Rains | Birchard Marketing Blog:

Rains | Birchard Marketing 2012: A Year in Review

BY MATTHEW BIRCHARD

We’ve had a great year over here at Rains | Birchard Marketing; we changed our name, our logo, our website and even gained a number of clients we’ve all been thrilled to work with. We’re excited to see what 2013 will bring and anticipate even more opportunities on the horizon. Special thanks to all of our lovely clients for making 2012 such a fun and rewarding year! And now, our list of highlights:

Are Decision Makers Qualified to Comment on Work Done By a Full Service Marketing Firm?

BY MATTHEW BIRCHARD

Creative work often must be reviewed by someone other than the individual directing and managing the project.  You should ensure that reviewer has been properly briefed so they are qualified to comment on the work.

Good creative work doesn’t just happen.  It’s the result of a collaborative effort on the part of the marketing agency and the client contact.  But, oftentimes a decision maker other than the client contact must give their final approval prior to project completion.  Unfortunately, these final reviewers aren’t always qualified to make comments or pass judgement on the fitness of a project.  Everyone’s heard a version of a story involving the boss’ wife reviewing creative work at the final hour and finding fault because she simply “doesn’t like it”.

Have an Elevator Pitch and Share it with your Full Service Marketing Firm

BY MATTHEW BIRCHARD

The Elevator Pitch is an exercise that will make a business focus on its value proposition.  Sharing it with your full service marketing firm gets you off to a good start.

I often ask new clients to give me their elevator pitch. I’ve yet to meet a prospective client with a concise pitch prepared.  I actually don’t expect them to, but the reason I ask is to get the client thinking about their value proposition.

5 Reasons Retainers are a Smart Way to Work with a Marketing Agency

BY MATTHEW BIRCHARD

Retainers have many advantages that have kept them a popular compensation method for professional services.  Here are five reasons they are a smart way to work with a full service marketing firm.

Like any business, a marketing agency needs to be profitable in order to stay in business and be a reliable resource for their clients.  Compensation methods are many and varied, but a retainer relationship as all or part of the financial arrangement you have with a marketing agency is something you should explore.  If the agency doesn’t bring it up, you should ask if it is something they offer.  Here are five reasons why Rains | Birchard Marketing thinks retainers are a smart way to do business with us:

What Do Stock Photos Really Cost?

BY MATTHEW BIRCHARD

Businesses wanting to maximize their marketing spend often opt to cut out a photography budget in favor of stock photos.  But this ends up being a penny wise and a dollar foolish.

Our agency used to have good working relationships with a number of photographers and would routinely manage photo shoots for our clients.  Everything from in-studio product shots to staged locations with hired talent.  Design often needs photos and the old adage that a “picture is worth a thousand words” still holds true.  However, what has happened is now the pictures often tend to be low-cost stock photos purchased online.