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3 Questions You Should Be Asking Your Agency

The trades are amuck with headlines around the need for a “new agency model” fueled by the rise of ad tech and digital media. These types of headlines have riddled publications since the dot-com era. Don’t get me wrong — there is some truth in the speculation. Underlying the latest wave of headlines is the theme of technology changing the brand and agency dynamic: Are brands and agency willing to adapt together?

# 1: What’s Your Fee Structure?

You deserve to understand what your agency’s money is doing for you. And agencies deserve to make a fair-market profit. (You’ll know if you’re working with the right agency if it strategically reinvested that profit back into the costly business of building excellence in evolving digital media space.)

As planning and buying platforms evolve, so to do compensation structures. Programmatic ad spending topped $10 billion in 2014 and is projected to double to more than $20 billion by 2016. This represents 63 percent of total digital display advertising, according to eMarketer. The increase in programmatic spend begs a simple question: What should agencies be charging to provide the optimal return to marketers?

Transparency is crucial. Fees should be fully visible to the client through a fixed commission-based compensation model or a flat retainer. With this approach, the client benefits from buying efficiencies given an increased yield from the media budget.

Be cautious of agencies that provide costs based on aggregate Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) or Dynamic CPMs. By providing only the agreed upon CPM, agencies are masking the cost of the working media and the commission charged on the media — thereby decreasing the media buyer’s incentive to drive a marketer’s CPM down to provide more return for the investment.

Takeaway:
The fee structure should enable the agency to reduce complexity and drive performance for the client. As in any good relationship, transparency and open communication will allow the agency to achieve these goals for the client.

#2: What’s The Role Of Data In Planning?

There’s no debating that businesses have an insatiable appetite for data. According to an Accenture report, 89 percent of executives reported they thought big data would “revolutionize the way we do business” as much as the advent of the internet had done.

There’s no lack of tools and subject matter experts to collect, manage, synthesize, and activate the data. But just because an agency positions itself as a big data Ninja does not mean they are the right fit. (The self-appointed “Ninja” title should raise concerns.)

When working with agencies that manage the tools, platforms, and analysis, ask about the data compliance, governance, and process. Then dig deeper and ask about the rationale for the partners, tools, and processes employed.

Look for agency partners who build out a customized plan given client needs. Three key parts of the planning process to look for include:

  • The integration of first-party to build look-a-like models
  • Use of multiple data sources to build profiles
  • Creative messaging aligned with customer profile and desired behavior

Takeaway:
With the constantly evolving digital media space, marketers and agencies should continue to test multiple methods, tech, and vendors to find the right recipe. As true business partners, marketers and agencies should learn and build together.

#3: Can I Trust You With My Data?

According to eMarketer, “If data is digital marketing’s currency, then the Data Management Platform (DMP) is its bank.” Similar to a financial institution, DMPs have a mountain of rules and regulations. As agencies play a more pivotal role in sifting through the rules and regulations to help build DMPs, help them integrate within your company’s digital ecosystem.

Agencies are well-positioned to bridge the gap between technology, service, and data, and you need to play an active role in the process. Asking your agency “who owns the data” means more than contractual obligations. It means: “How can we access and interpret the data to become smarter about our customer, our brand, and our business?”

Takeaway:
It’s time to rid ourselves of “I don’t trust the data.” Sabotaging your company’s ability to clean and leverage its data is no different than sabotaging your own ability to activate on that data.

Conclusion

Like any good relationship, you should be with someone who makes you better. A participatory process helps improve both agency and marketer fluency in the space, leading to a better understanding of and sophistication within digital media.

Technology — particularly the mass adoption of ad tech and rising emphasis on programmatic buying — has forced brands and agencies to take a hard look at their relationship and ask: “Is this working?”

However, every headline and every article appear to miss the point. It’s not about placing the blame — it’s about asking the right questions. Is the relationship built on trust, open communication, and mutual respect? Will we weather the latest “storm” together? Are we willing to learn together?

If the answer is yes, then have conviction when managing your agencies. When they see you lead with conviction, they will believe in you and deliver incredible things for you.

Going mobile: Why ‘Mobile First’ is Reshaping Digital

We all know that one of the biggest news in brand recently is Google. Its re brand and immediate incorporation into the umbrella ‘Alphabet’ organization set the industry’s tongues wagging. Many commentators were also quick to note that the company’s latest logo re-vamp was ultimately decided by their newfound ‘mobile first’ approach.

Many have heard the term bandied about, but looking a little closer at exactly what it does and what it means is actually quite a useful exercise. In layman’s terms, ‘mobile first’ prioritizes the appearance and accessibility of web content on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. From formatting the size and shape of tabs on a web page to a continuous scroll setting, companies are now approaching these components first before even considering their content.

So why is it suddenly the talk of the town, and what makes it so special? Well, with phone and technology companies constantly churning out ‘smart’ devices with smaller screens (Apple Watch, take a bow), mobile internet access is on the rise like never before. That means it’s more important than ever for companies to optimize the content and user interactions for mobile devices. Hence mobile first.

Here at Creative Spark, we’re strong advocates of a ‘mobile first’ approach. In fact, it’s pretty much our guiding principle when we do any digital project. User and audience experience is at the heart of everything we do, so it’s doubly important for us to ensure that users can view and interact with our digital projects across a wide variety of mobile and desktop devices, seamlessly.

