing company provides overall efficiency for projects that might have special time and cost restrictions.
One advantage that internal marketing divisions have is a knowledge of the brand and product that is immeasurable. Educating an external advertising agency is the first step to working on a new campaign. An agency like Mad 4 Marketing sits down for a discovery meeting with all new and prospective clients to get to know them. We start by listening to your invaluable insider knowledge and familiarizing intimately with the product or service that you’re trying to sell. This exploratory step is the most pivotal when it comes to broaching the aid of an external marketing agency for the first time.