I recently met a friendly gentleman whose business card seemed to come out of a holster.
“Hi there, I’m John.” The company name on the business card – we’ll call it “Acme Promotions.”
The card showed that John was in Brand Development. I handed John my card and introduced myself.
“So you guys do brand development?” I asked John.
“We do everything.”
I had to think on that. “We do everything.” What does that mean, exactly?
For the next couple of hours as I ran a few errands and made my way back to the office, it was on my mind.
The first thing I did when I got back to my desk was visit the Acme Marketing website listed on John’s card.
Here’s a list of their services:
- Branding
- Creative Advertising
- Public Relations
- Event Planning
- Signage
- Team Management
- Promotional Products
- Video Production
- Web Design
- Search Engine Optimization
- Direct Mail Marketing
Quite an ambitious list, isn’t it?
Now consider the hammer.
At the fundamental level many small business owners are afraid of the idea of limiting their offerings. If someone calls a web design company asking about print design for direct mail marketing, who wants to tell them “that’s not our area of expertise?” Can’t you just wing it, get your web designer on the job and cash another check in the mean time? Cash flow is, after all, the main concern for a small business of any kind.
The justification from the agency as to why they should take the work even while knowing full well that it is beyond the scope of their core competencies is often the same:
We can’t afford to turn down any work right now.
or
These people are willing to pay – why would we send them away?
I am certainly not one to trivialize the plights of the small business owner in keeping cash flowing in. It pays salaries, covers overhead – it feeds families.
But it’s tough to build a brand by doing “everything.” Usually doing everything means you’re only doing a few things well.
Why not focus on those few things?
Market for what you’re best at, maybe the best at. That may mean saying “no” to projects – and, yes, sometimes even saying “no” to money. In the long run, though, you just might make a name for yourself.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great Blog Mike! I’m adding it to my iGoogle homepage.
hmmm. Seems like the list is similar to an Advertisng Agency. They don’t “do” everything – they just do everything concerning marketing. They don’t create the Radio spots, but they write and direct them. Similarly with Television. They don’t print brochures, but prepare and oversee it’s process – delivering a completed project to the client. They may not even code the Website, but they DO design it – to ensure a unificaiton and quality design for their clients.
In fact, what they do is called graphic design and marketing. Been around for years and has worked pretty well.
I want to clarify that I am not ciritcizing your article. In fact, if the list had conssted of more non-complementary items, then I would not have writted the above.
I ahve found that a Web Designer rarely understands to the full capacity of an Advertising Agency or it’s function. So in that respect, I agree. But many Graphic Designers, having worked with printers, newspapers, and Advertising Agencies, have a good understanding of the full scope of marketing. The internet being the latest addtion to an old list including, radio, television, and print.
I appreciate you pointing out that people should not becomoe overzealous, attempting to accomplish all the forms of media themselves. And the Internet is one area of marketing that should be in a category of its own. I own an agency, and we hire professional companies for our SEO and Web coding – as well as Radio and TV Production and Printing. [ unfortunately, my new site is not up, so my devotion to design quality will appear lacking - my aplogies].
I apoligze if my previous comment appeared rude – that was not my intent. But as a Grahic Designer with over 29 years of experience, I can assure you that Advertising Agencies CAN do a lot – though NOT all.
@ Suzanne No worries – I understand where you’re coming from. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
In many cases I would agree that ad agencies can cover a lot of ground as part of their service package.
I do, however, have a hard time imagining that there’s a firm out there that can handle team management, event planning, video production and branding all effectively. I could be wrong, but even if I am – how is that firm going to market itself?
Even if the wide skill set is there, people will have a hard time remembering your company if you tell them you “do everything.” And they’ll have a hard time believing that you do it all well.