How agencies can chase success with innovation
Recently, an article asked a group of advertising experts to share their views on the profession’s future. Is it all “gloom and doom”, or is there light at the end of the tunnel?
Most said that agencies need to focus on technology, targeting, and transformation. There is no magic mantra, but constant innovation will lead to greater relevance.
“We need to keep up to find ways to break through,” said Josh Rosenberg, Co-Founder, and CEO, Day One Agency. “Relying on just one tactic or channel won’t work anymore—we’re in a constant need to adapt.”
With that in mind, here are five areas in which agencies can use innovation to stay ahead.
Personalization
Every consumer wants to feel different. They believe their needs are unique. Therefore, advertising agencies should develop innovative ways to personalize their offerings further. There needs to be an omnichannel solution provider with the agencies to gather and segregate all this data according to the needs.
Advances in technology and number-crunching are making this possible in exciting new ways. As a result, agencies can fine-tune strategies to move from the basic segmentation of e-mails and other digital communication.
With better analytics and the use of sentiment analysis tools, the nature of consumers and their specific preferences can be catered to. Going further, agencies can leverage trends in virtual reality to create personal experiences even when consumers are not online – from driving a car to trying on new clothes.
For example, AI-driven tools can offer product experiences in different environments.
Testing and learning
A significant advantage of digital marketing is testing and recalibrating campaigns based on feedback. With the correct application of data science, hypotheses can be tested to see how far they work.
With Big Data, agencies can transform insights into actionable plans. You can get actionable insights for winning strategies to prove more vital points to the clients with accurate data and insights. Through data-driven tests, agencies can develop proven, powerful campaigns.
Agencies can then convert insights into actionable plans. With Big Data, even gut instincts can be checked and tested. Clients can be reassured that strategies and campaigns have been tested in the field before a big-budget rollout. Through data-driven tests, agencies can develop proven, powerful campaigns.
Unified experiences
According to new research, today’s customers connect with brands over 20 channels through social listening and monitoring on an average. They anticipate that their experience will be consistent across all of these.
This is where agencies can innovate to identify and track brand journeys for a practical omnichannel experience. Data can point to which parts of the omnichannel journey to emphasize.
The challenge is to unify consumers’ data, given their identities across digital platforms. The use of social media chatbots has been highly effective in improving the customer experience. It’s important not to let technology dictate terms but to combine them with value and insight.
Customer engagement
The agency that understands the brand’s consumers better and can exceed customer expectations will have the upper hand. Effective customer engagement leads to meaningful bonds with the client. There are advanced brand monitoring tools which continiously monitor the brands mention on the web.
The agency that understands the brand’s consumers better and can exceed customer expectations will have the upper hand. Effective customer engagement leads to meaningful bonds with the brand.
There are many new ways and possibilities of engagement. For example, agencies can employ strategies and tools to drive greater collaboration, close feedback loops, and dig deeper into expectations. Social media management, personalization, and segmentation are some ways to do this.
There are many new ways and possibilities of engagement. For example, agencies can employ strategies and tools to drive greater collaboration, close feedback loops, and dig deeper into expectations. Social media management and hashtag analysis are ways to do this.
There are other areas in which innovation can add value. For example, AI can track consumer sentiments to provide granular assessments of what works and what doesn’t.
Partnership solutions
The best agencies find ways to offer their clients unique solutions based on a healthy partnership. Often, innovation is ignored in building such partnerships.
There could be new ways to measure goals and challenges, such as genuinely effective online reputation management and competitive benchmarking analysis. Then, using consumer insight analysis tools, agencies can innovate to develop products, services, or retail solutions that go beyond advertising.
For starters, there could be new ways to measure goals and challenges, such as online reputation management and competitive benchmarking analysis. Then, using consumer insight analysis tools, agencies can innovate to develop products, services, or retail solutions that go beyond advertising.
Though the proper use of data and technology is vital, the role of innovative ideas is no less critical. It’s crucial to find ways to get real-time insights, find the right consumer engagement platform, and much more.
It’s said that change is the only constant. In our time, there are more changes than ever before. Innovation is the one quality that advertising agencies have to depend upon if they want to thrive.
