The Ad Agency model is screwing you (and they know it).
Allowing an ad agency to deploy your digital strategy makes about as much sense as having your plumber build your deck.
Sure, he might be able to do it, but he can’t do it as well as he plumbs, and he definitely can’t do it as well as an actual deck builder. Traditional agencies have very different business models than true digital firms, and, while they will disagree, the best evidence of this is found in their own sales process.
Traditional agencies sell marketing by audience size. TV ads, print ads and radio ads are all priced out based solely on how many people they’ll reach. These guys claim to know some baseline audience demographics, but those are just generalities. There is no conversion responsibility, nor is there an ROI formula to be found, and they like it that way.
I mean, wouldn’t you?
In their model, the only kind of evidence that exists to prove or disprove results is anecdotal, which equates to no real evidence at all. They take credit for a lift in sales that is due to good weather and blame a decrease in sales on bad weather. They brag about success that is actually due to an expanding economy but tell you a bad economy is to blame when sales go down. It’s silly you when really think about it.
“Volume without a targeted audience is just busy work and wasted spend.”
This is exactly why you don’t want them handling your digital campaigns. They sell their services largely on a CPM model (cost per thousand impressions). They sell volume and creative and that is it. They use buzzwords like UX design (user experience) and saturation campaign. Neither of which have a damn thing to do with what you want: conversions.
Sure, you need to hit a volume of people to drive results, but volume without a targeted audience is just busy work and wasted spend. And UX design isn’t a new trend. It’s how agencies describe creative design that people like and that’s easy for them to navigate.
The bottom line is this: ad agencies simply have yet to grasp the real power of digital and will likely never get there.
They don’t want to. And frankly, why would they? If they can remain profitable selling impressions and not be held accountable for trackable conversions, they will continue to do so. It’s the reason they have long, drawn out meetings with their clients while digital firms simply send analytics. They just can’t be expected to prove results, and they don’t even try.