As you embark upon selecting an advertising or marketing agency, is their physical location important?  As a marketing agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, we serve clients across the country, in addition to many here locally.  There are definitely some cases where I would say that location is important, but as communication and technology evolve, for many the location of their ad agencies doesn't matter much.

We just began work for two firms based in Atlanta, and they definitely were not looking for a Cincinnati ad agency.  What they were looking for was the right mix of marketing strategy experience, creative talent, business acumen, and knowledge of their industry.  For both clients, R.O.Why! Marketing fit the bill very well.  We've delivered branding, email marketing, search engine optimization, event marketing, advertising and other interactive marketing programs for companies in their industries.  We were familiar with the challenges they're facing, so location was much less of an issue.  In fact, we even offered to visit one of them for the project kickoff meeting and the client didn't feel it was necessary.  They work very well on the phone and over the web.

A great tool for addressing the issue of location of our marketing firm has been online marketing project management and client collaboration software.  We use a great produce called Basecamp from 37 Signals.  It's fast, easy to use, and our clients love it.  The product centralizes communication, files, milestones, and tasks in one place and has dramatically cut down on the email clutter & confusion.

My advice for companies selecting an ad agency in Ohio or anywhere else:  Find the marketing firm that can competently address your challenges with creative marketing solutions.  With great communication and strong marketing results, location becomes much less of an issue.

Ever hear this question?  Back when I was on the client side, I used to hear it all the time.  "Why don't we just hire more salespeople?" was a question I got asked quite a bit.  Here's a snipped of an article I wrote a while back.  Based on the feedback we consistently received from companies looking for a Cincinnati advertising agency, it's as relevent as ever.

Why Should I Spend More Money on Marketing?
This question has been asked of thousands of marketing executives and their ad agencies in the last decade.  And it’s a good one.  Why should you be given additional marketing dollars?  Advertising, branding, PR – none of these has an immediate impact on sales, do they?

Nothing spurs the demand for a clear picture of marketing ROI more than the current business climate.  As competition continues to go global, corporate spending is increasingly under the microscope as business leaders are charged with finding that elusive return on investment.

For decades the marketing function was immune from the demands of accountability for performance, seen as a necessary function that could not be measured.  But like other infrastructure investments, the executive team now demands near-immediate payback from marketing spending, or at a minimum, a schedule of when and how much ROI will be achieved.

Two key issues are behind the achievement of marketing ROI - a thorough understanding of the customer’s objectives, and an alignment of operational business processes with the customer’s buying process. 

Get the rest of the article here.