Clients and Agencies Should Embrace “The Challenger Sale"

As a part of the AgencySparks vetting process, we interview agencies to determine the health of their current or past relationships. Over the course of 45 sets of interviews conducted, we have found a reoccurring theme - agencies who are “order takers” tend to have weaker client relationships.

Agencies need to become challengers in order to offer their client’s the best solutions.

The Challenger Sale Approach, which is based off of Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamsons book “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation,” is a method to help salespeople (or agencies) build healthy relationships with clients by challenging them.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersOctober 23, 2018The Challenger Sale, agency-client relationship, Agency 101Comment

Why Brands Pounce on Real-time Marketing

Real-time marketing or reactive marketing is “off the cuff,” “on the fly,” or spontaneous, “unplanned” responses to a particular time or event. Often, whenever “real-time marketing” is brought up, marketers will reference the infamous Oreo “Oreo's Super Bowl Tweet: 'You Can Still Dunk In The Dark'” incident that occurred when the lights went out during Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans.

What does your brand’s marketing team need to know about real-time marketing and how can you best take advantage of every opportunity?

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersOctober 16, 2018real-time marketing, real time news mentions, New YearsComment

Overcoming the Fear of Planning a Marketing Budget

Budgeting season doesn’t have to be scary! We spoke with Paige Farrow, the Senior Director of Marketing at Char-Broil, about the challenges or “fears” marketers face when planning a marketing budget and how marketers can best prepare for marketing costs and spending.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersOctober 9, 2018marketing budget, budget, MARKETING budget, RFP-Resource, New Years, first agency, types of agencies, agency-client relationship, scorecardComment

SPARKsouth - Find Your Passion

The annual SPARKsouth conference aims to benefit college students looking to build a career in digital marketing. The day focuses on career development with insights from expert panelists, mentor pairings, keynote speakers, networking opportunities, interviewing skills, and marketing career planning.

Representatives from brands and agencies served in panels and gave an overwhelming amount of helpful advice. Continue reading for their key tips.

Marketing Industry/Trends, Setup News/EventsSetup - marketing matchmakersOctober 2, 2018SPARKsouth, marketing career path, marketing roles, job seeker content, intern, marketing continuing education, sparksouthComment

Alternatives to the RFP Process

Most of the time, companies view the Request for Proposal (RFP) as the only option for seeking help with a marketing project, program, or initiative. RFPs are not the only solution and can often be a waste of time, money, resources, and effort for both clients and agencies.

Clients want solutions to problems but, more often than not, the RFP does not provide answers to the difficult problems the client faces. Consider the multiple alternatives to the RFP Process before jumping in…

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersSeptember 25, 2018rfp, request for proposal, RFP, RFP-Alternative, RFP-Resource, issue rfp, first agency, types of agencies, agency-client relationship, scorecard, breakupComment

The Do’s and Don’ts of the RFP Process

When clients have marketing challenges, they often look to an agency for help. Often the best way to determine if a marketing agency is qualified to deliver quality work on time and within budget and scope is through a Request for Proposal (RFP).

Here are the Do’s and Dont’s to making a RFP successful…

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersSeptember 18, 2018rfp, request for proposal, RFP-Resource, issue rfp, New Years, first agency, types of agencies, agency-client relationship, scorecard, breakup, Agency 101Comment

Tribal Marketing: How Atlanta Brands Are Building a Community

The Atlanta BeltLine, King of Pops, and Switchyards Downtown Club are some of the most influential local brands in Atlanta who have found success in nurturing and building tribe members.

How do they build communities and what can marketers take away from the brands’ mentality?

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersSeptember 11, 2018tribe marketing, tribal marketing, tribe, tribe of followersComment

The Five Marketing Agency Compensation Models for Brands

If a brand is considering hiring a marketing agency, it is important to set aside appropriate budget. Depending on the scope of needs, some financial plans are more necessary than others but, ultimately, it is up to the client and agency to decide how they will price fees during their agency-client partnership. Read more about the pros and cons of different compensation models in the agency-client relationship.

Marketing Industry/Trends, Marketing ResourcesSetup - marketing matchmakersSeptember 4, 2018budget, paperwork, tax, woman, money, report, accountant, calculator, paper, concept, pen, accounting, home, closeup, statistics, table, economics, economy, bureaucracy, corporate, business, income, success, copyspace, finance, calculate, balance, female, close-up, macro, earnings, lifestyle, desk, planning, bookkeeper, fill, person, professional, company, credit, workplace, work, investment, job, office, financial, expenses, hand, savings, counting, budget, paperwork, tax, woman, money, report, accountant, calculator, paper, concept, pen, accounting, home, closeup, statistics, table, economics, economy, bureaucracy, corporate, business, income, success, copyspace, finance, calculate, balance, female, close-up, macro, earnings, lifestyle, desk, planning, bookkeeper, fill, person, professional, company, credit, workplace, work, investment, job, office, financial, expenses, hand, savings, counting, RFP, RFP-Resource, first agency, types of agencies, agency-client relationship, scorecard, gaps, breakup, Agency 101Comment

Marketing Attribution: Tracking Touch Points Throughout the Customer Journey

Attribution fills in gaps in the story by assigning value to certain touch points during the consumer’s journey. Attributing value to each touch point helps marketers map out which marketing tactics are working during the buyer journey so that the marketer can adjust their strategies and better prove their worth to the C-Suite. ..

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersAugust 21, 2018marketing measurement, meausrement, marketing attribution, attribution, data, MarketingComment

Best Email Marketing Practices for the Typical Marketer

How can marketers grasp their consumer’s attention or stand out in a unique way without coming off too strong or obnoxious? How can marketers inform their email marketing strategy to attract more leads and subscribers? What deters consumers? What drives consumers to click the “subscribe” or “unsubscribe” button?

AgencySparks turned to the expertise of our agency partners, DEFINITION 6 and Response Media, for the answers and insights on best email marketing practices.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersAugust 14, 2018email, email marketing, email marketing strategy, marketing strategy, email subscriptions, subscriptions, unsubscribe, list building, lists, email listComment

The Effectiveness of Direct Mail Marketing

Remember the excitement when a letter arrived in the mail? Or a packaged box full of mysteries inside just waiting to be opened? Email and digital marketing is effective, but it is not the only method to reach consumers and generate leads.

While marketers may be concerned about the effectiveness of direct mail and whether or not they can properly track it or afford the costs, there is plenty of evidence to support this “traditional” marketing strategy.

What are the benefits of direct mail as part of a marketing strategy?

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersAugust 7, 2018direct mail, direct mail marketing, marketing campaign, digital marketing, direct mail strategy, direct marketing, mailing, direct mail campaigns, mailing campaigns, direct mail advertising, direct-mail, direct-mail marketing, direct mail services, direct mail responses Comment

Erosion of Brand Trust in the Marketing Industry

Consumers have become more skeptical of brand promises since technology access has made it easy to detect a brand’s lies via social media. It takes time to develop a trusting consumer relationship by nurturing it through the customer journey, but it can take only seconds to kill that relationship and even more time to mend.

Facebook, Amazon, and Uber are great examples of brands that have disappointed their consumers in the past few years and need to work harder to regain consumers’ trust. They are few of the many brands that have lead to a nationwide decrease in consumer trust.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJuly 31, 2018facebook, facebook ads, authenticity, authenticity crisis, brand trust, brand loyalty, brand erosion, competency, integrity, consumer trustComment

Navigation

For Brands

For Agencies