It comes naturally for designers to start off with small ideas and growing them into larger well thought out products. This can be replicated when designing for mobile. Creating a clear, uncluttered layout on a mobile and then expanding this organically onto larger desktop screens is the logical progression with the mobile first approach. Trying to achieve the same without following the mobile first approach, can sometime result in trying to cram too much onto a smaller device, meaning time is spent trying to rectify aesthetics in User Interface (UI).

Google’s recent logo transformation shores up this approach, proving that the ‘mobile first’ doctrine really is the way forward. Scrapping the quirky flicks, using a sans font and squeezing their signature colors into their iconic ‘G’ revamps this company’s logo and makes them more compatible and consistent across mobile devices.

This bold move to align itself with changing technology trends and follows a pattern companies such as Facebook have used in the past. All of this proves the importance of a ‘mobile first’ approach; even the slightest rework, like a change to your logo font, can revolutionize your brand and seriously affect its future success.

Why It’s So Important to Have Clear Brand Guidelines

There is no denying the importance of having a strong brand if you want to achieve growth and long term success. In a world of increasing competition, a strong brand can be your most powerful asset, helping you become an instantly recognizable and trusted name to your customers.
When you hear people talking about creating and maintaining a strong brand, you’ll often hear them talking about brand guidelines. But what exactly are brand guidelines, and why are they so important?

What are brand guidelines?

Brand guidelines, sometimes referred to as style guides, are a set of rules that explain in detail how your brand is put together. Brand guidelines can cover any number of different areas, including logo usage, colors, typography, tone of voice, mission statement, and templates for marketing collateral.
Over time, as your business grows, you may want to add to your brand guidelines, which is fine. While your brand guidelines are essentially a set of rules, they need to be flexible enough to grow with your brand – you don’t want them to be so rigid that they restrict creativity and innovation within your business.

Why are brand guidelines so important?

Whether you like it or not, your company already has its own brand – you just may not know it yet. Without clear brand guidelines, there is no real control over your brand and its messaging, which can lead to inconsistencies among both employees and customers. Consistent messages will help build brand recognition, which will in turn contribute to building trust among your target audience.
Another key advantage that comes with having clear brand guidelines is an increase in both the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing when moving forward. When your business is producing a new product, or working on a new marketing or advertising campaign, having clear
brand guidelines is a huge help. Your brand guidelines can be used as a road map of sorts, helping you ensure whatever you produce is in line with your existing brand, reducing the chance of work having to be redone or updated.

5 Ways to Create a Killer Brand

Ask anyone. Defining an authentic brand is important. It’s what makes a company stand out from competitors, and is more than just the services it sells. It creates a perception of your company, and can make your audience understand you on an emotional level.

In fact, branding refers to what people think of when they hear or see your company name, as well as the look and feel. So it is important to get it right.

Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to creating a killer brand.

1. Know Yourself

  • Before you begin creating a brand, you need to know what your company is about
  • Take time exploring who you are including your brand values, aligning with business goals
  • Ask yourself questions such as what is the heritage, is the location key to the business, are you targeting a niche or mass market?
  • Write this down and set it out in front of you before you begin any work to cross check

2. Know Your Audience

  • Think about who your target audience is
  • Ask other people who they think your target audience is
  • Think of ways to connect your brand to your audience
  • If you want your audience to love and cherish your brand, you have to love and cherish your audience

3. It’s More Than a Logo

  • A logo is an important part of a brand, but it isn’t everything. A brand includes the tone of voice, your external messaging, your internal messaging and even how you treat your staff. It is all encompassing
  • Spend time planning and executing all aspects

4. Don’t Follow the Trends

  • Stay true to step 1
  • You have to do what is right for your brand, and this especially relates to the creative look and feel
  • If you only follow the trends you’ll soon be outdated – ensure the design is timeless. (Top tip – does it look good in black and white?)
  • BUT be current in your campaigns

5. Budget Properly

  • “No one likes a luxury brand with cheap stock”
  • It is important to remember that it is not just the design you need to budget for – you need to think about print costs, advertising space etc.
  • You need to have enough money to get your amazing new brand out there!

Digital Insight – Google Panda 4.2 Update Rolled Out

Google has launched its Google Panda Update which will take several months to complete. It is predicted that it will positively affect 2-3% of search queries with its continued focus on content quality.

The update is an algorithm change that is specifically designed to benefit high quality websites which it does by demoting low quality websites in the SERPS. Simply Google gives your company website a site quality score and when the data is refreshed (which can be anywhere between a few months and in the case of the latest update over 10 months) the score is updated.

How does the site quality score work? The system determines a score for a website, as seen by a search engine that represents a measure of quality for the site. The score is determined from quantities indicating user actions of seeking out and preferring particular sites and the resources found in particular sites.

A site quality score for a particular site can be determined by a ratio that represents user interest in the site from search queries directed to the site and user interest in the resources found in the site. The site quality score for a site can be used as a signal to rank resources, or to rank search results that identify resources, that are found in one site relative to resources found in another site.

Need help understanding how your business is affected by PANDA 4.2? Contact one of our digital experts who will be more than happy to help.

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