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Are Business Consulting Firms Encroaching on Your Marketing Agency’s Turf? Beat ‘Em Back!

By Deborah Kurfiss, Umbrella Content Marketing Director on Jan 3, 2022

Here we are, another year. This is the time to gather your resources, reanalyze your strategies and make the tactical changes necessary to optimize your marketing agency’s success.

As you plan for 2022, you will want to take into account that business consulting firms are increasingly taking on roles traditionally played by marketing agencies.

Whether you use white label digital marketing services or not, we strongly suggest you continue to read this article to find out how to best handle this relatively recent competitive threat.

Business Consulting Firms Are Trying to Push You Out

Business consulting firms used to only identify problems, develop strategic solutions and have a stop date for their services aside from perhaps periodic checkups. Perhaps they launched some tactical changes before handing the ball over to the client company. But now, it’s not unusual for a business consulting firm to remain for the long haul to take over many or even all aspects of a client company’s marketing day-to-day and year round.

In some cases, big business consulting firms such as Deloitte are not only expanding their long term marketing services, but they are actually buying up marketing agencies and bringing them under the consulting firm’s roof.

We all know the times are challenging. It can be tough to get marketing work from certain segments right now. It’s not time to sit back and let others take your business. Make no mistake. Business consulting firms are in the cat bird seat to suggest new programs and make increasing inroads into client companies.

If this trend is not putting you on full alert, you just aren’t paying attentions. There was a time your agency might have actually enjoyed benefits from the activities of business consulting firms. They may even have hired your agency to perform some marketing tasks for the programs they developed.

Now, instead of paying outside marketing agencies, many business consulting firms are buying agencies and keeping the profits inhouse rather than outsourcing.

But what can marketing agencies do to stop the invasion?

 It’s time to take the gloves off.

Look Up from the Trees to See the Forest

Digital marketing has created huge waves of change in the marketing industry. At one point, marketing was primarily driven by creativity. Though that’s still important, today the main drivers are data and analysis. This has opened a door for business consultants to offer their own solutions and continuing marketing services.

Traditionally, marketing agencies have focused on messaging, branding and design, while business consultants have focused on solving problems that are stumbling blocks to success and profits.

It’s time to look up from specific marketing assignments and consider your client’s business as a whole. You don’t need to turn your marketing agency into a business consulting firm to compete (unless you truly have that background and those abilities). But it may be wise to widen your horizons.

Think harder and more outside the box about how you can help clients solve problems affecting their bottom lines. What other areas of marketing would support your core areas of expertise and make your efforts more effective?  Look for areas that make sense as extensions. For example, if you offer website design, you might want to also consider offering SEO and content development services.

If you don’t relish the idea of hiring more people and overseeing new services, you can have your cake and eat it too by hiring a white label digital marketing services agency. It beats leaving your client to look further afield for a more full-service provider.

Monitor Your Client’s Progress – and that of Their Competition

In order to help one of your clients beat their competition, first you must understand their competition and their market. How does your client compare to their competition? What are the opportunities they have not grasped, opportunities where your marketing agency can be of service?

It’s important to monitor a client’s marketing activities. But it’s just as important to monitor the marketing activities and digital performance of their competition.

You may not have the tools and expertise to measure the performance of a client and benchmark it against their competition. But you need to track a variety of metrics to get the whole picture, metrics that go beyond traffic and click-through rates.

White label digital marketing services can provide you with this needed expertise as well as the tool set. To compete, you need to know the whole picture.

Keep Abreast of Marketing Trends

Now that marketing is focused so heavily on the digital, changes are more fast-paced than ever before. You just can’t rest on your laurels. You need to stay on top of marketing and industry trends. You must recognize what is an important trend your clients need to jump on and what is a passing fancy.

If you are not keeping up on trends, you are unlikely to recognize marketing opportunities to help your clients grow. Sound marketing strategies must be built on information and sound projections.

Use Integrated Marketing to Optimize Effectiveness and Improve the Customer’s Journey

To improve your client’s profitability, you will want to offer multiple marketing services so

  • Customers will see the same message in various channels, each exposure supporting the others
  • Customers will have an enjoyable, seamless journey to the sale

This means integrating your marketing. Social media, the client’s website, advertising, direct marketing and all other marketing areas should be in harmony and support the same message. Sure, there will be specific campaigns. But they should all support the primary message. And the more you can employ various channels on a campaign, the more successful it is likely to be.

Once again, you do not need to change the focus of your agency. You can use white label digital marketing services to expand your offerings.

Improve Your Client Communication and Reporting

Good communication with clients has always been important, but today it I s absolutely critical in order to

  • Show them reports that transparently demonstrate both your successes and what is not working
  • Solicit your client’s questions, concerns and changing goals

If monitoring campaigns and producing informative reports is not your strong point, there is help for that as for all areas of digital marketing.

Bolster Your Brand

When we advise you to think beyond your current marketing silo, we do not mean to give up what sets you apart as experts. Rather, look to how your expertise can solve the company’s problems and what services you can add with outsourcing that will support your brand.

It is more important than ever to recognize and communicate what strengths, areas of expertise and services set you apart from other agencies and business consulting firms that are trying to poach your territory.

Competing Heading into the Future

To continue to succeed, it’s necessary to adjust to changing conditions. Keep in mind that your clients are concerned primarily with their bottom lines and growth. Strategize to provide them with services that will help them succeed.

You don’t need to do it all yourself. Look for the best marketing services reseller platform you can find to provide services outside your core offerings.

Contact Umbrella for a free consultation about white label digital marketing services and start the new year right.

 

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