Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Superman encompasses talents that are unparalleled. And yet, even he has to rely on the Justice League to tackle the toughest challenges.
At EAG we understand what it’s like to work alone. Many of our staff come from backgrounds where they single-handedly filled the role of an entire marketing staff for a small business. There are certain aspects of being a small-staff marketing director or officer that create an exciting and challenging job. You often get to wear multiple marketing hats that force you to expand your skill set on every front from web development, email marketing, social media engagement and public relations to graphic design. There’s no stone left unturned for the one-man (or woman) marketing pro. You’re often involved in every aspect of the business, establishing internal processes, event planning and even IT support.
The challenge of wearing multiple hats is what makes your day-to-day duties interesting. It’s those very same challenges that can lead to pitfalls that can weaken your marketing strategy. Here are just some of the dangers of working alone:
All tactical, all the time
A small-staff business usually comes with heavy workloads. When the workload piles up, your marketing role turns all-tactical, all the time. You’re busy working on deliverables; print ads once a month, social media once a week, updating collateral… the list goes on and on. You still have new ideas (great ideas, actually), but wrapping your head around how to implement them often moves them to the back burner with all the tactical work on your plate.
Narrowing of professional development
You might still be attending regular meetings and staying engaged on what your industry is doing, but can you really become an expert in all the best practices available for audience connection such as SEO, PPC, landing pages, nurture campaigns and more? Can you sift through the noise to find which of the latest avenues for social media engagement are the best fit for your demographic? Chances are no. You’re too busy.
No time for analysis
The demands of being on a team of one make your job one of decisiveness. You get to make powerful decisions every day. But with great power comes great responsibility1. Responsibly managing all your marketing efforts requires analysis and understanding of which channels are working best and which ones need tweaking. Lack of analysis on your marketing efforts leads to a lack of clear strategy or one gone awry.
When you need clarity in strategy. When you need collaboration. When you need a minute to step back to see the forest through the trees. That’s when you need to call in the Justice League… or EAG, your marketing super team. Our team’s various backgrounds combined with our diverse portfolio of small business and entrepreneur clientele have allowed us to grow as marketing collaboration experts. We understand your challenges, we understand your business and we understand that there’s no better expert than you, the marketing director, who has touched every aspect of your small business because you’ve had to.
Collaboration with an agency doesn’t just ease your workload. We help you clarify your strategy. We help you understand what works and how to take those successes to the next level. We help bring diversity to brainstorming new ways to reach your customers and grow your business.
The Justice League isn’t successful because every hero is perfect. It’s successful because when you have a diverse set of skills (mind reading, super strength, laser beams that shoot out of your eyes) the best ideas prevail. At EAG we’re not superheroes, but we do believe in small business miracles. Through the power of collaboration, we’ve got the backs of marketing superheroes like you.
Erin Fletcher
Account Director / Captain Marvelous
1“With great power comes great responsibility” is a variation of a phrase initially used in a collection of decrees made during the French Revolution and has been used throughout history by several well-known leaders such as Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The phrase was later popularized by graphic novelist, Stan Lee in a 1962 issue of the comic book “Amazing Fantasy” in which the heroic figure Spider-Man was introduced. EAG is aware that by using an iteration of this quote they have mixed fantasy characters (Superman and Spider-Man) from both DC and Marvel universes and assumes the risk of causing great controversy among our readers.