30dps Blog

We are sometimes asked "What type of agency are you?" It's always a bit of an awkward moment, because often the person asking the question is not all that familiar with terms like "full-service marketing and advertising agency" or "digital marketing agency" or "inbound marketing agency." Sometimes all they "know" about marketing and advertising agencies is what was reflected in Mad Men. Still, there are others that have a real sense of the attributes that differentiate agencies, and may even have a strong preference for one over another. Because 30dps has been a boutique agency that has constantly evolved, the way we label ourselves has also changed through our 28 years. For example, multimedia & web design firm, new media marketing agency, full-service marketing and advertising agency, inbound customer experience agency, just to name a few. 

Establishing value in any business can be a challenge. And marketing and advertising agencies, I believe, have a special challenge due to the nature of the industry, i.e. how well an agency does its job directly effects how a client's business is perceived in the marketplace. There is little doubt that the combination of DIY website tools, freelance websites, WordPress templates, and a glut of newly-skilled and eager, young, graduate graphic designers and web developers presents consumers with lots of choices. So in light of that, why, the questions go, are agencies so bloody expensive?

I am often asked, "Why 30dps?" Or, "What is 30dps?" My short answer is always the same, i.e. "It's the speed of dreams!" I've had a multitude of varying responses to that, but my all time favorite was "Oh, that's right! I remember reading that somewhere!" Now I have no doubt that this well-meaning person actually did recall reading or hearing something about dreams, or the rate at which dreams float by in our sleep, but honestly, 30 dreams per second is not rooted in science; rather, its origins were quite unique.

We are often called upon by our clients to help them with branding. And occasionally, we are also asked to help with naming or renaming their company or product line. It is always an interesting and sometimes difficult process to come up with a new name, but none have been more challenging than when we decided that we needed to rebrand and rename ourselves. Our original name was a real mouthful, i.e. Learning Systems Consultants, Inc., and reflective of our roots in instructional technology. As the agency continued to evolve, and as digital marketing become our focus, the old name was simply more of a burden than a benefit to us. So we decided it was time to come up with something new, creative, descriptive, memorable, and hopefully, thought-provoking. Unfortunately, it proved to be a tall order.

The days of Mad Men—the golden years of the agency business—may be gone, but rocking someone's world with great creative and the smart use of technology make life in a boutique digital marketing agency equally as exciting, even if not quite so glamorous. And given the very changed world we live in today, the results are arguably more impressive. 

Before I even get a full sentence into writing this post on whether it’s better to utilize in-house marketing resources or a marketing agency, I’ll acknowledge that I am the president of a marketing agency. That said, if I didn’t believe in the value agencies provide and the advantages of working with them, I would no longer be the president of a marketing agency. I’d find myself a job as a VP of marketing somewhere and go that route.

Okay, in the name of full disclosure, I'm going to say that the following steps are not only the best way to select a marketing and advertising agency, they are also the direct way to our front door. Having said that, any CEO, business owner, CMO, or VP or Director of Marketing is bound to find this list helpful, especially if you have limited experience in working with an agency.

If you’ve never worked with a full-service marketing, advertising, and web design firm, or if you’ve never found one that you truly clicked with, you may view entering into this relationship with some trepidation. Will they listen to our ideas? Will they understand our goals and our industry? Who gets the final say on creative issues?

Fear not! The client/agency relationship, when conducted properly, is a thing of beauty. Here’s how it should unfold:

In a previous post, we explained why web design firms are failing. Unfortunately, they are not alone. In recent years, marketing firms (whether web design is one of their offerings or not) have been “failing” in many ways and in record numbers.