Thanks to the digital boom it’s easier than ever to access products and services for almost anything. Just as we are no longer bound to the goods offered by local shops—though it’s always best to shop local whenever possible—companies are no longer obligated to use only their local marketing agencies.
In an age when subscribing to only the channels or goods we need is the norm, choosing from this broad network of marketing agencies is hugely beneficial. It opens doors to a wider range of specialized skills, allowing you to partner with an agency for SEO services or PPC creation and placement, while your day-to-day marketing efforts remain in-house, for example.
Yet more and more, companies seem to be employing multiple agencies concurrently. While this can work fine when services and projects differ, overlapping campaigns can result in issues.
Brand Dilution and Inconsistency
Without strong central guidance, different agencies might present your brand differently, leading to inconsistencies that confuse customers.
Brand dilution matters for several reasons:
- Loss of Identity: A diluted brand can lose its unique identity and become indistinguishable from competitors. This is huge—dilution of your brand makes it harder for customers to recognize and remember you. It also becomes harder to stand out from competitors in the market.
- Decreased Value: A diluted brand can hurt the credibility of your products or services. Dilution of your brand impacts the perceived value of your goods. If your brand is no longer associated with quality and trust, customers tend to second-guess your prices.
- Difficulty in Marketing: A diluted brand can be harder and more expensive to market. It’s more challenging to create effective marketing campaigns when the brand message is unclear or inconsistent.
Brand Confusion
Managing multiple agencies requires more effort. Poor communication can lead to confusion, delays, and missed opportunities. Without proper management and communication, agencies might work in silos, leading to disjointed campaigns, mixed messaging, or very different designs that result in brand confusion.
- Inconsistent Branding: While using multiple marketing agencies may feel like a great way to brainstorm different campaign ideas if your branding isn’t consistent from one campaign to the next customers can get confused. They may not recognize your brand in different contexts or understand what it represents.
- Similar Campaigns or Logos: Trying to stand out from competitors can be challenging. While it’s good to keep an eye on what the competition is good, it’s important to stay true to your brand. When two companies have names or logos that look or sound alike, it can lead to confusion. Customers may mistakenly purchase products from the wrong brand or associate one brand’s qualities with another.
Mitigate brand confusion by striving for clear, consistent, and distinctive branding.
Bidding Against Yourself
If you use multiple marketing agencies for digital ads communication is even more important. Without proper communication between the agencies, they may end up bidding against each other for the same keywords.
Why is it problematic to bid against yourself in ads?
- Increased Costs: When agencies bid against each other in pay-per-click (PPC) ads, they can drive up the cost-per-click (CPC) for those keywords. This means you end up paying more for ads, reducing the overall return on investment (ROI) for your marketing efforts.
- Inefficient Use of Budget: Bidding against each other wastes your ad budget. Instead of reaching a wider audience or investing in other marketing channels, the money is spent on inflated bids.
- Cannibalization: This practice can lead to cannibalization, where one agency’s ads are shown instead of another’s, but the overall number of clicks or conversions doesn’t increase. Essentially, you end up competing with yourself.
- Confusion and Lack of Control: Having multiple agencies bidding on the same keywords can make it difficult to track performance, attribute success, and maintain control over your digital marketing strategy.
Keeping Continuity in Your Brand
To avoid these issues, it’s generally better to consolidate your digital marketing efforts under one agency that should act as an extension of your in-house marketing team. This allows for better coordination, more efficient use of budget, and clearer insights into campaign performance. It also helps you to keep the continuity of your brand standards, which were created to define your company image, narrative, and goals.
If using multiple agencies is necessary, clear communication and division of responsibilities are crucial to prevent overlap and competition. Having a clear marketing strategy and a point person or team to manage and coordinate efforts can also help ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals.
Ready to consolidate your marketing efforts, avoid duplicate efforts, and ensure the continuity of your brand? OffWhite Marketing can help.
