According to a recent article in The Business Journal, Florida marketing agencies have three primary personas for buyers of integrated marketing services: the strategist, the producer and the implementer.
The article suggests that clients who have a confident sense of self as it relates to which persona they actually are will have better luck identifying a partner agency with which to work.
For example, the strategist is looking for a strategic partner, someone who can collaborate and challenge the status quo. By comparison, the producer persona only seeks to generate results.
That type of company seeks specific ROI reporting and wants its agency to provide maximum value for the investment. Finally, the implementer persona is one where the buyer wants the agency partner to complete a specific task or set of tasks.
Each persona offers a unique relationship between the marketing partners.
For example, one former client retained my firm to perform a complete communications audit of their PR program and provide recommendations. This is the “diagnose and prescribe” model. For all intents and purposes, we were their communications “physician” and we prescribed a course of treatment that enabled them to achieve the coverage they desired. This is the “strategist” model.
We had another client who hired us to generate a certain volume of thought leadership content and case studies for them each month. In this “producer” model, our agency served as an extension of their team, giving them the necessary bandwidth to produce the volume of content they needed to boost their SEO and serve as fodder for their own internal media relations team.
In another case, we were hired to perform trade media relations for a major power tools brand. They had the plan in place and just needed our help implementing the plan to drive media coverage within the trades.
In my experience, I’ve found that an Florida marketing agencies like BUILT Marketing Strategies, which offers director-level talent and can provide full-service agency capabilities within a boutique-sized agency, is best matched with the strategist persona – a chief marketing officer, VP of marketing, communications director, or similarly titled marketing or communications executive, who is looking for a partner to help complement skills they may have in-house. We’re able to be an effective executive-level resource for senior marketers and business owners. When utilized effectively, we are then able to leverage paid, earned, owned and shared media through our advertising, public relations, digital and creative services in ways that help our clients tell their stories in new ways.