There are six important trends that are defining how digital agencies and our associates engage in business, and how they will provide and place digital content today and for the coming years.
Below, we highlight how digital agencies such as Bang Consulting are seeking to augment their services to match with these trends.
1. More for the Same
Budgets are always constrained, which is not a surprise. Commissioners are looking to get more value with similar budgets. Agencies are hence called upon to provide more value and still achieve a profit on every project.
One solution we are trying with our clients while adhering to budgets is to come up with techniques to generate multiple assets from a single content piece. For instance, from a video about a client narration, we fashion out different media such as short clips, explainer videos, sound bites and various other content formats that can be deployed in various channels. In addition, we collaborate with our agency and clients to propose solutions they can employ to fully utilise the assets created and generate more value.
2. People-Oriented
There is an undergoing monumental switch within global and SME companies towards a people-centric approach and they are putting their communication resources towards this. This trend is full-fledged and is more prevalent now than it has ever been before. These initiatives are likely to gain more traction in 2019 and they seek better employee engagement.
Our agencies will come in handy by assisting our clients to identify content gaps and recommend areas where personalisation needs to be emphasised to improve engagement. There is enough scope to create content for large audiences and personalised content for specific niches. This dynamic makes it easier to produce an array of engaging content while still remaining within budgetary confines.
3. In-House Teams
These should not be perceived as a threat by external agencies; instead, they should be treated as opportunities. In-house teams have always existed. Now agencies just have to come up with ways to complement and collaborate with in-house teams instead of treating them as a threat. Open communication, introducing fresh concepts or tweaking ideas is an ideal point to start.
For us, we always strive to create enduring partnerships with internal teams, essentially becoming a part of the team. We are also aware that some projects are executed best when done internally. This means that in-house teams can allocate their budgets in an optimal manner to achieve the best results.
4. Get Over It
Always, there will be a person who can do the job at a significantly lower cost. However, an agency is all about delivering superior value and a different perspective. It is critical that our clients understand that the value of the service is more important than the cost. At times this proposition can be a difficult sell to video-savvy commissioners but an external agency will always have fresh ideas, new perspectives and better insight by being more experienced.
5. What Will Be the Impact of Brexit?
The confusion, predictions and ridiculous behaviour around Brexit are out of this world. Making a forecast on its effect on your business can be a fool’s errand that is not worth the effort. However, this is the best time to demonstrate the efficacy of your marketing and communication campaigns and fighting for a sizeable budget allocation. It is very easy to measure the performance of digital initiatives through various metrics. If you are not keen on metrics, identify key metrics that are crucial and start tracking and reporting performance of campaigns based on these metrics.
6. The Biggest Opportunity
Social media is still where exponential growth lies. With LinkedIn moving towards video there will be significant demand for high-value content that meets standards. Social media platforms will be focusing on smarter video delivery meaning agencies will have to come up with innovative ways to stand out.
In recent years, video content has now become a major trend in marketing, communications and human resource. In the coming years, video content will just become more entrenched. SMEs and global businesses should place video at the centre of their marketing and communication strategies to achieve success.