What Does a Creative Agency Do?

Successful marketing requires a full-time effort, but recent stats show that most small businesses dedicate up to two hours a week to promoting themselves. However, most consumers rely on marketing to guide their buying decisions. What does a creative agency do to execute your business’ bright marketing ideas into a brilliant reality? 

What Does a Creative Agency Do for Brands?

Modern marketing involves many facets of promotion, and agencies may have particular specialties and skills. For this reason, a marketing company may prefer to label itself as a design, digital, or ad agency.

A company that wants to endure must think beyond a few successful campaigns that lead to a small boost in sales. The key to long-term success is crafting content and communications that distinguish your brand and draw in the target market.

Creative agencies strategize and develop a well-rounded plan of attack to help companies do more than win short-term sales. Creative agencies aim to achieve genuine influence and build brand loyalty. A creative agency can create a tailored, multi-pronged initiative that allows small and midsized businesses to reach their marketing and business goals.

Who Do Creative Agencies Assist?

A competent, creative agency can work with various types of companies. They may work with a restaurant that wants to spread the word about a new deal or a nonprofit that may want to raise awareness for the plight of an endangered species. 

Here are a few other industries that find value in working with a creative agency:

• Medical offices
• Sports complexes
• Hair salons
• Insurance companies
• Financial institutions
• Real estate agents
• Law offices
• Entertainment and video production houses

Pretty much anyone who wants to connect with an audience can find value in working with a creative agency.

How Does a Creative Agency Differ From Other Marketing Agencies?

Agencies will typically go by different names to highlight their expertise.

Digital Agency

Digital agencies focus on website design, search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, social media management, email campaigns, and more. They can also help with analytics to measure the success of their strategies.

Advertising Agency

You guessed it - the focus of an ad agency is more on advertising. They look at where to place ads and what ads work best for your business. Not all advertising agencies offer comprehensive marketing services.

Design Agency

A design agency will focus on the visual appeal of products for a business.

Social Media Agency

Social media agencies specialize in creating messaging for social platforms. Accomplishing successful messaging requires a range of talents because a company must create pithy written content, scroll-stopping images, and excellent videos.

SEO Agency

An SEO agency helps your website rank highly in online searches. They typically focus their time on keywords and high-quality content that works with the algorithm.

Public Relations Agency 

A PR firm spreads the word about an organization with public messages that are not direct pitches or offers. They often distribute positive messages in media outlets.

Creative Agency

Creative agencies provide a mix of the preceding services, which provides a one-stop shop for marketing and promotion.

What Is a Day in the Life of a Creative Like?

The one thing that remains consistent for a member of a creative agency team is that no day is the same. Here are some of the roles you will find in an agency and what their day may look like.

Art Director

Art directors craft the overall aesthetic for projects. From inception to completion, they guide the project through production and edits to final execution. An art director must have a keen eye and technical acumen to bring a client's vision to life.

A typical day for an art director may involve receiving direction from the creative and managing directors for new concepts and feedback on running projects. The art director will transmit these ideas to an in-house team or work with expert contractors to complete the work. The art director approves the designs and brings drafts to the creative director for review before finalizing.

Director of Search Engine Optimization

An SEO director boosts your website visibility and online presence. This expert reviews site performance and determines how you can optimize your page with relevant keywords and phrases.

SEO directors might start the day reviewing changes in traffic, checking conversion rates, and digging into other metrics. They will then coordinate with their team for tactics to optimize campaigns.

Substantial time goes toward studying the latest industry developments, changes in search engine algorithms, and competitor strategies. When they discover technical SEO issues, they work on rapid fixes.

Account Executive

Account executives focus on building and supporting client relationships. If you're a new client, your first point of contact is often the account executive, who helps you find solutions to your marketing struggles.

The AE may spend the first part of the day finding clients who can benefit from creative agency services. Throughout the day, the AE may also communicate with existing clients to tailor service packages that meet their needs.

Video Producer

A video producer's job involves more than holding up a camera and calling, “Action!” The video producer works in a studio or on location to create the perfect setting. The producer may have to coordinate with multiple individuals to coordinate filming sessions.

After a video is shot, it may require hours for color correction, retouching, and other edits. The video producer also inserts motion graphics and 3D elements to give videos that high-class professional presentation consumers expect.

Managing and Creative Directors

Directors are the team’s leaders. These professionals may have started the agency as a solo or small operation and understand the basics of each assignment and the requirements for a successful campaign.

Managing and creative directors often cut their teeth at larger firms. From their experience, they understand everything that goes into making multimillion-dollar campaigns and can bring that expertise to small and mid-sized businesses.

