Your agency does amazing, creative work for your clients, right? You pride yourself on the team you’ve built and the lead-generating, eye-catching content you churn out on a day-to-day basis. No matter what a client throws at you, you’re able to spin it and sell it.
So, why is self-promotion for your own agency so tricky?
It’s so difficult sometimes to succinctly package how awesome you are. You’re just too close to the product to accurately represent it. Creating your own ads, brand voice, and web copy can be a real struggle. There’s so much to package.
Let’s take a note from all great artists and peruse some great, shameless self-promoting from other agencies in the industry. Maybe a little spark of inspiration is all you need to jump over that wall and get your agency on the map.
1. Border-line absurd sponsored ads
Red Square Agency avoided the problem of concisely summarizing their company in their self-promotion by avoiding that altogether. While their ads, with headlines like “This ad features a cat” and copy stating, “It has nothing to do with Red Square Agency, but we hope you’ll click on it anyway” are strangely hilarious, they say nothing about their actual work.
This type of campaign, where quirk reigns supreme, is a great way to catch your prospects off-guard. If your agency isn’t one to take itself seriously, perhaps you should think outside the box and sling some copy from left-field as an experiment.
2. Playful, shareable videos
Look, no one shares commercials on social media unless they’re legitimately funny, touching, or educational. A video commercial that lays out your strengths and weaknesses in a dull way does nothing to highlight your creativity or imagination.
Make a socially shareable video that has fun with what you do—the marketing industry is one of the most playful industries. Don’t be afraid to joke around with your potential clients; just keep it within reason. Your sense of humor can show in 30 seconds what kind of agency you are and what sort of relationship clients can expect with you.
3. Sincere testimonials from trustworthy creatives
So, the cattiness of number two isn’t for everyone. Let’s try a more positive approach. Video testimonials for sharing on your social media can be a great way to let people know how you have touched their business lives. Authentic testimonials are a quick and direct way to allow potential clients to see the soul and value of your business.
Marty Weiss and Friends, a collaborative marketing agency, took this idea in a slightly different direction. Marty asked his creative friends that he often collaborates with to create testimonial videos talking about their experience working with him as a creative.
It shows that Marty Weiss takes the creative aspect of his agency seriously, and his brand represents a dedication to crafting truly unique campaigns.
4. Create white papers that speak to your ideal customers
White papers and studies about the industry niche that your marketing agency works with—whether it be commercial foods, small businesses, health and beauty, nutraceuticals, or the thousands of other segments out there—can build serious ethos and logos with your future customers.
Reel in clients with studies about the industry they participate in. Utilize the data you have collected from marketing their industry peer’s products and use it to create valuable learning tools for your potential customers.
A great example of this in action is the Marlin Network, who markets for nationwide clients in the food industry. Their white paper on influencing operator purchases contains valuable information for current and future customers that builds a solid tie between the reader and Marlin.
5. Create a special gift for key customers
Once you’ve identified a few big fish that you’d like to impress, a unique gift from your agency can be a way to do it. A nicely designed card is a simple gesture but doesn’t tend to go far enough to bat an eye. Think about your agency’s strengths in design—do you excel at websites? Product design? Perhaps a fun and engaging web project that is just for those ideal clients could be worth your time.
Bloc D is a branding and communication agency. To sell the idea that they know what they’re doing when it comes to print and package design, they created chocolate bars in packaging that resembles Pantone swatches. It was a fun, unique, and impactful gift for their customers.
At the end of the day, you’re an agency for a reason. Get your great minds together and collaborate on your messaging. Boil your agency down to a few key ideas and essences, then use those base words to decide your direction.
From there, the sky’s the limit. Show the world what you can do.