A More Objective Approach to Better Defining Your Agency
Too Much Subjectivity
Most marketing agencies don’t look outside their 4 walls when defining their unique place in the market. They turn to fellow employees to shape the agency’s positioning. 85% of agencies said that this is how they define their USP.
Problem with that approach is you’ll likely end up where more agencies end up…thinking their positioning is unique, when in reality its not unique at all.
Our marketing counterparts all want an agency that can operate stragtegically, makes them feel like they are part of the team, assign senior talent to the account, and be transparent in how they operate. And they should get all of those thing.
But it’s not these things that set one firm apart from another firm – particularly when trying to break open a door with an attractive prospect.
An Honest Indicator of Marketer-Agency Fit
At the start of this year, our internal AI team developed the AI-Brand Compass Model – a model designed to help objectively define the character, profile, and strength of an agency’s positioning and the degree to which their site was ready for the AI-mediate search world.
Our team used 100’s of agency inputs to create model.
The AI-Brand Compass Model analyzes an agency’s public-face and shows agencies how AI systems are reading and interpreting firm.
Providing a clearer definition of an agency’s USP, better articulating the agency’s ICP, and readying yourself for today’s new world search platforms will help marketers paint a truer picture of who you are and how promising a relationship could be.
A More Succinct Definition of What a Marketer Wants in a New Marketing Agency
We are now employing the AI-Brand Compass Model in all marketing agency search we run through the RSW/AgencySearch side of our business.
At the start of the search Marketers select from one of four distinct archetypes and qualities tied to those archetypes to paint a more complete picture of what a right fit firm looks like. Only using what’s given to a marketer in a final pitch or an RFP response just paints a partial picture of your firm. Having a more objective review of fit helps better guarantee that the relationship you establish will carry forward for decades.
The AI-Brand Compass Model
Experience matters. Technical expertise matters. Breadth of services matters.
All these things (and more) matter when trying to find your way into a new client’s world.
But a lot of what makes for a truly sustainable agency-client marraige is a solid relationship. And the best way to do that is to dive deeper and more objectively to see if what you’re marrying is really exactly what you were looking for.
The AI-Brand Compass Model helps marketers achieve that end.
Mark is Founder & CEO of RSW/US and LAUNCH, two outsourced new business programs run by the RSW team. Mark has been operating in the marketing and advertising space since his first intern job at Needham Harper Steers (now DDB Needham) in 1985. Mark spent close to 10 years working in marketing for SC Johnson and KAO brands. And after a 7-year stint working for a global new product concept testing firm where he managed the company’s largest client, Colgate Palmolive, Mark started RSW/US in 2005 and LAUNCH in 2024.
