You are an old hand at this!
So, the points of difference are going to be more in the detail rather than us offering anything revolutionary at this point, but I have a really good understanding of at least one of our key competitors having recently turned down a job there based on some aspects of how they were run.
We are service marketing specialists - which is important, as the marketing of an intangible product often doesn’t have retail, packaging etc to fall back on to create brand appeal and interest. About 85% of Australian small business income comes from the service sector, so this is definitely not a niche play.
We are the directors, and the feet on the ground. Unlike similar businesses which often pitch with the senior staff then send in a junior to service, the people who own the business will be the people who you deal with.
We’re (well, 2 of us are) working mothers starting our own business, as are well over half the small business startups in Australia who choose this as the corporate world just isn’t offering the flexibility and career progression we need at a time when our experience has matured and we’re ready to give back. This points towards finding common ground on working style and goals, but a lot of this business is going to be relationship driven, and it’s worth considering.
We offer a huge amount of segment marketing experience - able to interpret research, find relevant insights etc into how different customers will think and feel about the product, and where to approach them about it. This is money in the bank, providing for a less scattergun approach, and much more targeted creative.
The marketing will be specific to that business - many of the other agencies have a library of marketing plans for different industries and simple pull one off the shelf and update the details - it’s our aim not to do that.
Finally, creative - we understand how critical creative strategy is (surprisingly few marketers do!), and know how to work with creative agencies etc to achieve this, plus we have built up a great network of freelancers and agencies who we can refer the job to.
But we’re end to end marketers as well, and know how to stuff envelopes, man a stand and answer the phone as well as the person running the business. We want to work with people who love their brands almost as much as we will (ah, the long term vision where we are successful enough to choose who we work with!)