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This presentation shows how advertising agencies and other professional services firms can stand for something instead of trying to stand for everything.
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Your agency in 30 seconds The four questions that define agency positioning strategy Presented by Tim Williams ignition consulting group www.ignitiongroup.com
The “red ocean” of agency claims We’re full service! We’re integrated! We have a wide range of experience! We’re creative! We’re strategic! We’re nimble! We’re media neutral! We’re dedicated! We’re your marketing partner! We assign only senior people! We get results! We’re fun! What makes us different?
CONFIRMATION BIAS “Our offering is highly differentiated.” Percent of company executives who agree: 80% Percent of customers who agree: 8%
“I wish that the agencies would stick to what they are good at. They try to do everything, and they would be better served to narrow their focus. You can’t do everything, and if you try to do everything, you do nothing. It drives me crazy when the agency is trying to pitch you every single service available.” WHAT CLIENTS THINK
“The common failing among agencies seeking new business is their inability or unwillingness to name what they stand for.” Bob Lundin WHAT CONSULTANTS THINK
“Telling an effective agency brand story should be easy for companies that are in the business of telling brand stories, right? I can tell you, after perusing many an agency website, that fewer than you’d think have figured it out. Very few take stands. All this has made the agency landscape feel too flat and featureless, and that is exacerbating the commoditization of the business.” Matt Creamer Advertising Age WHAT THE PRESS THINKS
How would a prospect find your agency in a Google search? “full service advertising agency”
THE COMPLEXITY TAX Focus Diversification Complexity 60 PRODUCT CODES (SKUs) 15,000
“I’m more proud of what we haven’t done than what we have done.” Steve Jobs Apple
Full service doesn’t scale ① There’s really no such thing as “full service” ② Clients don’t hire you for “everything” but for something. ③ “Full service” simply doesn’t scale
Focus does scale ① People, competencies, and systems constantly improve. ② Time and money are directed toward a coherent strategy. ③ Expertise can be deployed across a large client base. ④ Alignment between your strategy and day-to-day decisions.
Benefits of focus Fear of focus ① Clear criteria for identifying the types of clients who want you for what you do best. ② A stronger win ratio in new business, because you’re playing to your strengths. ③ Clear hiring standards for the kind of people you need to deliver on your strategy. ④ A self-promotion program based on a meaningful, unifying theme. ⑤ More pricing leverage because you’re offering more differentiated services. ⑥ A clearer direction for how you should spend your limited time and resources.
You can be good at something, but you can’t be good at everything
Positioning = Deciding what not to do “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” Michael Porter Harvard Business School
Positioning = Deciding what not to do Source: Jan Rivkin, Harvard Business School
Positioning = Curating “What makes a great museum is the stuff that’s not on the walls.” Seth Godin
Positioning =Letting your clients outgrow you “Companies need to be true to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with changing needs.” Jason Fried 37 Signals
Positioning =Letting your clients outgrow you
Positioning =A reliable way to repeat success
Positioning =A reliable way to repeat success
Positioning = Letting clients outgrow you “Companies need to be true to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with changing needs.” Jason Fried 37 Signals
A.G. Lafley CEO, Procter & Gamble “A business strategy is about deciding where to play, and how to win.”
Three Main Models Today’s clients use to work with agencies
1. Best-of-Breed Model Client YOUR FIRM IN 30 SECONDS
Top reasons clients search for a new agency ① Desire to focus on best-in-class specialists ② Lagging business results ③ Creative failed to perform as expected ④ Agency’s failure to update capabilities ⑤ Creative differences ⑥ Lack of team chemistry ⑦ Poor service ⑧ Agency’s poor project management ⑨ Agency’s lack of cost efficiency ⑩ Agency’s lack of desire to facilitate integration Source: Millward Brown Study on Agency New Business
“We are seeing a shift in the competitive dynamic from the primacy of integrated solution shops, which are designed to conduct all aspects of the client engagement, to modular providers, which specialize in supplying one specific link in the value chain.” Clayton Christensen Harvard Business School Author and leading thinker on disruptive innovation
“Marketing organizations traditionally have been populated by generalists, but particularly with the rise of social and digital marketing, a profusion of new specialist roles are emerging.” Keith Weed, CMO, Unilever Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van den Driest, Effective Brands
AOR Agency of Record AOC Agency of Collaboration
2. Single Source Model Agency Client
3. Service Integrator Model Lead Agency Client
3. Service Integrator Model Brand Agency Leader
Best-of-Breed Firms “Generalist” Firms AGENCY FOCUS CLIENT SIZE Larger national clients Smaller regional clients
+ Has higher fees + Has broader market area + Has fewer competitors Power is with the specialist.
NARROW is not the same as small
The four questions that define positioning strategy What we do Who we do it for How we do it Why we do it
Your positioning strategy in 30 seconds For (Who) ___________________________ We (What) ___________________________ By (How) ___________________________ Because (Why) _______________________
What What are our core competencies? In which areas are we truly best in class? Areas of exploration ¡ Services we offer ¡ Skills we possess ¡ Communications channels we know ¡ Customer points of contact we know ¡ Strategic assets we own ¡ Value chains we know ¡ How and where customers buy our client’s brands ¡ Outcomes are clients are seeking ¡ Client benefits we deliver
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Examples of positionings based on What we do
Who is our best customer? What markets or audiences do we know best? Areas of exploration ¡ Categories we know ¡ Distribution and delivery channels we know ¡ Internal and external stakeholders we know ¡ Audiences and market segments we know ¡ Types of brands we know
Examples of positionings based on Who we do it for TYPE OF CATEGORY TYPE OF AUDIENCE TYPE OF BRAND