When you start working with a marketing agency, you need to put some faith in the company's actions; results don't become obvious immediately. To minimize your risks, it's important to make sure that the agency isn't engaged in cookie-cutter marketing.
What is Cookie-Cutter Marketing?
Digital marketing has been around for decades, and it may seem tough to come up with a unique strategy. That's why some agencies use standardized tactics for all clients.
While some of these methods may work well for several businesses, a stellar marketing strategy requires a specialized approach to each company.
Cookie-cutter marketing involves using commonplace tactics on all clients without adjusting it to their specific needs. If the strategy works for one business, there isn't any guarantee that it can work for another, even within the same industry.
By hiring a digital marketing agency, you should expect a unique approach to the needs of your company. Using standardized methods can hurt your marketing campaigns and undermine the efforts of your sales department.
Look out for these signs to discover if your marketing partner is using cookie-cutter marketing.
1. Offers Content Before Discovery
High-quality content is the pillar of digital marketing. To produce it, the agency needs to study all aspects of your business operation, do sufficient keyword research, analyze the competition, create a content plan, and much more.
If an agency claims that it can produce content for you before taking the time to learn about your business, it's a bad sign. Without an in-depth study and analysis of the way a company works, it's impossible to come up with a customized marketing plan.
2. Copies Competitors
Studying the competition is an important part of designing a customized marketing strategy. When you learn what makes the competition tick, you can get inspiration for your content creation, paid search marketing, and keyword use tactics.
As soon as the inspiration turns into copying, your marketing campaign starts losing ground. The reason is that your competitors are customizing campaigns to suit their specific needs, which are likely to be different from yours.
Being a copycat is a clear sign of cookie-cutter marketing.
3. Never Pushes Back
You hire a marketing agency to take advantage of its expertise. If the team accepts all your proposals without analyzing them, it's not getting the job done.
These specialists should provide proactive advice and offer a healthy critique of your suggestions. Otherwise, they are likely to be using cookie-cutter marketing tactics.
4. Doesn't Do Market Research
To build an efficient campaign, your marketing partner should do proper market research. That involves:
- Learning about past clients
- Creating a detailed buyer persona
- Studying the target audience
If all the company does is study the competition to design a copycat marketing campaign, it's setting itself up for defeat. While the agency doesn't have to be an expert in your industry, it must be showing a willingness to study it in sufficient detail to build a customized campaign.
5. Opts for Simplistic Use of Marketing Channels
Marketing across available channels, such as email, social media, blogs, etc. is becoming an integral part of a solid marketing campaign. Unfortunately, only 30% of marketers feel confident in their ability to deliver a multi-channel strategy. The reason is the lack of experience and research.
Top-notch agencies are taking full advantage of new marketing channels like branded podcasts or OTT ads. Integrating new channels into your digital marketing strategy is imperative to staying ahead of the competition.
If the agency isn't exercising the newest tactics, it may be using cookie-cutter marketing.
6. Reports in an Unsatisfactory Manner
Proper reporting is highly important to the success of your marketing campaign. It can help you understand how well the marketing tactics are working before visible results appear.
If an agency isn't reporting to you in-person (or through remote video conferencing) or doesn't comment on each report in detail, its actions should raise a big red flag.
7. Doesn't Arrange Regular Strategy Meetings
A top-notch marketing agency knows the importance of regular strategy meetings. During these meetings, marketing experts and your team discuss the campaign's course, go over the necessary changes, adjust certain tactics, analyze reports, and much more.
If a marketing agency is acting as a one-way service provider instead of a partner, it may be using cookie-cutter methods.
Eliminate the Possibility of Cookie-Cutter Marketing
Cookie-cutter marketing is a lack of a customized approach to developing an efficient marketing campaign. By identifying the first signs of this highly inefficient methodology, you can avoid wasting time, money, and effort on a low-quality collaboration.
Take a closer look at the way your marketing agency is doing its job today. You may decide it's time to search for a new partner.
