Creating An Acoustic Brand

The Need

There comes a point in every agency’s life that they need to step back, and unplug from their way of doing things. That doesn’t mean, however, that every agency does so. Either because they don’t notice, or don’t understand that need.

Unplugging doesn’t mean ceasing operations or stopping the core functions of your digital advertising agency. It’s the active choice to begin looking at things with a different perspective, ingesting new content (new inspiration), and attacking integrated marketing strategies with a fresh approach.

New Pair of Glasses

When marketing consultants get into a groove, they get it in their heads that their methods are full-proof, unrevisable, and otherwise untouchable. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Fair enough. But who’s to say that a strategy which is revised over time, meticulously crafted and molded as an ongoing, living entity, couldn’t trump one that always stays the same?

As far as Austin advertising agencies and branding consultancies are concerned, there is no one size fits all marketing strategy. Those who retain the same ideas and processes for building brands tend not to last long, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there, collecting checks from unsuspecting clients.

The illusiveness of these advertising agencies is due to the fact that their ideas and strategies aren’t essentially the same but reshaped into something else. Using the same 30-second storyline structure. Insisting on dark humor. Or just consistently speaking in the same voice. While marketing consultants might not notice it from the inside-out, customers and audiences will.

Markets are oversaturated with promotions so if you want people to listen, you’ve got to change it up. But really changing is easier said than done. It’s pretty much like altering the personality of your brand while retaining the things that made you unique in the first place. No easy feat. But one of the easy ways to get started is by ingesting new forms, genres, and types of content that you haven’t before.

Expanding Your Pallete

If you write for a fishing company, subscribe to a bike magazine. If you design advertisements for furniture, start going to broadway plays. You may never use that information from the bike magazine, but you’ll start to digest how other markets and audiences communicate. Markets and audiences that one of your potential clients might be a part of. You might not like plays too much, but you’ll learn something about presentation and poise. Two very relevant aspects of furniture sales.

Digital marketing consultants have to taste new things, get out of their comfort zones, and surprise themselves constantly. The day you stop learning is the day you stop growing. Being humble enough to understand that you don’t know everything but confident enough to learn anything will put you at the forefront of innovation, wherever you are.

In addition to changing what you consume, change how you consume. If you are constantly reading off an iPad, go pick up a newspaper. If you usually read articles, go watch the news. You’ll notice how differently stories are interpreted and perceived. So make sure you keep reading articles…

Wonder More

If you’re not sure if the avenues you’ve approached are unique enough, ask someone for suggestions. Ask your friends. Ask your uncle. Ask the tweaking homeless man on the park bench. But whatever you do, never stop being curious.

If you want to know what we have in mind, come stop by our office. We’ll put you onto something you might like.