A 7-Step Battle Plan for Small-to-Medium-Sized Agencies
Takeaway notes from an AMA sponsored webinar. By Aliza Bornstein, copywriter, Melissa Data

The online marketing and advertising world continues to grow at an extremely rapid pace, and marketers are continuing to migrate dollars from traditional forms of media into online. This is driven by marketers and advertisers wanting to use a more effective type of media, in addition to consumers—where consumers are spending their time, and how they are consuming media today.

Agencies—small and regional—are in a great position to take advantage of this growth, but are also presented with a unique list of challenges:

• Tasked with broadcasting a brand or message around ongoing corporate initiatives or new marketing launches, etc.
• To a variety of outlets and targets.
• Using various methods, resources, and technology.
• Proving effectiveness of approach and good ROI.

• Create brand awareness.
• Scale with your business.
• Can be easy to create—just like search ads.
• Deliver measurable results.
• Offer powerful targeting capabilities.
• Make your search ads work better.
• Can be changed and optimized in real-time.
• …and more!

• Most targeted form of bought media available.
• Generates traffic immediately.
• Is easy to set up and implement.
• Is extremely flexible (keywords instantly adjusted, added, or deleted).
• Is typically very economical compared with more traditional advertising strategies.
• Easy to track performance and adjust as needed.
• Doesn’t require big investment in creative or come with high media minimums.

• Can be expensive (top keyword on Google=$100/click!).
• Often “over credited.”
• Can be competitive (“coats” has 909 advertisers bidding for it; only 10 results on page 1).
• Limited scale (percent of time people search versus visit to Web pages).
• Little brand impact.

• Rank well in search engines.
• Stand out from the competition.
• Create interactivity and user interest.
• Let others advertise for you by Word of Mouth (WOM).
• Instruct and educate.

• Challenging DR performance.
• Creative costs high.

• Campaigns are relatively easy to create and execute.
• Are effective with high open rates.
• Can be personalized.
• Are complementary to other types of marketing.
• Encourage viral marketing with links to social networks.

• Limited calls-to-action.
• Limit standardization (different platforms, handsets, etc.).

• Very high return on investment (ROI).
• Long-term positioning (versus ongoing cash outlay).
• More sales from visitors.
• More targeted traffic.
• Increased brand visibility.
• Faster Web site (validated and optimized files).
• Improved usability.
• Increased accessibility.
• More “crawlable” by the search engines.

• Takes a long time to build organic traffic.
• Hard to move the needle quickly.

• Sending emails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers, and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
• Sending emails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately.
• Adding advertisements to emails sent by other companies to their customers.
• Sending emails over the Internet using network email and wireless network email.

• Allows for tightly focused targeting.
• Is data-driven.
• Drives direct sales.
• Increases sales conversions.
• Generates repeat sales.
• Creates up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
• Builds relationship, loyalty, and trust.
• Supports sales through other channels.
• Let’s you gain valuable feedback.
• Drives offline purchases.
• Quick and cost-effective way to test market messages and offers.

• In-house lists are very limiting.
• Lots of laws and regulations.