As marketing has evolved in the digital age, one model has undoubtedly become the most popular — the agency. Marketing agencies have become more and more prevalent as organizations realize the need to create a digital presence but often lack the time and resources to do so.
And while agencies can certainly produce great marketing, the agency framework is no longer sufficient when it comes to delivering tremendous value that results in long-term, holistic revenue growth.
Modern marketing has evolved beyond the need for assembly-line production based on traditional marketing practices that have worked in the past. Consumers are changing, and the industry has to evolve alongside them to deliver growth marketing strategies that produce results.
That’s where the marketing studio comes into play. Rev Studio was born from a simple principle — we are more than an agency. Here’s what we mean by that.
What Is a Marketing Agency?
If you’re in search of a marketing agency, chances are you expect execution-based engagements — write this blog, share this social media post, make a website.
This constant idea of production has become synonymous with marketing agencies, and it has led to an unhealthy, unproductive approach to marketing. Clients working with marketing agencies have the idea that they lead the engagement — they want something done to their exact requirements even if it’s not the most beneficial.
Why? Because traditional marketing agencies often lack the most important aspect of marketing in the first place — strategy. Many agencies value production over strategy, leading to toxic work environments and high burnout rates from creatives who are constantly forced to fit their creativity in a certain box.
In turn, clients are often left unsatisfied with the work they pay for because it fails to generate revenue. That’s not what marketing should be.
What Is a Marketing Studio?
A marketing studio combines the art and science of marketing to develop strategic, data-driven marketing initiatives that result in revenue growth. Rather than blindly produce marketing material that may or may not generate results, marketing studios take the necessary time to research, test, optimize, and scale every marketing strategy until it generates results.
It’s impossible to engage a studio for “just content marketing” or “a new website” or “spinning up my HubSpot.” When marketing deliverables are segmented that way, it’s impossible to develop a full-funnel marketing strategy. Studios aim to create a revenue-generating inbound marketing engine, not just execute disconnected marketing tasks.
This does not come together overnight. It requires:
- Extensive brand-strategy research and development which fuels the go-to-market strategy
- A data-driven inbound marketing engine that includes a personalized experience for up to 50 unique ideal client profiles (ICPs) and buyer personas
- A full-funnel strategy that generates qualified marketing leads of people who are showing interest, intent, and are ready to speak to sales or complete the purchase online
From Brand Ideation to Revenue Generation
Marketing studios begin with brand ideation before strategizing how that brand ultimately results in revenue generation.
The brand must be beautifully built based on the psychological and emotional habits and desires of the buyer. Brand strategy bleeds into go-to-market strategy. All work is based on proven data and gut-instinct opinions (yes, you need both objective and subjective research to form a strategy). This includes:
- Primary research
- Voice of the customer, prospects, and lost clients survey
- Secret shopping
- Competitive analysis
- Buyer journey map (psychological traits, emotional drivers, and behavioral habits that lead to buying decisions)
With a brand strategy firmly in place, you can begin developing a marketing strategy. Brand strategy is the vision while marketing strategy is determining how that vision comes to life and makes you money.
Data-driven marketing requires understanding the gap analysis between the current state and desired future state, resulting in the need for a plethora of audits and market research on:
- Paid Media
- SEO
- Keyword Strategy
- Content Production
- Social Media
- Podcasting
- Webinar
- ICPs
- Buyer Personas
Those audits reveal the gap between the current state and the desired future state which then turns into a 6-12 month roadmap of granular-level execution strategy with visibility into each marketing tactic’s performance.
At long last, it’s time to begin executing the strategy. However, most marketing agencies breeze past all the steps before execution can begin, resulting in directionless production that is not supported by data.
What Do Studios Specialize In?
In essence, marketing studios do everything that traditional agencies do with the addition of strategy, optimization, and transparency. Studios demystify marketing to provide a clear insight into what’s being done (the execution) and why it’s being done (the strategy), all while backing it up with data-proven processes.
When working with a marketing studio, you can expect:
- Primary market research
- Voice of the customer, prospects, and lost clients surveys
- Secret shopping
- Competitive analysis
- Buyer journey maps
- ICP & buyer persona development
- HubSpot implementations
- Growth-driven web design and construction on HubSpot CMS, WordPress, Shopify, and more
- SEO-verified content marketing
- Graphic design
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Paid media
- Digital advertising
- Podcasting
- Webinars
- Direct mail
- Marketing automation and workflows
- Marketing KPIs, data, analytics, and dashboards
- Sales Enablement
- Sales decks
- Brochures
- Product marketing
- Partner/channel marketing
- One page flyers
- Proposals
- Customer Success Enablement
- New client welcome packets
- Client communication
- Client newsletters
- Client webinars for education, up-sell, and revenue expansion
- Client referral incentive program marketing
- Branded client knowledge base and resource center
See What We Can Do for You
At House of Revenue®, we’re ready to offer the strategic approach to marketing that your organization deserves. We don’t just sit down and crank out directionless work in hopes of something coming together in the end.
We take the time to intimately understand you and your customers to create meaningful strategies that produce results: Contact us today.