These directors hire expert specialists to provide enhanced service to clients. Their day might start with a quick team meeting to set objectives and help everyone stay on track. They will review the progress of projects and keep campaigns on schedule. As emergencies arise, these team leaders step in to put the fires out and resolve challenges.

How Does a Creative Agency Help Brands Grow Stronger?

A creative agency aims to make its clients more popular and attractive to their ideal audience. You can expect a creative agency to help you with the following:

• Bring a fresh viewpoint and marketing expertise
• Produce high-quality content worthy of a multinational corporation
• Uncover the best marketing strategies
• Execute marketing plans quickly for faster return on investment

A creative agency helps your company have the presence in the marketplace you desire.

Are You Ready To Discover How a Creative Agency Can Help Your Brand?

Creative agencies help you maximize your marketing budget and efforts by dedicating hours to creating and refining great campaigns. The ROI for a business that wants to take things to the next level is limitless.
What does a creative agency do for your business? If you're ready to find out for yourself, let's talk. EraserFarm is all ears whether you're ready to work on a project now or just want to discuss your plans.

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by James Rosene

What is a Creative Agency? Creative Agencies Explained

Developing long-term relationships with your clients and maintaining their interest in your brand is not easy; it requires patience and work. Marketing plays a significant role in this case: it elevates your brand’s reach and increases the potential value of your goods and services. Creative agencies are crucial in this regard, as they can enable you to implement strategies that ultimately increase profits.

Navigating the world of varying creative agencies to get this support can be tricky. Below, we will comprehensively break down how creative agencies work for you in this article, as well as introduce the major types of creative agencies.

What Is a Creative Agency?

Creative agencies typically offer a range of services that help strengthen a brand’s marketing, ad presence, and overall brand personality. If you require any innovative strategy, work, or publicity, enlisting the services of a creative agency should be your plan of action. While you know your brand and target audience best, a team of creative and marketing professionals is the key to communicating these things most effectively.

These agencies provide strategy-building, content creation, measurement and analysis, and communication services. They comprise a team of experts that can uphold your brand’s needs. This team can include an art director, a creative director, producers, videographers, writers and editors, web designers and developers, and account managers—among other specialists that may make their agency unique.

Types of Creative Agencies

There are a variety of creative agencies you can choose from to cater to your unique requirements:

1. Digital Agency

Businesses can obtain an advantage over their competitors and engage with customers much more effectively by using online methods. A digital creative agency focuses on developing the design and marketing of your products and services available online. They enhance your online presence by creating mobile and web applications that incorporate social media marketing, online ads, and campaigns.

The agency may also focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure your content ranks well in search results. Search engine optimization is a practice where search engines are studied for their algorithms to determine what causes search results to rank higher than others. When these fundamentals are applied to a marketing campaign, the visibility of your brand in searchable online spaces is front and center.

Since they also collect information regarding how well your implemented online campaign is performing, they can guide you on audience engagement, the do’s and don’ts of social media advertisement, and click-through rates.

2. Advertising Agency

This type of agency aims to promote your products and campaigns in a way that stimulates the interest of audiences. A creative advertising agency strategizes to increase your customer pool by attracting new consumers while ensuring that the existing ones remain loyal.

These experts conduct market research, obtaining data regarding the latest trends and brand perception. This allows them to effectively pinpoint placements for created ads and improve brand popularity. They also have connections with media outlets, which makes the advertisement process much smoother for their clients.

3. Design Agency

A design agency’s job is to make products and services look attractive so that they appear much more enticing than their competition in the targeted market. This entails the designs of both digital services and products.

Designers will create style layouts for mobile or web page marketing tools; for example, websites and e-newsletters. Similarly, packaging design is just as vital as your product—the packaging is the first thing that a consumer will see and collect information about the product from. Design firms provide product and packaging designs that make your product look attractive while retaining its functionality and convenience.

Endnote

Running a successful business with the proper marketing strategies requires that you put effort into crafting your content. Working with a creative agency that is friendly, responsive, and aligns with your brand image and values can get you the content you need, while most effectively spreading the word of what your business has to offer.

Investing in this type of partnership ensures your content is created carefully and makes a great impact. Start the discussion today and contact EraserFarm for a consultation with a multifaceted advertising agency dedicated to communicating your brand’s unique personality.

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by James Rosene

How to Create a Winning Brand Strategy for Your Business

I am a huge proponent of brand strategy. Shocking I know. It's a no-brainer yet many clients bypass it. Well, according to research, it takes about 5 to 7 impressions to start creating brand awareness. Every business needs a strong brand that people can easily recognize and relate to. When consumers recognize your brand immediately, they pay attention to ads, recommend your company to others, and become repeat customers if they like your products or services.

