Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Advice On Launching Marketing Division?

Posted by Anonymous on 6/8/2009 at 11:56 AM ET 250 Points
I would really like some experienced advice here. We are a small PR company with a big reputation. My background is marketing and although offering PR consultancy for over 5 years I find I also help clients with their overall marketing needs. I find particularly now when often clients are looking for low cost highly effective options both a mix of PR and other marketing strategies are called for.

I have often thought about setting up a Marketing consultancy wing to our business and I think I would really enjoy the challenge while my PR Manager would be very happy focusing her time and skills on existing PR clients.

I am wondering however what services would I need to provide (and be very good at) and, do all marketing consultancies need to offer advertising to be a full service agency ? (advertising would not be a forte nor a desired service offering ). Final question is, although we have excellent affiliates in terms of SEO optimization, graphic and web deign etc. do marketing consultants find most of their billable time is spent being 'middleman' to these service providers and client? and do marketing consultancies charge similar charges to PR companies?

Bit of Background: When I started business 8 years ago we offered a marketing consultancy however it putting boundaries in place with clients was difficult as I found we seemed to be responsible for sales management and sometimes advise on operations for certain clients, I think this was moreso down to our naivety at not knowing where marketing consultancy stopped and other roles started. At the time I found I was very dependent on third parties to come up to par - designers, advertising agencies etc. any advice tips pitfalls would be greatly appreciated. There is very little on the web.

Our PR agency would have all the basic business procedures in place which would mean we could get it off the ground quickly however I need to make sure I'm clear in our offering. Our main market would be SME's and start ups, as per our existing PR market.

Thanks so much, I know I have asked alot advice from seasoned marketing consultants would be greatly appreciated.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 6/8/2009 at 12:14 PM Member
    Iin my mind, its a one stop shopping arrangement. I believe you need to provide everything that your clients are looking for. That being said, I find that many marketing organizations have a tough time providing credible service in these areas:
    1) Web Development
    2) Detailed Market Research
    3) Graphics, Production
  • Posted by matthewmnex on 6/8/2009 at 9:02 PM Accepted
    Hi Olivia,

    If I am a housing contractor building homes for clients, then I will rarely try to do it all myself. I will sub-contract specific skills such as plumbing and electrical etc.

    However, as the 'lead' contractor, I can make the choices of who to sub contract by myself without necesarily seeking approval from the client.

    I think in your case, you have certain 'core skill sets' that you want to exploit. That's great. For the other items, keep a list of trusted suppliers that you can call on for the specialised work such as web and graphic design, advertising - media buying etc.

    You will become the overall 'architect' of the marketing strategy and PR strategy and then coordinate the implementation.

    I do understand your dilemma here; you want to sell your expertise as a consultant but not necessarily 'do the work for the client'.

    Unfortunately, in the real world, there are very few clients who are willing to pay only consulting fees - they want you to 'do the work' too. :))

    I would simply suggest that during your initial discussions with clients, you ask as many questions as possible about what exactly they want and expect from you, define the parameters of what you can and cannot deliver and then write and sign an SLA (service level agreement).

    In this way, the client will still ask for extra stuff and you will will probably oblige with some of the small things just to make them happy but with the SLA in place, you can always refer them back to it and say "Hey, that was not our agreement, we can add it for an additional fee" :))

    It is truly a very difficult balance for all consultants, contractors and the like - clients will always try to overstep the bounds and consultants will always deliver more than they originally agreed to to keep the paying client.

    With experience, you will find the proper balance.

    Good luck :)

    Matthew
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