5 Most Common Mistakes Ad Agencies Make

The marketing industry in the US is booming – it collected $180,000,000,000 in 2015 alone, and selling more advertising space has been a recent focus for Rochester, NY. The national forecast for marketing is exponential growth in coming years.

So where do some ad agencies go wrong? If advertising is such a successful business, why do so many companies fail to see the promised results? Check out these 5 common mistakes agencies make with their clients.

1. Ad Agency that Follows a Streamlined Approach

Although ad agencies service a wide variety of industries, many don’t offer originality or distinction. They create a streamlined approach to make their work easier, without considering what’s best for their client’s business. When a company requests individualized treatment, some CEOs will awkwardly respond, “Sorry, we don’t do that for any of our clients. We’ve always done marketing this way, so you’ll have to accept our method and trust our marketing process.”

We believe each company needs to have an individualized approach that caters to their specific situation. No two companies are identical, so it follows that their marketing strategy needs to differ, however slightly. What works for one company might not work for another.  

2. Ad Agency that Focuses on a Single-Channel Campaign

Some ad agencies are only comfortable with what they know. If they have experience with traditional marketing – print advertisements, TV commercials, and radio ads – they limit themselves to that single avenue. Likewise, some digital marketing agencies might boo-hoo traditional marketing, calling it old-fashioned or outdated, and end up missing out on valuable audience reach and marketing opportunities.

A successful marketing campaign uses a multi-channel approach to reach sales wherever they may be. The advantages of capitalizing on both traditional and digital marketing include:

• Reach a wider audience
• Increase brand awareness via multiple avenues
• Target potential customers wherever they are
• Increase sales opportunities
• Create a cohesive marketing strategy
• Eliminate missing gaps in reach

Learn more about the advantages of a full-service advertising agency!

A traditional campaign shouldn’t compete with digital marketing. Instead, these two campaign strategies are both well-traveled roads that lead in the same direction – to marketing success. Traditional and digital marketing campaigns work together to further the company’s specific goals and outline success by reaching customers online, watching TV, in the car, and out of home.

3. Ad Agency that Doesn’t Offer Proper Reporting

Ad agencies may complete the work, but if they don’t offer consistent reporting, they have no proof that their marketing plan rendered the results they anticipated. Once the agency listens to the client  define the overall goal and then puts specific strategies into place to meet that goal, it shouldn’t overlook the necessity of compiling all marketing metrics into a single platform to analyze results.

A comprehensive ad agency offers systematic reports, usually once each month, to display each marketing campaign, the metrics, analytics, and how well each traditional or digital campaign worked.

4. Ad Agency that Treats Clients like Customers

Some ad agencies fail to realize they don’t have customers; they have clients. A customer is an individual who purchases products or a service from a company, with no obligation to purchase from the same company again. A client, on the other hand, purchases an agency’s advice or customized solutions for specific needs, and repeatedly returns to the agency for ongoing help.

An ad agency has relationships with clients, whereas a business may or may not have relationships with customers. Professional agencies shouldn’t make clients feel like a number, but rather as an individual with specific needs. Clients deserve healthy and prompt communication, ideally a response in less than 24 – 48 hours.

5.  Ad Agency that Is Stuck in Time

Technology evolves over time, and some marketing agencies falter to keep up. Advances in mobile devices, analytics, social media management platforms, etc. all contribute to a more refined marketing strategy, and an agency that ignores these breakthroughs subjects themselves to eventual failure.

A successful ad agency not only keeps up with changing digital marketing trends, but also passes the competition despite these challenges and maintains their positions on Page 1 in search engine results.