Agency founder and MD

Back on track - helping an agency grow

Our client is a relatively new agency, established just 5 years ago and specialises in the increasingly important area of internal communications. Early in its existence it secured a substantial piece of business which came very much on the back of the founders' expertise. GEM's brief was to help the agency build on this excellent start and to help the agency reduce its reliance on that prestigious first account. 

GEM's initial task was to appraise the agency's positioning and marketing strategy which had been developed in the agency's early days. GEM's recommendation was to simplify the proposition and seek to make this much clearer to help ensure some 'cut-through' in the new business arena. 

The agency took on board these recommendations and also updated its credentials material and its initial new business presentation in line with GEM's guidance. 

The next stage of activity was identifying prospect companies and individuals within those organisations with whom the agency should build a dialogue. GEM built a prospect database and validated the contact names through telemarketing. The contact strategy was to use direct mail to initially raise some awareness of the agency's proposition and then to contact individuals to start a dialogue and arrange credentials meetings.

After some initial preparatory work the programme got fully underway in February 2006. GEM came up with an idea for an initial approach mailing piece which was developed by the agency and this proved to be an arresting and memorable 'door opener'. As a result of this and GEM's subsequent telemarketing, in the first 6 months of activity, meetings were set up with identified decision makers in 14 major organisations including the likes of Tesco, Royal Bank of Scotland, Yell and HP. 

The building of this impressive pipeline has continued to yield big dividends in 2007, with the agency being appointed to work for a Government agency and then winning a competitive pitch for the production of the staff magazine for one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The agency is revised its new business figures upward after hitting its annual target in the first 3 months of the year!

As with many other clients, GEM's contribution has subsequently gone beyond pure business development activity and in this case has also included running a 'financial awareness' workshop for the agency's client facing teams tasked with optimising the return on clients they manage. 

Asked to comment about GEM's contribution the founder and Managing Director of this agency was kind enough to say,

“The support we’ve had from GEM has been invaluable over the time we’ve been working with them. They have excellent strategic strengths and back this up withpractical help and are not afraid to roll their sleeves up to implement their recommendations’. GEM have played a big part in an important growth period for us and they continue to have an integral part in driving our agency forward.”

Back on track - helping a B2B agency broaden its appeal

Our client, a specialist b2b marcomms agency was established 20 years ago and had established a reputation as an electronics specialist, with clients in the UK, Europe and the US. 

However, a downturn in the US and European electronics industry and with more manufacturing moving to the Far East put both clients and the agency under pressure. The agency wanted to broaden its appeal and its client base. 

GEM were brought in to appraise the situation and make recommendations on how to reposition the business and put in place practical steps to win new clients.

Having carried out an audit of the agency, GEM felt that the business had the skills and experience to appeal to a wider range of technology based b2b clients rather than the tight focus on electronics. The agency brand image and positioning were refreshed taking on board GEM's recommendations to target a broader, more diverse audience. New collateral and website were produced by the agency to GEM's brief as well as a highly innovative direct mailing piece and GEM planned and implemented a targeted new business programme which started towards the end of 2004. Over the next 8 months, 33 appointments were arranged with prospect companies across a range of b2b sectors. 

Many of these meetings have led to continuing on-going dialogues, moreover, as a direct result of the activity the agency secured two significant clients, one a fast expanding lighting specialist and the other a major player in the field of industrial refrigerants, plus other project based assignments. As a result the agency's revenue has climbed by nearly 40% in the past year and consequently it is looking forward to meeting its target of returning to its turnover high point of the late 1990's. 

Alongside the new business activity, GEM has supported the agency in new business pitches, helping structure, plan and deliver these, working on strategic marketing projects for existing clients and even assisting in the recruitment and selection of new members of the agency team as the headcount has once again been increased. 

The Managing Director of the agency was pleased to give us the following testimonial: 

"We've really valued the advice, guidance and support we've had from GEM. They have excellent strategic strengths but back this up with practical help and really 'get stuck in' to make things happen. GEM has been instrumental in turning things around for us and we look forward to their future contribution to the business as it grows once more."