Marketing companies are, quite literally, everywhere. Experts exist in almost every niche, from SEO to direct mail. Add to that larger, generalist shops that seek to provide more holistic marketing services, and the options are seemingly endless. Of course, for your business, that can lead to a certain agony of choice. Among so many self-proclaimed experts, it can be difficult to find the best one. In many cases, Fortune 500 firms work with a select set of proven experts. For those looking for a fortune 500 marketing company, the smart choice are the professionals at New Perspectives.
In fact, the right fortune 500 marketing company is available for almost every need, industry, and business size. All you have to do is learn from the best, and apply those lessons to your own search. For instance, what makes some of the world’s most famous and legendary Fortune 500 marketing companies so successful? Here are seven qualities that set Fortune 500 marketing companies apart from their competition.
They Partner, Not Contract
Naturally, any business looking to work with a marketing company has to sign a contract first. For some marketing companies, the partnership ends there. From then on, the business becomes a client, where marketing matters as its own, unique component of a larger business strategy.
That is not the case for Fortune 500 marketing companies. Here, the client becomes a partner. That partnership does not end with the contract but begins there. The marketing company becomes involved in all aspects of strategic decision making, maximizing the resulting potential in a marketing context.
This partnership requires more work on behalf of both the client and the marketing firm. At the same time, it also tends to bring far greater results. A long-term, strategic partnership in either the firm’s area of expertise or a more general sense can propel even startups to compete with industry giants.
They Have a Stake in Their Clients’ Success
Elite marketing companies care. Rather than simply worrying about hitting their benchmarks, they make their clients’ success their own. The goal is not to maximize revenue from a partnership but maximize marketing results. The implication is that with these results, revenue will naturally increase for both sides of the partnership.
In this way, this quality is closely connected to the first. A partnership is necessary to ensure this mutual responsibility on both the provider and the client’s side. It also makes sense to view this point holistically: client success goes beyond marketing, and marketing can help achieve larger business goals beyond customer acquisition and retention.
They Think Strategically, Not Tactically
To achieve both of the above goals, a strategic emphasis is necessary. Without a doubt, day-to-day marketing activities are important. But without the strategic framework to guide them, they can be woefully inefficient in reaching marketing and business goals.
That is why Fortune 500 marketing firms think strategically. They consider the larger implications of every tactical decision to be made. The result is a campaign that is built on a solid foundation, making sure that each component fits into a larger puzzle and contributes to the more overarching goals of the company.
They Rely on In-Depth, Customized Research
It is difficult to overstate: in successful marketing, research matters. Decisions should never be made on hunches, but actionable insights about the audience, market, and internal positioning. That is why it makes perfect sense to know that the more prestigious and successful a marketing firm becomes, the more heavily their approaches are focused on research.
Fortune 500 firms operate in competitive landscapes. They need not just research, but customized reports that are uniquely tailored to their situation, market position, and industry. Find a marketing firm that shares that emphasis, and your chances of success will increase drastically.
They Can Think 5 Steps Ahead
Forget ‘what happens tomorrow’. The best marketing firms are already thinking about next week. Or, in more realistic terms, about what might happen five to ten years from now. The marketing landscape, particularly in the digital realm, is shifting constantly. The only way to keep up is to think ahead, which is what only the most successful firms can do.
Long-term predictions and trends are difficult, and they rely on extensive analysis and data to be even reasonably accurate. But with the right prioritization and resources, this type of future-facing approach is possible. Find a marketing partner that can think five steps ahead, and chances are you will be ahead of your competition, as well.
They Have the Right Industry Connections
Never underestimate the power of connections. A marketing company needs to have a reliable research firm to partner with. Media buyers are as important as contacts in publishers and social network who can streamline and increase the effectiveness of individual campaigns.
The right marketing company, in other words, needs the right connections within your industry. Especially in research, this matters immensely: you need to make sure that you can trust the data, and that the margin of error is minimal. These connections should naturally integrate.
They Embrace Continuous Improvement
The best marketing firms do not accept absolute certainty as a potential outcome. Everything can be improved. Every research can be made more accurate. Every message can be better tailored to the audience. Everything is evaluated under the larger umbrella of continuous improvement, and the implications that brings with it.
For a partnership to be successful, this type of mindset is ideal. But you also have to make sure that you embrace the same general concept. The more open you are to constant re-evaluation and adjustments based on new data and past results, the higher your chances of success.
How to Start Working With a Fortune 500 Marketing Company
Combine the above seven qualities, and you have a partner that will be ideally suited for your marketing needs. Of course, that partner can seem difficult to find. Too often, you have to go with the ‘best of the worst,’ an approach dictated by time and resource limitations.
That doesn’t have to be the case. Simply understanding the above points can be vital to making sure that the company you choose in the end is a valuable strategic partner. The key to success is making sure that you strictly evaluate every potential partner according to the same standards and principles, even if that increases the timeline for evaluation and finding a partner that works.
It also makes sense to reach out to other clients, and learn more about their experience with this particular firm. Often, this type of third-party credibility helps you better understand what a working relationship with the marketing company is actually like.
Also, consider simply learning more about the exact approach the firm aims to take. The more you learn about the details, such as survey and focus group research methods, the better you will understand whether or not that approach matches your unique needs.
Finally, consider contacting individual fortune 500 marketing companies directly to see how well they fit these qualities. Contact marketing research consulting to learn more about our consulting abilities, and the research we can provide to take your company to the Fortune 500 level.