Marketing digital agency services

transcript

Growing digital services for your agency in 2015

Mark Kelly

Agency Growth Consultant

Mark Kelly Consultancy

Mark highlights the templates in our Agency Toolkit that will help you

improve the quality of your processes for digital marketing services,

and so support growth of the business.

2Recommended hub page:

http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/digital-marketing-agency-toolkit/

Recommended on SmartInsights.com

Agenda

Digital growth is a journey

Common blocks to ambition

Taking a planned approach

Growth from existing clients

Skills

Growth with New Business

Processes

Links to templates & relevant hub pages will appear here on

relevant slides

About me

25 years in agencies, including head of

business units and wider agency ops

16 years in online / digital

3 years advising range of agencies -

"how do we grow digital?"

Mark Kelly Consultancy

The impetus to grow digital

Existing client demand

Market demand

= conscious decision to offer new services

'Evolution':

e.g. PR > Social, DM > eCRM

Poll 1: Agency type

If an Agency: what are your current primary

services?

Full Service but limited digital

Digital but specialist (e.g SEO, eCRM)

Brand / Design

Other / Not Agency

The journey

Stations and switchbacks

along the way

http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/digital-marketing-agency-toolkit/

Poll 2: Barriers

What barriers do you think inhibit digital

growth?

Taking on wrong type of work

Upskilling teams / finding new talent

Making digital pay

Unsuitable processes effecting quality

All the above

Blocks to ambition

Wrong type of work

Skilling the team

Finding right talent

Making digital pay

New / incremental biz

strategies

Unsuitable processes

Quick note on process

more detail later

Planned approach to growing digital

SWOT analysis to inform digital growth strategy (example):

Existing client matrix:

What do you provide already? Where could you go next?

Feed both these into digital growth plan for each account (see later)

http://www.smartinsights.com/marketplace-analysis/swot-analysis/swot-analysis/

Planned approach

Existing client matrix: example

Growth with existing clients

Planned growth: existing clients

Don’t rely on ‘organic growth’.. plan which clients to

approach and with what

Look at the Supporting Business Growth ’ guide on

Smart Insights

Start with identifying most profitable and strongest

relationship accounts in the business

http://www.smartinsights.com/agency-marketing/growing-a-marketing-

agency/mark-urgent-supporting-business-growth/

Planned growth: existing clients

Structured process: account plan

Examine client account in wider context(what are their pressures, threats, opps).

Look at the historical and current situation(financial, feedback, your USP etc).

Document your account ambition

Generate ideas (Create an Action Plan for sales opportunities).

Identify blocks to success

Plan a tangible revenue forecast

Think through the selling in of ideas

http://www.smartinsights.com/agency-marketing/growing-a-marketing-

agency/mark-urgent-supporting-business-growth/

The Skills

Digital Marketing Skills

Two routes

Grow skills

Buy skills

Poll 3: Skills

What issues are / might you facing in growing in-

house digital talent?

General understanding of the digital landscape

Lack of experience in specific channel

The time to attend courses, seminars etc

Willingness to upskill

Lack of confidence with clients re digital

Audit team skills, make a plan

Mix of formal training and attendance of local digital events and

seminars etc

Spread attendances across ‘tech’, marketing, creative..

meetups, workshops, conferences etc

Share visibility via agency events calendar.

Returning attendees: show and tell for rest of agency

Invite in experts to share with agency

Grow Skills

Range of resources on

Smart Insights, including

the RACE digital strategy

qualification

http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/race-digital-planning-qualification/

Grow Skills

Buy Skills

Get to know local / regional digital 'scene'

- both freelance / specialist agencies

Buy-in talent based on initial opportunities and

subsequent New Business pipeline

The Bills

Don't chase digital new business until you know how to

charge for and manage it

Get your estimating discipline right from the start:

Challenge the brief

Triangulate thinking

Caveat estimate

Look backwards

Which rates?

Don't give it away

http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/planning-budgeting/creating-a-

robust-estimate-for-a-digital-marketing-project/

Making digital pay

Use our spreadsheet templates

The estimating tool that will come with a job

management platform

Estimating owned by one e.g nominated Project

Manager / Account Manager

Always double checked with experienced team

http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/digital-marketing-budgeting-costing-spreadsheets/

New Business

http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/marketing-agency-new-business-

template/

An NB process is vital

New Business more competitive than ever:

c.18,000 Agencies in UK

Budget pressures

Client / Prospect time stretched thin .. ‘cold’

approaches not effect

Inbound marketing established .. some agencies

already attracting more interest than you

Clients more comfortable with distributed agencies -

proximity isn’t as big a plus point

template/

Poll 4: New Business approach

What is your approach to New Business?

Documented framework but haven't reviewed efficacy

in last 6-12 months

Documented framework– recently reviewed & refined

No formal process / approach to New Business

New Business framework

Framework covers:

Your Proposition

What type of work do you want

Buyer Personas

‘Housekeeping’ - your channels

Sources of Referral

Inbound Marketing

Outbound Marketing

Lead tracking

template/

Processes

Adapt your existing processes for digital

Principles still apply re briefing, estimating,

concepting, production, time management etc

But digital brings new terminologies and new

approaches, so familiarise yourself

A project process framework

Project Management

Tipping point from Account

Management to dedicated

Project / Campaign

Managers

Start contract > move to

PM + you determine best

framework for agency

(Agile, Waterfall or hybrid)

Job Management

Expanding services brings additional impetus to manage

the business effectively:

Consider cost / job management platforms:

Purpose built / cloud based .. great for cross-agency collab on

estimate creation and ongoing time / resource management.

Many platforms now all-encompassing:

initial estimate through to time and resource tracking, cost

reconciliation, invoicing and reporting.

http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/resourcing-digital-

marketing/budget-estimating-and-time-management-platforms-for-marketing-

agencies/

Summary – questions please!

Potential barriers along

digital growth journey

Clear strategies and

frameworks avoid these

Look at the resources on

our agency toolkit hub

www.markkellynet.com

Smart Insights agency hub

page:http://www.smartinsights.com/g

uides/digital-marketing-agency-

toolkit/

Photo referencesPhotos used in this deck are all creative commons and via Flickr or Compfight unless otherwise indicated:

Agenda toolkit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/41894148532@N01/2517652/ by Neil T

Roadblock: https://www.flickr.com/photos/99301367@N00/8497106802 by Dave Lanovaz

Road switchback: https://www.flickr.com/photos/73115147@N00/3610386514/ by Dave Clarke

Calculator: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97247234@N00/3867706307/ by Dennis Wong

Conveyor belt: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33392350@N00/6508786801/ by sea turtle

Scooter Skills: https://www.flickr.com/photos/91783980@N05/8691749721/ by red touch media

Skills options: conference image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49503002894@N01/4167210953 by Kris

Agency Client meeting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34252364@N00/369496139/ by the image group

New Business - Agency image https://www.flickr.com/photos/beckyjohns/5673361558/in/album-

72157626491264575/by Becky Johns (cropped image)

Process header slide: https://www.flickr.com/photos/placeni/5493713259

Example review resource: http://onlineprojectmanagement-

review.toptenreviews.com/