It is extremely important to know the most important (first) step in starting a business as an entrepreneur.
Are you contemplating the first steps in starting a business right now? It’s important to consider what the first step should be when starting your brand-new business. What is step one? Should it be utilizing creativity, brainstorming business ideas, leasing a workspace, developing your product, making sales, hiring talent, working yourself to the bone? It might be hard to believe but the very first step in beginning your business is hiring a professional marketing/advertising group to help you with every step you will need along the way.
Obtaining a professional marketing/advertising group’s help (from the beginning) is invaluable. There are several points to consider. You must understand why gaining professional marketing help truly is the launch-pad for everything your business will become. You also need to know how to select a worthwhile professional marketing team. Then you need to also know the outcome you deserve and expect. Keeping these ideas locus will ensure that the first-step-process of acquiring a marketing team is a success.
1. Why obtain the help of a professional advertising (marketing) agency?
Successful entrepreneurs understand that doing this first step is very important. They hire a marketing/advertising firm who can handle a wide range of needs from the very beginning, and as a result, they cover their bases. In business, you not only need the classics: a good lawyer, a trustworthy banker, and a great accountant – you must have the marketing bases covered from the beginning. This first step can take quite a bit of homework (and time). Today’s marketing/advertising agencies can meet a wide-range of needs, as they have various teams of experts within their agency. It is said that the main difference between a venture capitalists and an entrepreneur is that VC’s are focused more on the money aspect while entrepreneurs are fixed on the idea of the customer’s willingness to buy (when the value-proposition is best). The latter focuses on a sustained relationship with the investment.
2. How to select the best-fit marketing/advertising team for you.
You must select an agency that knows the ratio of advertising to other marketing tactics. Advertising is only a small portion of what your full-package agency should do for you. They are the ones who must balance the work they perform for you. You must know you will get the attention you need from talented team members of your hired agency (your size should not matter – they must deliver to your marketing needs no matter what). Your agency should know you, your ideas, your objective, and they should support your work. Make sure all who are involved are on board and comfortable with your company mission. They need to know how to size up your competition as well. Make sure the talent within the agency is up to par and has a positive outlook. Of course, vet the work of the agency you decide to go with. Do you like the work? Make sure you see samples of their work: everything from marketing mailers to production video. You will want to be on board with agencies who have grown with their clients versus agencies that merely grow from the constant addition of new clients. You want to know the quality and longevity of work they have performed with their body of clients. What are the stories? How has the history of this agency evolved? Don’t be shy to ask for the agency to make a simple presentation for you. See if the agency focuses on you more than the ad agency perspective more than your perspective. Make sure they’re focus is on strategy – strategy is one of the most important factors. Make sure they speak about marketing and advertising. Watch out for the over-use of humor (humor is nice but this is not the core of what your marketing/advertising will be – you must see more). Make sure the agency does not use humor to replace effective strategy – in order to sell their work. Humor does not make the cut long-term. Make sure they are tracking with current trends – not too forward-thinking that no one can relate, but also make sure the agency has a finger on the current pulse of today’s movements. Go in person and feel the climate of the office – both with employees present and other clients. What is the energy of the office like? Make sure you are impressed. Make sure the work they produce makes you focus on the product, not the advertising. The advertising must be so good that the consumer forgets they are being “sold” – they (and you) should remember the brand/company/campaigns, not the agency’s work. The agency must be the silent army.
3. Know the outcomes and expectations for yourself and the agency before interviewing any advertising agencies. You must have a profound understanding of your customers’ needs and know that they will be met.
This is so that you have an idea of where you are going in order to understand who can get you there. Consider all aspects of marketing that you will need to be met and make sure your agency can deliver: development, service, pricing, distribution of marketing, promotion. Find specific customers that you will cater to before starting your business and know that your agency can 200% reach that target.
Recap:
Once you have completed the three steps above – then you will see sustainable profits begin rolling in. The idea of locating and finding a marketing/advertising agency that can meet all your needs is not an impossible task. The options for this type of service are endless. Be sure to consider the three steps from above: 1) Know why you are obtaining the help of a marketing/advertising agency, 2) Know how to select the best agency for you, 3) Know your desired outcomes before selecting the agency. These three steps are the best way to ensure you do not waste your time, money, and effort as an entrepreneur.
Research and Resources:
Lord, Joanna. “5 Tips for Hiring an All-Star Marketing Team.” Entrepreneur.com, 3 Nov. 2013, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226002
Levinson, Jay Conrad. 2000. 10 Questions to Ask before Choosing an Ad Agency. Inc.com, 13 Sep. 2000, https://www.inc.com/articles/2000/09/20317.html
Levinson, Jay Conrad. 2000. What to Look For in an Ad Agency. Inc.com, 13 Sep. 2000, https://www.inc.com/articles/2000/09/20320.html
Web Site, Expertise. co. “We Looked at 75 Advertising Agencies in Greensboro and Picked the Top 18.” Expertise.com, https://www.expertise.com/nc/greensboro/advertising-agencies.
Article by SANEWBY
