Every company deserves the “perfect-fit” media agency: one that will partner seamlessly in their workflow, offer consistent and meaningful insight, and creatively use their years of expertise to help the company thrive.
Companies dealing with a bad media match-up often feel unsupported, oversold, and under-appreciated.
- According to a recent report, 43% of marketers felt their agency partners didn’t provide a clear enough picture of digital media performance.
- 36% of marketers expressed a lack of agency-led future-proofed, strategic guidance. Even well-known companies suffer from advertising drag, citing common issues like ineffective spending and lack of transparency as causes for friction.
But there are approximately 87,712 advertising agencies in the United States—how would you even begin looking for that “Goldilocks” media buyer?
Every company deserves the “perfect-fit” media agency: one that will partner seamlessly in their workflow, offer consistent and meaningful insight, and creatively use their years of expertise to help the company thrive.
Companies dealing with a bad media match-up often feel unsupported, oversold, and under-appreciated.
- According to a recent report, 43% of marketers felt their agency partners didn’t provide a clear enough picture of digital media performance.
- 36% of marketers expressed a lack of agency-led future-proofed, strategic guidance. Even well-known companies suffer from advertising drag, citing common issues like ineffective spending and lack of transparency as causes for friction.
But there are approximately 87,712 advertising agencies in the United States—how would you even begin looking for that “Goldilocks” media buyer?
What does a strategic partnership look like in the world of media buying agencies?
Often, when companies say they want a “perfect fit” agency, what they really need to look for is a strategic partnership. A strategic media partner is an advertising agency that not only suits a company’s current needs, but is capable of growing and adapting to their future needs. Collaborative, professional, and communicative, a strategic partner delivers high-value, cost-efficient solutions that are personalized to the unique goals of a company. Simply put, they are truly invested in their client’s success.
Signs Your Media Planning and Buying Agency is a Strategic Partner
1. Your media buyer is more proactive than reactive
According to a recent report, 76% of CMOs are responsible for driving business growth, and 74% are expected to contribute to data and technology. Being a proactive agency partner means coming into a partnership with a background understanding of current pressures and expectations a client may be facing–and is ready to lead clients into the data optimization and attribution spaces.
Furthermore, a proactive agency goes above and beyond your expectations, without needing pushing or prodding. They are not looking to check boxes or fulfill minimum requirements; instead, they look around corners for their clients to keep campaigns ahead of the competitive curve.
By frequently checking in with the client—whether to discuss current goals or update them on the current media buying landscape—proactive media partners go out of their way to generate new opportunities, seek future-proofed, dynamic data strategy and campaign management to optimize performance and achieve ROI.
2. Your media buyer provides tailored media planning and buying services
When searching for advertising agencies, look for a partner who is passionate about the process—an agency who is genuinely excited to help their clients grow. Every client has unique business issues and goals; as such, a paid media agency should develop and implement client-specific media strategies to best reach target audiences. Strategic media partners analyze the media landscape from their client’s perspective to deliver a comprehensive, nuanced understanding of marketing challenges and opportunities.
Personalized media strategy becomes the core of all operations, including a variety of attribution methods to optimize media budget and maximize return. Your media agency should be using their subscriptions to industry-leading research platforms to provide you with insights on understanding your consumers’ behavior and increasing your market share. Generalized paid media campaigns achieve mediocre results. Client- and audience-specific campaigns deliver tangible, meaningful business outcomes that help clients grow.
3. Your media buyer is transparent from planning to placement
Strategic partners willingly share information with clients, and are always eager to collaborate. Transparent collaboration might look like:
- Working with clients to establish a reporting/measurement framework for traditional and digital media
- Collaborating with clients’ internal IT teams to ensure proper tagging/pixel placements for all digital ads
- Aiding in the re-sizing, scheduling, formatting, and rotating of clients’ creative materials for traditional placements
- Timely, comprehensive, and contextualized campaign updates with actionable insights
Transparency streamlines two-way communication and ensures that everyone is on the same page, increasing trust between partners. A client should never feel in the dark about their own paid media campaigns; instead, a transparent, responsive relationship increases a client’s willingness to take measured marketing risks, taking results to the next level.
An often overlooked aspect of transparency is the provision of learning opportunities for clients and supporting them if they’re presenting to executives and/or justifying media budgets. Strategic partners understand that transparency leads to shared growth, and that the more looped in each partner is, the more streamlined campaign management and success will be.
Case Study: Strategic Partnership Optimizes B2C Paid Search Campaign, National Private Equity Portfolio Company
A national, private-equity portfolio company came to us while experiencing growing pains in their pursuit to achieve and sustain national clinic acquisitions. To support their creation of a best-in-class network of hearing health brands and community-based clinics, our client sought a strategic agency partner to develop, implement, and optimize B2C paid search campaigns.
The Marketing Doctor team spent time asking questions to gain insight into our client’s short- and long-term goals. Our client’s goals informed deep research into the niche industry as it relates to the national media landscape. From there, our in-house media team reviewed and analyzed B2C paid search campaign strategies to find optimization opportunities.
Using media attribution, our team meticulously tracked and reported on conversion pathways, illuminating our client’s consumer journeys across channels. From there, we collaborated with the client to optimize efficiency and campaign impact–reducing cost per lead over 50% and more than doubling conversions in just a few months.
The Marketing Doctor team regularly asks for client feedback, ensuring our strategies are supporting the right goals at all times. Our strategic partnership with each client is truly centered on a shared growth mindset. Our mutual prioritization of industry-leading technology and media strategies achieves and sustains ambitious growth and return on ad spend.
Want Better Paid Media Results?
If you’re still on the search for your “perfect-fit” media agency, Marketing Doctor might be just what you’re looking for. Let’s talk.
