Consolidation of India’s Advertising Industry

Grey Group’s acquisition of Digital and Social Media agency Autumn Worldwide could well mark the beginning of a new wave of consolidation in the advertising space. Large, multinational agencies with decades of experience joining hands with small, niche agencies that have new-age tech skills could be the solution that over-worked marketers are looking for.

For marketers and startups, it can get difficult dealing with multiple agencies who take care of different aspects of marketing. Today, on an average marketing teams work with 7-8 different agencies who take care of some part of the marketing requirement. There’s the creative agency, the digital agency, the market research agency, a content marketing agency, SEO agency, media management agency, printing agency, event management and online ad management agency. Many a time, the marketer is left with no time for strategy amidst all the coordination and operational work they have to manage.

Having, one go-to agency who has the lineage and the expertise to manage all these tasks will give the marketer ample time to focus on strategy, customer acquisition and customer retention – activities that are more core to their knowledge.

If you’re a small agency and want to survive in the big bad world of the advertising industry, you could add more skills to your portfolio to be around for the long haul.

1. UI and UX is the need of the hour

While the startups are busy coming up with new ideas and the software guys are coding these ideas to like, there’s a desperate need for creative folk who can make these tech gadgets, apps and web solutions more user-friendly and attractive. That’s where your skills come into play. So, take up a course, watch all the online tutorials and take up a few projects on trial. Before you know it, you could be offering these services to your clients.

2. SEO is not going away

Content is king in the digital space and SEO is only becoming smarter and more polished to be able to identify the right audience without being a nuisance. If you still think SEO is for the tech guys and you don’t need to get into it, that’s a big mistake. Again, SEO is complicated but with a bit of study you can have some members of your team learn the tricks of this game easily.

3. Data-driven solutions is the key

Having in-house data experts who can pull out in-depth analysis and proof of the success of campaigns is the way forward. It’s no more a game of intuition and good looks, you should be able to pull out the actual numbers and outcome of a campaign to prove its success and learnings for future activities. With multiple free and paid tools available online, there’s no excuse to be unfamiliar with these tools.

4. Smarter Digital Advertising

There’s a plethora of automated marketing solutions and tools that’s making it easier to reach the right customers. All you need to do is learn the ropes of using these automated tools, and you’ll be able to bring measurable improvements to the impact you’re making for your clients. Having a team of solution specialists is another way to up your agency game.

5. Growth Hacking

Growth hacking is nothing but finding innovative avenues of reaching out to your client’s customers. For example, a referral program that encourages existing customers to share their phonebook contacts with you can be considered as a growth hack. Again, technology plays an important role in growth hacking methods.

So keep growing, keep learning and keep adding new skills to your list of offerings to stay ahead of a large number of competitors out there. That’s the only way you can stay relevant, and stay ahead of the ad agency race!