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What is Normal Anyway?

Like all businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic most certainly has had a profound impact on ReThinc Advertising. We’ve shuttered our office and responsibly worked from home for the past eight weeks. Our clients have slashed budgets, curtailed operations, and done everything they can to weather the economic devastation we’ve all experienced these past two months.

As we endeavor to return, everyone is preparing for the ‘new normal’ … which is the term used to describe how our country will operate now that we have a highly contagious and deadly virus in our midst. People who own businesses are having to reinvent themselves in a big way. It makes sense that you simply cannot operate the way you did before COVID-19.

But what has ever been normal to a marketing agency? I mean, we are constantly adapting to changes both minor and major on literally a daily basis. I’m not trying to sound cynical, but I don’t think this ‘new normal’ applies to our industry.

A good ad agency doesn’t know normal.

I will say that our industry will need to sharpen their collective pencil. Tighter budgets and tougher times warrant greater marketing efficiencies as well as greater scrutiny on results. Changes in consumer habits and consumption mean we need to understand trends to put our clients in their best position to succeed.

It’s about now that I go on and on about how we were founded in 2008 during a historic recession therefore we’ve always been predisposed to be efficient with our client’s budgets … and so on.

But that’s not what this blog is about. A good ad agency (and there are a lot of them in this market) will adapt. We never stop adapting. We have to … ad agencies that don’t adapt go out of business.

The one constant in our world is that a good ad agency will make money for the business that hires them. The complexity in formulating and executing a sound marketing strategy today is practically astounding. Rates for both digital and traditional media fluctuate almost as widely as their abilities to be efficacious. (Google that big word here). A good ad agency provides persuasive creative while clearing up the inherently opaque nature of digital marketing, sponsorship opportunities, and traditional media.

This new normal doesn’t keep me up at night. It might if I was selling a particular product as opposed to a service.

I’m receiving emails from media entities that are trying to convince me that their listeners, viewers, followers, etc. are all collectively reaching for their credit cards and are ready to buy … they just need to hear, see, or read an ad from one of my clients. (That’s the longest sentence I have ever written.) I completely understand why they are putting that message out there and I’m here to disseminate it for my clients.

To everyone that owns a business … now is the time to hire an efficient, affordable, and experienced ad agency to make the very most out of what most certainly is a shrinking marketing budget and a noisy marketplace that will be selling hard.

Here’s a list of just a few of the ad agencies in this market that I think do a great job for their clients. If you’re concerned about making the most of your ad budget during this new normal, contact us or any one of these awesome people…

Colling Media
Brian Colling – brian@collingmedia.com
Lane Terralever
Beau Lane – beau.lane@laneterralever.com
Lavidge
Betsey Griffin – bgriffin@lavidge.com
Owens Harkey
Scott Harkey – scott@owensharkey.com
Highnoon
Ray Artigue – ray.artigue@highnoon.co
James Agency
Veronique James – veronique@thejamesagency.com
Widsix
John Roope – john@widsix.com
Serendipit
Melissa DiGianfilipo – melissa@serendipitconsulting.com
Park&Co
Park Howell – park@businessofstory.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Ed Olsen is the president/owner of ReThinc Advertising. He has lots of opinions on all things marketing. To read more of them, click here.

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