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WHY USE A MARKETING AGENCY?

You have a product or service and you’d like to let people know about it, and pay for it, and you are left with the decision of how to do this.

There are many considerations here; Who are your customers?  Where are they?  Why should they use your product or service?  What will entice them to choose you over your competitors?  What logo and branding is appropriate for your business?  What are your competitors spending on advertising and how is it working out for them?

There are many more questions of which I’m sure you are aware, and I could easily fill this blog with a list of relevant questions which need to be answered before you come with a suitable marketing and promotions strategy.

This blog is aimed at the pros and cons of using an advertising/marketing agency, and doing it yourself.

“Time is money”

This seems to be an obvious statement, but the more time you spend on the marketing and promotional strategy, the less you are spending on the day to day running of your business. 

In some cases, when starting from scratch with no budget or guaranteed income to speak of, going it alone is often your only choice.  However, those with a budget at their disposal should be looking at the quality time spent in return for what they get out of it.  For example, here at Matrix Advertising Group I could spend two days working on a graphic design for a client, alternatively I could hand the brief over to our graphic designer who will have the logo designed to a professional standard, usually within the a few hours. Of course I will always hand this over to our graphic designer as this is where his expertise lies, which leads us nicely to our next topic…

Where does your expertise and interest lie?

People often set up a business because they have a passion for their chosen profession.  If you are a baker, then cakes pies and pasties are your passion.  If you are an accountant – numbers.  If you are a traffic warden - self defence and a penchant for living life dangerously.

Few people set up a business because their passion and skill lies in marketing and advertising, unless of course they have set up a marketing and advertising company, like I did back in 2001.

A marketing and advertising agency completely removes the guess-work in which ways to best promote your business.  They will do all the background research on who your competitors are; the best way to entice, educate and engage your potential clientele; all design work and campaign planning, and of course the right choice of advertising media to use.  

Where to advertise, when, for how long, and to achieve what purpose are all responsibilities taken on by a dependable marketing and advertising company.

Media buying

A quick note that may also help you make that informed decision media buying.

Media buying, as the name suggests, is how much you will be charged to book space or time on a radio or television station, printed media i.e. newspapers or outdoor advertising to name a few of the major players.

In almost all cases it will always be significantly cheaper for a reputable agency to book in your promotion than for you to go to the supplier direct.  This is because the agencies give those relevant media partners so much work in terms of clients’ bookings that they receive in general two distinct advantages:

1.     An agency discount (an average or around 15%) for every separate booking that is made for a client.  The agency receives a commission from the media partner which is a set percentage taken off the overall price of the booking.  Some agencies use some of this commission to give back to the client so they are receiving better value, others however will charge you for their services.  In this respect it’s best to do your research.

2.     Different agencies will receive better base rates for the media partner in the first instance without having to use their own agency commission to give a ‘kick back’ to the client, this also depends on how well established the agency is and their relationship with the media partners themselves.

There are many agencies out there, so as not to be purely self promoting here, I have listed a few who you might want to try.  Ok there are us www.matrixadvertisinggroup.co.uk full service marketing design and advertising agency.  Please visit the site let us know if we can help you.

Some other agencies you might like to try: Push Creative, Mercury Marketing, Jukebox Marketing, Stark Hartley Marketing and Virgo Consultancy.


If you have any questions we'd love to hear from you.  Please email us at info@matrixadvertisinggroup.co.uk or call us on 0191 4551222 and we'd be happy to assist in any way we can.

Like to pay too much for Google advertising?

Ok... I'd like to talk to you today about something which boils my blood a bit.

As a business owner it is entirely likely you will have been contacted by a company offering you top places on Google when people are looking on the internet for your product or sevice.

Be very wary............

I'm not saying all companies are scams but there are alot out there with reputable websites, official company numbers etc mainly targetting people who have little or no knowledge on SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

Some things to look out for......

If they say they are partners with Google..... you know something is up straight away. Google do not take partners in that way, they dont need to, never have, and I cant see it happening in the foreseable future.

When they say they are dealing with the natural search engine ranking positions, get that in writing, because it's probably not true either..... what they are talking about is the sponsored links which are the grayed out areas at the top and generally down the right hand side of the page.

