CEO of Agency Management Institute, serving 250+ marketing agencies to help their owners build profitable agencies that evolve and scale.
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As an agency owner, you’re likely feeling better about the pandemic now that vaccines are readily available. And you’re not alone: Many small businesses are more optimistic about their futures now than they were in February. Things are finally picking up after more than a year of quarantining and social distancing, and there are plenty of opportunities for your agency to capitalize on moving forward.
Just make sure you fully understand what’s changed post-Covid-19. For instance, people are looking to connect with brands on a more human level after being isolated. But brand humanization means that consumers are holding your clients to higher standards. In fact, 84% of consumers believe brands are responsible for their employees’ well-being, and 74% believe they should be more sustainable.
Just ask WeatherTech, the car mat maker that produced two Super Bowl 2021 ads that didn’t reference its products at all. Instead, both commercials featured real employee stories. If your agency’s efforts don’t humanize your clients, then you won’t see success in the post-pandemic era.
Following society-shaking events, it’s important to get a lay of the land so that you know what’s here to stay, what’s on its way out and what questions need to be asked. Here are my predictions for what else you can expect to encounter in 2021 and beyond:
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1. A Focus On Talent Retention
In an economic downturn, it’s easier to find and hire qualified, talented employees at reasonable costs. Everyone is eager to get back to work and land something stable. But the job market pendulum will inevitably swing back to the other side when things start looking better, making it more difficult (and pricey) for companies to acquire new employees.
That’s why now is a good time to reconsider your agency’s talent acquisition and retention strategy. No blank check will keep employees around if they want to leave. Instead, focus on defining what’s valuable for employees at your agency, whether it’s your bonus structure, perks, learning opportunities, culture, flexible work schedule or mentorship. Homing in on what makes your agency a great place to work will help you retain and engage employees in the long term.
2. A Rebound Of In-Person Marketing
Before the pandemic, experiential marketing had been on the rise, but it nosedived after March as the U.S. began to quarantine. Now that things are going back to normal, I believe experiential marketing will pick up where it left off. Covid-19 was merely a stop sign, not a roadblock, for the $11 billion industry.
A lot of reputable events are going hybrid as they ease back to in-person experiences. The Mobile World Congress trade show bounced back with a hybrid option this past June, and the Consumer Technology Association is planning to turn its January 2022 CES conference into a hybrid event. As an agency, you’ll want to prepare for clients who are interested in hosting safe, in-person events for interaction-hungry customers.
3. An Increase In Cause Marketing
Communities and brands around the world supported one another during the global lockdown, and this furthered people’s awareness of the importance of environmental, social and corporate responsibility. Now more than ever, consumers are looking for brands to support the causes they care about. As an agency owner, you need to help clients figure out what they care about and how they can involve their customers.
For example, Avon has done amazing work to raise awareness for breast cancer. The cosmetics company selected a single cause to support that reflected its customer base in 1992 and has since invited its employees, salespeople and customers to join the movement. In India, Avon’s 2018 “Pay Attention” campaign reached more than 1 billion people.
4. More Collaboration Between Sales And Marketing
Sales and marketing departments have historically functioned in silos. But as jobs and roles continue to blur in the wake of the pandemic, it’ll be hard to keep them separate if you want to see success. Cross-departmental collaboration is the future of working.
Right now, a lot of clients need more sales, so it’s vital that you find a way to step over the line between sales and marketing. How can you build out clients’ pipelines? Can you help create sales enablement programs? Brands only have so much money after an economic downturn, which is why you’ll want to track your work back to revenue outcomes and find ways to prove returns on investment.
5. Additional Embedded Employees
Many agencies are using the embedded employee model, where an agency employee “embeds” into a client’s firm. If you haven’t explored it yet, then you should. It can give your agency opportunities to interact with other departments in a client’s firm, which can help you provide better value and discover whether there are other departmental marketing budgets you can tap into.
There aren’t many downsides to this model, especially considering how it can increase your adjusted gross income and increase client loyalty. The only tricky thing is to make sure you’re embedding the right employees (i.e., people who are savvy enough to understand the nuances and opportunities of the role).
The pandemic and resulting lockdown may have paused some of your agency’s efforts and activities. But now that the world is recovering, you’ll have to quickly get a lay of the land so that you can capitalize on post-pandemic opportunities and advantages.
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Author: Drew McLellan, Forbes Councils Member
