Agency life can be tough. It's a competitive market with agencies constantly fighting for business, for some smaller agencies nabbing that one major deal is what keeps them afloat.
The agency big boys like MediaCom, Carat and MEC are producing awesome results, but these guys have massive teams behind them, backed by huge budgets.
Company size and cashflow aren't the only weapons in a successful agency's armory, there are many ways that any agency can stay ahead of the pack.
It's about being smart, doing your research and knowing even more about that client you're pitching to tomorrow than they do.
Traditional methods of market research, such as customer surveys and focus groups would have been used to gain an understanding and knowledge of a client's customer base, competitors and wider market.
However, we're living in a digital age now and an agency ignoring social data puts is like trying to operate in the middle ages.
So using social data how can agencies staying ahead in this fierce market?
1. Tell me something I don't know
Being able to demonstrate ways consumers are using a product, especially those that the brand weren't aware of, could highlight a massive growth area for the business.
Looking at conversation online surrounding a particular product and identifying key topics or themes within the data can highlight potential new business opportunities or relationships, but also help streamline messaging and campaigns.
2. Superfans
The client you're pitching to should know the fans and advocates engaging with them on their own channels, but that is not the only place people are going to be talking about them.
Delving into the web and unearthing forums dedicated to a certain product, run solely by fans, could be somewhere the brand should be engaging or exploiting.
You may be able to locate some hugely influential brand advocates and new channels of opportunities.
3. What is the point?
All brands are using social, well we hope they are anyway (if not, get in touch!). The bigger question here however is: are they doing it right?
Measuring the success of the Facebook or Twitter campaigns a brand has run in the past, being able to tell them the impact a piece of content had, the reach and level of engagement it had allows the brand to evaluate if their current strategy is working or if its time to reassess.
4. Keeping an eye on the enemy
What is working, and even more importantly what isn't working, for a brand's competitors is pure solid gold.
Being able to demonstrate an understanding of the wider industry, who the major competitors are, perhaps even competitors you weren't aware about provides amazing leverage for a brand.
Is that campaign your biggest rival ran last month doing well, what engagement did they get. What are people saying about their latest product. This information provides a brand with a window of opportunity.
5. We want it now
Being able to walk into a pitch having identified a clear opportunity for growth of a brand, well that's just pure winning right there.
Using social data to listen to what consumers really want, identifying a gap in the market, ways to improve a current product, perhaps features consumers are asking for shows you've done your homework.
Now we can't guarantee you that doing all the above is going to secure the win, but you're going to go into that pitch with alot of insight and knowledge, having that under your belt may make all the difference.