In general people only take notice of the natural listings, as the websites are perceived to be there purely from merit, and as such possibly less of a risk when employing them to provide you with a product or service.

This is not to say that sponsored links do not work, they absolutely do, provided it is done in the right way with the right product or service and this is the bit that boils my blood a bit........

At Matrix Advertising Group we took on a client who had been charged over £1000 for search engine optimization work, it didnt work for them but they were held to a contract and ended up spending alot of money and nearly going bust...... they were told they could pick 5 key phrases, and .... if those key phrases were typed into google then hey presto they would be at the top of the Google list. .....

the bits they didn't make clear....... the phrases were local phrases, you know ... instead of dog walking, or even dog walking north east, it was dog walking in west denton, very local!! .....

this means that if no one types in the phrase 'dog walking in west denton' word for word then they will not be seen in Google.

Now the way pay per click ... or Google Adwords work is a phrase is worth more money the more popular it is so ... taking the above example 'Dog walking', is worth alot more than 'Dog Walking in west denton' so when someone clicks on your advert which links directly to your site Google charge you for that click or if another company is doing this for you Google charge that company likewise.

The charge can be anything from £0.01p upward depending on how popular the phrase is ....... going back to this company mentioned above they spent well in excess of £2000 for something which in reality should have cost them less than £35.

If you have any nightmare stories with SEO companies please let me know, or if you need any help, as always I'll do my best to answer your questions.

If you'd like to check out my site please do :

http://www.matrixadvertisinggroup.co.uk/

Considering Radio Advertising? .... Some Helpful Hints

Radio Works, but......... not for all businesses....... It has to be done in the right way to avoid spending an awful lot of money for little return on investment.

The first thing to realise is that there is a difference between 'Call To Action' (enticing a listener to utilize your product or service) and 'Brand Awareness' (Familiarising people to your company in a way that will enhance future sales).

Often for a new radio user, if they are using radio as a single medium your first few weeks serves as a Brand Awareness tool, setting the foundations for a Call To Action message later on. So many people I have met have created a brand awareness, but hoped for a call to action; and because there was relatively few sales they assume that they have not had a significant enough return on investment and therefore stop...... this is the time often where all they need is a change of creative and a specific call to action message.

It is not very often I will advise a company to use radio as a single medium, rather compliment it with complimentary media such as press, leaflet, or outdoor advertising, this has to be very focused and targeted, its not something I'll not go into great detail on here because it is very bespoke to the business in question and the services / products being offered (not only that, it is far more cost effective often to cross media advertise).

Often business owners will try to evaluate what works for them and what does not, simply by asking their customers how they came to call upon that company, and they may say things like ' i saw a leaflet' or ' i heard it on the radio' or simply 'On the Internet somewhere'

This method however industrious is flawed and a basic understanding of psychology and cross media advertising can help greatly in these circumstances.....

for instance..... your average leaflet drop has an effectiveness of 0.79 of 1%, which isn't that great, as soon as you add radio into the mix, the chances are, as well as increasing brand awareness and radio working in its own right, it is hugely influential in promoting the effectiveness of the leaflet itself.....

....meaning when a customer is asked 'how did you hear about us?' the client answers 'Oh, i responded to a leaflet that came through my door' ..... this in all probability if only a half truth, what actually happened is they have heard the radio ad on a number of occasions, and as long as the creative was up to scratch that person who.. in all probability would have binned the leaflet has decided instead to at least read the leaflet and call the business in question.

Post me with any questions and I'll do my best to answer them or log onto www.matrixadvertisinggroup.co.uk

Thanks, Paul

Marketing and Advertising Advice?

Okey Dokey, If you are a small to medium sized enterprise and would like some marketing or advertising advice, could be how much you should expect to pay for a particular advertising medium or if that medium would work for you, or mabye a strategy question..... send us a message, free unbias advice, if we can help we will.

National Cupcake Week

So as to enhance and advertise the absolute integrity of national cupcake week, Matrix Advertising Group has issued belgian chocolate muffins to all its key staff.