Methodologies & Intellectual Property (Step 6 to “Becoming a Momentum Agency”)

This is the sixth in a series of nine pieces which share our in-depth thoughts on how your firm can become a Momentum Agency. These are agencies that consistently outpace the industry in terms of revenue growth, profitability and a culture that attracts A-level talent.

Recap to date: Momentum Agencies do an outstanding job in managing the nine variables that drive growth and success over time. In our experience, these growth drivers are:

1. A compelling mission that attracts talent and clients.

2. Defined vision with a strategic plan on how to achieve it.

3. Differentiated and compelling value proposition defined by deep knowledge and expertise.

4. Strong leadership which extends far beyond the agency owner/CEO.

5. Organizational structure and talent that effectively and efficiently sell and service the value proposition.

6. A belief in core methodologies and process. (The subject of this document)

7. Culture (including formal training around those methodologies).

8. A dedicated new business development function.

9. Understanding how to manage an agency for fair profit.

Your methodologies are crucial to success, both externally and internally. 

For your clients and prospects, having well-designed methodologies provides a sense of differentiation by demonstrating that your firm is indeed not the same as everyone else. They add support to why you’re the best agency to meet that prospect’s needs.  

Internally, having the right methodologies in place moves the agency away from relying upon “tribal” knowledge which exists haphazardly from team to team and as people come and go. Your collective knowledge, wisdom and experience become institutionalized for the ongoing benefit of all. 

These methodologies formalize how your services are delivered to clients so they have a consistent, positive and predictable experience in working with you. Similarly, they’re once again important internally by establishing a consistent experience (and expectations) for your staff across:

• Leader to leader

• Operations

• Client service

• Talent management

• New business 

Your methodologies are the structural pillars for your agency’s stability, growth and future success. 

Methodology + Intellectual Property = A winning advantage for you. 

Properly constructed, your methodology explains your “How”… how your agency achieves consistently better results for clients than competitors can. This is your secret sauce. It reflects the deep knowledge and experience that are the core of your agency’s value proposition.  

It demonstrates your strategic approach to delivering meaningful integration across the PESO media spectrum (paid, earned, shared, owned). And it conveys a calming sense of assurance that your firm will meet clients’ goals and expectations. 

Turning to intellectual property, IP reflects your agency’s “Experience Reservoir”. It can take the form of proprietary products and services, process or marketing platforms. Such as:

• Products and process that offer differentiated solutions for data, measurement, branding, creative/content development, earned media, social media strategy and tactics, web/technology and more.

• Marketing platforms which lead to thought leadership concepts that provide opportunities for many related pieces of content and speaking points.

• A host of fresh, uncommon insights not easily found elsewhere (and generated by applying instinct and judgment to your deep experience and knowledge). 

Your methodology and IP make your agency’s thinking and work more thoughtful and more effective than competitors. Together, they drive a more complete understanding of your client’s industry (or category). This then leads directly to quicker and deeper insights… stronger strategies… more distinctive tactical plans… true channel optimization… and better results. 

So many clients are searching for marketing salvation. This is how you can deliver it to them. 

Your methodology and IP will make you much stronger internally too. 

The first fundamental benefit within the agency of methodology and IP is consistency. Your core processes establish a formalized, predictable and welcome normalcy. They inform all staff members how everything within the agency is expected to be done. This saves time, eliminates disagreement and helps to safeguard service quality. 

For example:

1. Consistency ensures that clients get the same experience regardless of the team assigned to the account.

2. Consistency also ensures that staff understands how client management and new business are supposed to work from leader to leader. It tells everyone what to expect, time after time, project after project.

3. It provides the agency owner with a system for “letting go” but remaining confident that the firm will still get things done correctly.

4. It also establishes the foundation for agency growth and avoiding chaos as you add more and more new staff members. 

The second fundamental benefit is building institutional knowledge. As we work with agencies throughout the country, we often uncover evidence of impressive successes for clients or potentially game-changing strategic insights that have somehow become buried in the past. These are too important to have been lost. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

As staff members gain more experience and comfort in executing the agency’s methodologies and IP, they will become more skilled at preserving and passing on this knowledge. They will also become ever more adept at teaching to others what they themselves have been taught. 

Your methodologies and IP become the building blocks for your staff’s professional development training program and new staff integration in all areas of the agency (client service, operations, talent, new business and more). You’ll be building your next-generation leaders… and you will see them develop. 

So what’s the bottom line? 

Here’s the essence of our thinking on methodology and intellectual property. They:

• Are critically important support for your agency’s value proposition.

• Provide a consistent and predictable experience for both clients and staff.

• Also provide the basis for educating staff and building next-generation leadership. 

To borrow from “Field of Dreams”: If you build it, they will come. 

Prosper Group is here to help you succeed. 

We exist to help the owners of independent marketing communications agencies achieve their goals and maximize the value of their life’s work. 

We have the people, experience and proven proprietary methodologies to help you develop highly effective growth drivers for your agency including Mission, Vision, Value Proposition, Leadership, Organizational Structure & Talent and Methodologies & Intellectual Property. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.