Now, with only seven seconds to make the first impression, you need to bring your A-game if you're going to create a winning brand strategy. Here are ways to create a winning brand strategy.

Define Your Brand's Purpose

Your brand's purpose is what it stands for and what it hopes to achieve. It should be something more than making money. Nike, for example, doesn't just make shoes and clothes — they inspire people to be their best selves. Harley Davidson isn't just about motorcycles, they stand for freedom and the open road. Knowing your brand's purpose makes it much easier to create marketing messages that resonate with your target audience. You can also use it as a guideline for your business decisions.

Create a Strong Brand Identity

Your brand identity is what makes your brand unique. It's what people remember about you, even when they can't remember your name or product. Apple is an excellent example of a brand with a strong identity. Their logo, colors, and marketing messages are instantly recognizable to consumers worldwide.And their work, well, it's spectacular, to say the least.

And like them, your brand identity should be consistent across all channels, from your website to your social media profiles to your print materials. Use the same fonts, colors, and logos throughout so that people know they're dealing with your brand.

Create a Strong Brand Personality

Your brand personality is what your brand sounds and feels like. It should be unique, just like your brand identity, and should be reflected in your marketing campaign. For example, Apple's brand personality is sleek, modern, and minimalistic, while Harley Davidson's brand personality is rebellious and edgy. Think about the words you would use to describe your brand and use them to create a voice for your brand.

Develop a Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy is how you plan to reach and engage your target audience. It should include tactics like online advertising, PR, and content marketing. You also need a brand strategy that fits within your larger marketing strategy. It's essential to understand how you're going to reach your target audience every time, not just when it comes time for big campaigns. You can use tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to determine which ad networks are the best match for your brand.

Use Social Media Strategically

Social media is an integral part of any good brand strategy for many businesses. Customers want brands they can engage with in meaningful ways. With the right brand management in place, social media becomes a powerful tool to engage your customers and build brand awareness at the same time. There are plenty of brand management tools out there, so it's just a matter of finding one that fits your brand.

Be Consistent With Brand Messaging Across All Channels

Your brand identity is how you present your brand to the world. Whether you do it through your products, a marketing campaign, or social media. It should be consistently presented across platforms so people can identify it immediately and relate to it easily. If people see different messages on Twitter than they do on Facebook or Instagram, they might not know which brand they represent. Now, most processes are not that easy, and you may need professional help, so hire a brand strategy agency.

Build Brand Loyalty Through Brand Experience

The brand experience is what your customers feel when interacting with your brand. That's whether trying out a product or interacting with customer service online. Brands like Disney and Starbucks have built their success on providing great brand experiences that create loyal customers and raving fans. Your brand experience should be consistent across all channels, from your website to social media profiles to customer service interactions. Every touchpoint matters. Make sure everything aligns with who you are as a brand and what you stand for at every point in the journey.

Create Brand Associations

Brand associations are the images and feelings your brand evokes in consumers' minds. Associations can be positive or negative, but they have to strike a chord with your target audience if you want brand recognition. For example, Old Spice is associated with virility. Dove is associated with nurturing women's self-esteem. Both brands are successful because their brand associations are clear and resonate with their audiences.

Get Brand Reviews From Experts and Existing Customers

Getting brand reviews from experts in your industry plays a significant role in brand recognition. You see, people respect third-party endorsements. They'll be more likely to trust the authenticity of your brand if it's been recommended by an expert they respect. If you don't have any brand reviews yet, ask some of your satisfied customers for recommendations. Use these reviews in future marketing and sales materials and on your promotional channels, website, social media platforms, print materials, etc.

Analyze Your Brand Competition

It's important to know your direct brand competitors because these are the people you're competing with for brand recognition and sales. However, don't stop there. You should also study how other brands in your industry get their message across to determine what works well and what doesn't work at all. If possible, try to get a copy of an annual brand report produced by an industry association or research company. You'll see which brand strategies are working best in your business niche. Compare this data to your brand strategy to see if there are any gaps between where your brand is now and where it needs to be for success.

Measure Brand Success Using Key Performance Indicators

To know if your brand strategy is working, you must track progress and measure it against your goals. You can achieve this by setting up key performance indicators (KPIs) and tracking them over time. KPIs can vary depending on your brand and business. However, common ones might include brand awareness, website traffic, leads generated, or social media engagement. By tracking these metrics regularly, you can see how well your brand strategy is working and make necessary adjustments along the way.

