SPONSORED: Taking a different approach to market

Internet Retailing

15th Nov 2016

Continuous thinking and evolving outside the square is the only way to truly stand out in a competitive marketplace. This is the case in any industry, no matter the product or service.

Of course, branding and marketing ultimately is and always has been driven by attracting customers and having them buy your product or service. Agencies, whether branding, advertising or digitally focused, are hired to help clients achieve this. But delivery of service and support has certainly transformed over the past ten to 15 years.

The old model was largely reactive, where an agency would wait for instructions from the client as to what they wanted. Or an agency would quote on elements that suited them and their services, rather than tailored to the client’s actual needs.

In today’s globalised, digitalised world, clients have very different expectations of agencies. Savvy clients today are looking for more client-and-conversion focused services to help grow their business; to work as a team with an agency that provides all the services (and is flexible or nimble enough to offer more or less, tailored to the client’s needs).

Emote Digital, in Melbourne’s Hawthorn, decided some time ago that offering three services – branding, design and website creation – was just part of the bigger picture. When clients went back to work and tried to turn their new logo or website into conversions, they dealt with multiple competing voices including SEO companies and advertising agencies. Usually this becomes a blame game that confuses and messes up key messages and outcomes.

This is where Emote Digital, as part of the Big Picture Group of companies, including branding agency Bellman, reworked its offering to be media neutral and to cover every channel from branding right through to pay per click. There are no competing elements, as everything from branding and logo design, to web design and digital marketing, is geared towards making a client’s business stand out and win.

The model offered by Emote Digital encompasses the experience of an agency, but it goes further with a dedicated marketing team at a client’s fingertips. Every campaign is unified and speaks with one voice.

Boyd Roberts, director of the Big Picture Group, says the freedom of unifying a campaign across multiple areas strengthens and amplifies the client’s message, as well as cutting their in-house marketing costs.

“We cost and charge everything up front so every client knows exactly what they are getting,” Roberts says, adding that clients have the freedom to try, cherry-pick and work with the team to tailor solutions.

Roberts says, “In fact we took the decision to lower our prices to offer a competitive and comprehensive, holistic service covering design right through to social media marketing, to small-to medium businesses. There are no lock-in contracts. We are fully accountable with measurable, regular and transparent reporting that highlights exactly what campaign has worked and what needs improvement.

“Once a client has accepted our services, the sky’s the limit to what we will do for them,” Roberts says. “No more waiting for a client to get approval from those higher up for another hour or two of work, or going backwards and forwards on prices. This is a seamless approach that promotes efficiency, creativity and fluidity of service, and cuts out scope creep.”

Now that an agency has taken the steps to offer a full suite of expert services – services that combine to work holistically towards conversions and results – from a team of in-house experts, with no contracts or surprise costs, it’s safe to say that a new phase in client/agency relations has been reached.