Agencies and Brand Positioning

On April 15, Jeff Welch of MercuryCSC (Bozeman, MT) wrote an interesting article entitled "Find Your Authority, Then Own It" for AdAge's ongoing "Small Business Diary" section. In it, he advises agencies to get focused on their particular area of expertise. He's also a pretty good writer.

Below is an excerpt of my response to Jeff (see the "comments" section of his post for the full thread). It's written for an agency audience, though these principles would hold for most any industry or category.

There's always been a paradox with agencies. They're supposed help their clients differentiate their brands, and yet most agencies (as in, 80-90%) do a horrendous job differentiating themselves.

This does not enhance their credibility.

I'm not talking about what agencies SAY (though there's a tremendous sameness in that). I'm talking about what agencies DO. Most agencies define themselves by the nature of their work (print, digital, whatever) and that's their first mistake. That tells me what you do, but not how you're different.

Smaller agencies have a tremendous opportunity to differentiate vs. their larger brethren, almost all of whom are on the "one stop shop" model. Smaller agencies can be more focused. They can do one thing great. They can develop specific expertise. But most choose not to, opting instead for a "sure, we can do that!" approach.

If you want to successfully position your agency, consider the intersection of three overlapping circles:

* Your Company - roots, values, beliefs, strengths, passions...
* Your Clients - wants, needs, dreams...
* Your Competitors - weaknesses, whitespace...

Each of those circles requires some healthy exploration, so be prepared to give your own positioning the time it deserves (months, not days). And, as Jeff points out, you have to commit to living it (years, not weeks).

My company, Three Deuce Branding, is a pure positioning, strategy and ideation consultancy. It's easy to articulate our difference: "We help brands answer their two most important questions: What will we stand for? And how will we get there?" Most agencies aren't nearly as clear about what they do, nor are most agencies truly expert in brand strategy (which they too often confuse with communications strategy). And so we win a certain amount of business from them on this basis. (Since Three Deuce doesn't touch creative or execution, we also partner with agencies quite often, each of us doing what we do best.)

In the 12 years since I founded Three Deuce, and the 20 years I've been in some form of marketing, I've seen a number of extremely talented creative people and organizations fail because they neither defined nor lived their difference. That's a small tragedy. Take Jeff's lead and make your own positioning a priority.

The benefits of a clear brand positioning and bold brand strategy are almost too numerous to list, but they include efficiency, profits and customer loyalty. To find out more, visit ThreeDeuce.com, or contact me directly at matthew[at]ThreeDeuce[dot]com.