Creating the Best Brand Strategy: Everything You Need

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. A strong brand strategy can help you to connect with your target audience. It'll help you stand out from the competition, and achieve success in today's crowded marketplace. With the tips provided in this guide, you should be able to create a winning strategy. That said, if you need help getting a good brand strategy together, please give us a call, and we'll work together.

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by James Rosene

What Are the Common Types of Digital Marketing?

If you're like us and you run a small business, you know the importance of expanding your customer base and reaching new eyes. Marketing is everything when it comes to business growth, but not enough business owners understand how to make it work for them. While traditional marketing is still useful and you should never toss away your business cards, various types of digital marketing are the way forward.

But what is digital marketing anyway and why the heck is it so important?

Well, digital marketing is any type of marketing that uses digital means to reach customers. Most of the time this marketing comes in the form of internet-based communication and content. We're here to talk about what types of digital marketing are used for marketing a business. So pour yourself a cup of Joe and pull up a chair.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

SEM is the first thing that most people think of when they think about digital marketing. SEM is search engine marketing and it's somewhat of an umbrella term, but in this context, we're using it to mean paid marketing, which is also often referred to as "PPC" or "pay per click" marketing.  Lots of small businesses start out with SEM while they grow the rest of their digital marketing strategy. This means that you should have room in your marketing budget to accommodate routine SEM payments.

Why is it so important? Well when you use SEM, your business's website will appear at the top of search engines by default, but potential customers will know that you've paid for this spot due to the "ad" label. That said, this is still a great way to gain more traffic.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is the king of digital marketing and all business owners should include it in their digital marketing strategy. When you use search engine optimization, you're setting your website up to move up the search rankings. Because many people never venture beyond the first page of Google searches, this is crucial. SEO has many benefits that SEM just can't match. While both are useful, SEO is popular for a reason. When you invest in good SEO, you're setting your website up for a future of success instead of just success at the moment. That SEM will be the stepping stone for your business, but SEO will keep your strategy afloat.

SEO has to do with several things. You need to have an updated and accurate Google My Business page, great keyword use on your site, and valuable information. Many people make the mistake of using bad tactics like "keyword stuffing" (or overusing keywords for SEO purposes instead of useful purposes). This practice can hurt your SEO. This is one of the reasons that it pays off to have a professional. SEO ends up paying for itself over time and you don't have to pay every time you want an ad at the top of the search engine.

Local SEO

Speaking of SEO, local SEO is also important if you're a brick-and-mortar business that's trying to drum up local customers and support. You want to make sure that you're targeting the right people, right? A lot of people, 76% in fact, will visit a business within a day after searching for it on their smartphones. For you to turn up on that smartphone search, you need to utilize local SEO. Local SEO is broken down into several categories and there are several ways to make it work for you. It requires you to use local keywords and have an accurate position on Google Maps. This allows customers to recognize that your business operates out of their town or city. You can also build your local SEO by acquiring backlinks from other local businesses both in and out of your niche. This tends to be a tradeoff between businesses, so this is a great time to talk to local business owners about negotiating an arrangement.

Content Marketing

Content marketing and SEO (local and otherwise) go hand in hand. But what is content marketing? Content marketing is when you utilize blog posts and other valuable content to attract customers and build your SEO. While blog posts were once for people writing personal accounts on Livejournal or filling on food blogs, many businesses now use them as part of their digital marketing strategies. When you use content marketing, you fill your website with valuable keywords. This means that people browsing the web who are looking for a specific service, or even an answer to a question, will come across your page.

When you use content marketing, you'll come off as an expert in your niche, which will help you build customer trust.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has little to do with your website and everything to do with keeping up with social media trends. Everyone knows about social media marketing and how it can contribute to growing a business, but are you taking advantage of it? When you hire a professional for your digital marketing strategy, you'll be able to find and target your ideal audience with social media marketing. For example, if your target audience is made up of millennial women, you may end up focusing on utilizing Instagram because that's where that demographic "lives" on the internet.

While social media marketing contains traditional ads and hashtagged content to attract new people, you can also utilize influencer marketing. Younger audiences tend to prefer this marketing style as they don't respond as well to standard digital ads.

Try These Types of Digital Marketing to Grow Your Business

These are just some of the various types of digital marketing that you can use to help your business grow and thrive. Whether you're using SEM, SEO, or social media marketing (or a combination of the three), you'll discover that your business grows in record time.

So if you need of someone to help out with your digital marketing efforts, EraserFarm has a small, crackerjack team of experts ready, willing and able to help. Contact us and let's get started working together today.

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by James Rosene