For marketing to be as effective as humanly possible, one of the most important things a good reputable marketing agency needs to know in order to promote your company properly is: Are you a product, or a brand?
There are marketing agencies out there that promise the same thing to every client……… they will put everyone on page one of Google. They will make your company come up first for your geographical location. Etc. etc.
First of all no marketing agency has the power to manipulate placement on Google, and second of all there are no guarantees in life.
For a marketing agency to do an honest good job by you, they need to know and understand your business, your needs, your goals for the company as well as where you want to be, what your niche is, and much more. This is accomplished only by an in depth interview with you, your company and your team. And followed up with by interaction on a regular basis, so processes and campaigns can be evaluated for what is working and what is not.
Moving on to the product or brand discussion, proper marketing for this is done differently depending on which way you choose to have your company represented. The dividing line is quite simple. If you offer a product that is entirely exclusive to you, hand crafted, hand made, custom made, you need to get that out there as a BRAND. This registers “exclusive” and “unique” with the buying public, the consumer. Yes, down the road there may be copy cats, but there is only one real genuine brand of that item, and that’s yours. Copycats can be dealt with legally.
If you offer a product that is also sold by others, that is mass produced, and that is not unique and original, then you need to have that marketed as a product line or lines.
If you offer a service, instead of a product, you are a BRAND. Yes, attorneys, insurance agents, caterers, home improvement, etc.
If you treat your service as a product, massed in with the rest of the pack that offers similar services, you do yourself a huge dis-service.
Why?
For all businesses that offer services, a smart marketing angle is to set yourself apart by offering several “niche” services, either actual niche services or niche services within a geographical area. A reputable marketing agency will know how to market that for maximum benefit to your company or practice.