Why Advertising Is Incomplete Without a True Marketing Strategy

Posted on November 13, 2017 in Marketing

It’s no surprise that most agencies are overflowing with creative talent. Step into any agency’s workplace, and you will be met with dazzling graphic design, seductive copywriting, and eye-catching videography. This creative talent is one of an agency’s greatest assets, and it’s a key component of the greatest advertising we see today. And yet, creative talent doesn’t cut it — not by itself. Without a true marketing strategy, all that creativity is worth jack squat.

It’s easy for agencies to win over potential clients with their creative prowess. Anyone can put together a beautiful portfolio of web design and creative work. The hard part is applying that creative talent towards a bold, solution-oriented marketing strategy.

Your strategy is the big picture view of your situation, your goal, and how you achieve that goal. It guides all of your advertising efforts. This overarching marketing strategy provides purpose, direction, and drive to your advertising, pushing you closer to the goal. It ties all of your advertising together to create synergy and get results that would have otherwise been impossible. Lastly, a marketing strategy is your approach for making sure large audiences see your beautiful work.

Without an overarching marketing strategy, your advertising is rudderless. It’s not built to foster growth or address any of your problems, it’s just creative expression.

A marketing strategy ensures your advertising is designed to fix your specific problems.

Remember when Apple had that really odd, ugly logo? Neither do we. This is partly because it’s old, but also because Apple has done a tremendous job of positioning themselves as a stylish tech company for many years. This initial rebranding and the development of their minimalist, rainbow logo wasn’t just the result of creativity, but creativity driven by a marketing strategy. Steve Jobs knew stylish advertising would differentiate their products and appeal to average consumers, carving out a market share beyond the tech nerds.

A marketing strategy is your way of making sure a large audience views your advertising.

Once you’ve developed beautiful content or advertisement, you want to show it off to the world. That’s where a marketing strategy comes in. Your marketing strategy is how you’ll promote, share, and spread your message far and wide across multiple channels. This is your strategy for cutting through the noise and competition to put your advertisement in front of the right people.

A marketing strategy ties everything together into a strong, cohesive whole.

Imagine you watch three TV spots for the same pizza restaurant. The first emphasizes their low cost, the second talks about the quality of their ingredients, and the third talks about how fast their delivery is. All of these sound great, but leave you with a hazy idea of what this company is actually known for. If all three ads emphasized the same thing, you’d have a much stronger and defined image of this company. A marketing strategy ensures your brand, tone, and messaging remains uniform across all advertisements, leaving audiences with a clear idea of who you are.

In short, advertising won’t cut it without an experience-driven, solution-oriented marketing strategy. You need creativity, but you also need marketing expertise. The right ad agency will give you both.