Many businesses are looking ahead to 2023 during their fourth-quarter planning, and agencies are no exception. Given fluctuating market conditions over the past few years and fears of a possible recession currently looming, agencies are doing all they can to maintain steady revenue, and getting new projects and initiatives up and running can be a big key to healthy growth, a happy workforce and a thriving business.
Whether they are devising new ways to reach prospects, developing better systems to meet client needs or building out new offerings to diversify revenue streams, many agencies have a lot on their plates during this last quarter of the year. Here, 15 members of Forbes Agency Council each share one exciting item on their agency’s agenda for fourth-quarter planning and how they plan to implement it.
Forbes Agency Council members share exciting items on their agencies’ agendas for fourth-quarter planning.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Producing Informative Videos
We will be looking at producing informative videos not only to drive brand awareness but also to help our target audience better understand SEO and pay-per-click marketing. Implementation will all be done in-house, utilizing the video production, editing and creative skills of various team members. – Amy Catley, Uptime Legal JurisPage
2. Incorporating Play-Based Methodologies
We’re so excited about incorporating play-based methodologies into our creative process. For years, play has been heralded by experts everywhere as integral to a child’s development, which begs the question: Why don’t we do more of it as adults? For the last year, we’ve explored and developed numerous play-based approaches, which we can’t wait to roll out with our clients. – Mike Leon, Brand Heroes Inc.
3. Helping Brands Build A Metaverse Presence
We’re going to start helping brands build a presence in the metaverse. Contrary to what Facebook would have you believe, there are many popular metaverse worlds with millions of active users. It’s only going to get more popular, and the possibilities are endless. – Michael Chagala, Rank Harvest SEO
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4. Launching Our Agency’s YouTube Channel
We just launched our agency’s YouTube channel, an effort that started about a year ago. As a remote company, it took some time to fly our experts in, professionally shoot the videos, edit them and then develop the channel and complete all the initial SEO work. It was well worth the effort—we’re already seeing an effect in traffic and leads, and it’s supporting our hiring efforts. – Patrick Dillon, WISE Digital Partners
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5. Going All In On Funnel Development
The first three quarters of the year were all about streamlining our operations to place us in a better position to massively scale. Now, we are ready to go all in on funnel development, sales and marketing. I am excited to be rolling out additional value-driven offers and experiences, as well as virtual fireside chats and Facebook groups. – Nadya Rousseau, Alter New Media LLC
6. Supporting Employees’ Passions Via Pitch Contests
In March, we announced a new initiative to support individual employee passions. The idea was to have employees pitch their personal business ideas to leadership for insight and feedback. The person who wins will be rewarded with business guidance and receive a 6-month leave to take time to work on the business. This has been an incredible retention tool, and the presentations are this quarter. – Kim Lawton, Enthuse Marketing
7. Helping B2B Brands Simplify Their Messaging Process
We are launching a service that helps B2B brands simplify the process of getting their message house, playbook, evidence bank and spokespersons bench updated and in order, efficiently and effectively, guided by what works editorially. We already do these things, so our first task is to develop collateral that informs existing and prospective clients of our approach, including testimonials. – Richard Cook, Champion Communications Ltd.
8. Building Momentum With International PR Clients
In spite of the current gloomy economic context, companies evolving in the B2B space, especially in the IT sector, are maintaining and even increasing their international PR investments. Media attention is polarized. Continued momentum is the focus for Q4. Our priority is to ensure that the visibility of our clients breaks through the noise by being timely, creative and pertinent. – Florence Giuly-Davis, PR Paradigm
9. Announcing New Offerings And Initiatives
We are formally announcing that we are offering integrated marketing services and are going to be overhauling all of our messaging to reflect this. We will also be looking into, and planning to implement, internship programs, programs to help veterans of the military get integrated into the workforce again, and similar initiatives. – April (Margulies) White, Trust Relations
10. Planning Influencer Campaigns For Christmas
Christmas is a magical time for marketing—especially for influencer marketing. We tend to start planning Christmas campaigns during October to ensure everything is ready ahead of the holidays. We create proposals for brands first and connect them to the best creators for their holiday campaign vision. We start creating the content in October and complete the review stages in mid-November. – Anastasia Cecchetto, Ace Influencers
11. Enjoying In-Person Collaboration
After years of almost all our bigger meetings and events needing to take place 100% online, we are looking forward to the energy that comes out of in-person brainstorms and workshops, both internally and externally. The energy of marketers together in-person can be infectious, and we are looking forward to more of it. – Katie Schibler Conn, KSA Marketing
12. Looking At Social Commerce And Livestream Shopping
We are looking at social commerce and livestream shopping as new marketing channels and great ways to get the attention of the users, increasing revenues and average retention. They have both been successful in China for the past ten years and are slowly expanding into Western countries. Being an influencer marketing agency in the loop of the latest trends, we are excited about this new opportunity! – Alessandro Bogliari, The Influencer Marketing Factory
13. Launching Our First Fanzine
With the inconsistency surrounding hybrid work, the usual past methods to connect with clients have less relevance. In the fourth quarter, we are launching our first fanzine, CLEAN, that steers far away from a hard sell in favor of nostalgic content such as interviews with musicians, new music gear and tech, wine recommendations and favorite recipes—a tactile piece of comms from a music and sound company to disrupt the norm! – Hamish Macdonald, Squeak E. Clean Studios
14. Launching A Bespoke Games Business (And A Great Christmas Party)
Two things: First, we are going to be launching a bespoke games business within our company with its own profit and loss statement and brand. Second, I want to make sure that the team has a really good Christmas party—sounds ridiculous as an agenda point, but with Covid and now the cost-of-living crisis, and a year that has seen people go above and beyond in my company, I want to be able to properly reward them. – Jules Herd, Five in a Boat
15. Gathering As A Company To Plan The Upcoming Year And Celebrate
Quarter four is a great time to gather as a company, celebrate successes and hold planning sessions for the following year. Since the pandemic and the hiring of remote team members, we fly everyone in for a fun-packed annual retreat full of team building, fun dinners (we are in Austin after all), client strategy sessions and a lot of face-to-face connecting. Everyone leaves feeling pumped for the new year. – Maria Orozova, MODintelechy
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
