“In a digital-first economy, it makes all the difference to partner with firms whose core competency is digital marketing and advertising”
-Nathan Misirian, founder of Autumn Consulting
Among marketing, advertising and technology firms, Autumn fuses the best of all three worlds: we bring in the strategy and sophisticated ideas of marketing firms, the creative and amazing first impressions of advertising firms and the IT- centric solutions of technology firms. At Autumn, we implement a Google-centric approach, integrating strengths from across traditional industry barriers to provide measurable results. We provide expertise to B2B- oriented businesses who seek to grow.
Growth can mean different things to different businesses. To some, it means elevating their brand to attract talent and stand apart from the competition. To others, it means building a modern, digital presence to increase brand reputation and, and to others it means engaging with qualified prospects who are searching for answers. We work with our clients to define what growth means to them, and then develop a strategy, along with an actionable implementation plan, to achieve that growth.
Two common approaches to marketing strategy implementation and their pitfalls:
- Often firms will use a marketing firm to develop a plan which is rich with research, and features impressive creative and an entire campaign with flashy slogans. For example, this is often done by national retail brands. The significant issue here is the high cost, long process and very minimal digital emphasis - generally, there is a glaring clack of SEO strategy in this work. This kind of approach generally only works for brands with very high brand awareness, one that very few companies have.
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- For example: The advertising agency Bader Rutter does beautiful work, and for one of their clients, Brunch Bar, they developed a beautiful brand from scratch, including beautiful packaging and a brand identity, as well as a flashy website. Unfortunately, the Brunch Bar website, no matter how beautiful it is, doesn’t show up on any Google search results.
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- Another example is a “homegrown” plan, which has morphed and changed with lots of input from leaders, team members and consultants. We find that the greatest downside here is the lack of continuity and minimal expertise in digital go-to-market strategy. In practice, this kind of approach ends up failing due to the clobbered together nature and the inconsistencies and incongruencies that come with it.
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- For example: The supply chain and transportation company Pitt Ohio has a website that lacks direction and readability. Even worse, when searching for keywords that are relevant to their business, the Pitt Ohio website is no where to be found on the first page of Google results. This is because there is no strategy behind the content of the website, nor is it optimised with SEO best practices to appear as a top result in Google search.
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The Autumn advantage: a Google-centric approach that integrates strengths from across traditional industry barriers
At Autumn, SEO and digital strategy aren’t simply an afterthought to a flashy, expensive campaign. Likewise, SEO isn’t just another patchwork, bandaid solution to a heap of other mis-matched strategies and tactics. In our world, SEO and digital strategy are an integral part of everything we build. This approach means it’s a part of the very foundational strategy we develop from the very ground up.
The art of being at the right place at the right time when your ideal customer is looking
Unlike ad agencies, we don’t assume that your ideal future customer is going to type your exact web address into the browser, instead, we assume that they will take to Google and search for an answer to their problem - and when they do so, you and your business should show up front and center. But in order for you to show up when your ideal customer searches for you, you need to know who your ideal customer is, what questions your ideal customer has, and what services you can provide in order to best serve them. Without this, your thoughtfully designed branding and well-designed pamphlets won’t accomplish anything.
For example, we worked with (and continue to work with) an innovative funeral home in Elgrin, Il, Symonds Madison. When we were tasked with launching an entirely new website for them, SEO and sound digital strategy were a key part of everything we did.
Take something as simple as a piece of informational content on the webpage. When working with Autumn, every single element of it is optimized for performance in the digital space:
Stepping on the brakes to accelerate in the right direction
Sometimes, even if you’re already working on a digital-first marketing strategy, something isn’t quite right. It may not be the digital marketing and the various tactics you’re using that’s the issue, it may be the very foundation of the tactics, the strategy itself, that is the issue. In cases like this, it makes sense to first take a step back to analyse and reflect, in effect, stepping on the brakes and then accelerating, this time in the direction that you are confident in.
Autumn is your partner for all of it: from the strategy development to the tactical execution.
If you’d like to discuss your marketing strategy and the implementation of your strategy, get in touch with us.
