Marketing agencies have the unenviable task of managing competition, which is often fierce. The rise in digital media has led to the mushrooming of several niche marketing agencies, leading to a situation where only the smartest tend to thrive. However, if you are smart enough, handling competition shouldn't be all that hard.
In this article, let us take a look at 7 tricks which can help you learn how to deal with competitors in business.
What initially started as a software development method has now evolved into a management style and business philosophy. Agile techniques focus on continuous iteration, feedback, and constant evolution of projects based on feedback. When you begin to approach your marketing projects with an agile philosophy, you will always be on the edge and ensure that your projects are completed to the satisfaction of your clients.
Seek your client's feedback and constantly evolve their marketing projects depending on various Expert tip: Spend time learning about agile methodology, and how it can help marketing agencies.Forbes recently published a post regarding agile marketing's advent and revolution.
A number of agencies are saturated with projects and reach a plateau of sorts. They just can't scale anymore, nor can they deliver the way they used to previously. This is because, they may not have enough manpower to handle all the projects, and may not have the financial resources to hire more. Follow the principle of minimalism in everything that you do, and take up projects only if you like them, and are sure that you can finish them in time. A minimalist approach will put your agency far ahead of your competitors.
Expert tip: Learn about the minimalist approach, which will help your agency to get lean and mean. This Neil Patel article describes the 6 laws of minimalist marketing.
You simply cannot beat competition without understanding your competitor's strengths and weaknesses. You will also need to have hard data about their strategies, their approach to projects, and other such details. Competitor analysis helps you to understand your playing ground better, so that you are well-prepared to take your service to the next level. Implementing competitor analysis should be an integral part of your overall business strategy.
Expert tip: Seek the help of specialized agencies that are great at competitor analysis. Read this article to understand what competitor analysis is.
One way to make sure that you rival your competitors is to find your niche. If you know yourself as an agency well, you will be able to find skills that you are especially good at. Such skills Amy help you find your niche. On the other hand, your way of project handling and customer service can provide you a niche too. Implement minimalism, agile marketing, and focus on getting leaner and meaner to develop a niche and stick to it.Expert tip: A niche project management strategy will help you to add that special oomph to a regular project.
This article rightly points out that niche marketing doesn't actually exist, but is created smartly by identifying customer/client needs.
Identify the core strategies that make you special, and the reason why clients keep coming back to you. Most marketing agencies have strengths that they know are for theirs to keep. Focus on shaping and strengthening these strengths. Non-strategic activities like blog writing, SEO, Google ADWords, etc can be handled by a trusted partner. Do not spend time on non-strategic activities because that will stop you from putting your arsenal against your competitors.Expert tip: Brainstorm to identify what accounts as a non-core strategy in your company.
Check out this LinkedIn article by Alif Bharmal to identify your core and non-core activities.
Source: Core versus Non Core Activities
Being imaginative and creative are the fundamental qualities of a marketing agency. Not only do you need creativity to run campaigns, but also to handle competitors. Encourage creative thinking at work, and ask your employees to brainstorm for creative marketing ideas regularly. In fact, brainstorming is a part of agile marketing technology, and when implemented correctly, can help you deal with competitors efficiently.Expert tip: To make your marketing tricks go to the next level, make creativity a priority.
An often forgotten or ignored trick is to invest in relevant technology. This may involve purchasing better design software, or fixing those old MacBooks that your employees are sluggishly using. Go for a technology upgrade and observe how quickly productivity increases as well. After all, right technology is one of the most important weapons to beat the competition.Expert tip: Do not automate everything in a frenzy, as that will harm you in other ways.This article lists the pros and cons of marketing automation.
Find the right mix
To beat the competition and implement your creative marketing ideas and marketing tricks, you need to be patient and have a long-term vision. Most importantly, you will need to invest in competitor analysis to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of your rivals. In addition, get external help with non-core strategy tasks, so that you do not expend all your resources on less important tasks. In short, find the right mix that will help your agency to build on your core activities, and become a leaner organization. Get Free Consultation from a Digital Expert" .
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