Introduction
The backbone of sales and marketing in any country, worldwide, is the right kind of Advertising. Advertising generates awareness about new products and services and good advertisements can make a company thrive and flourish while lousy advertising directly shows in the sales figures. Advertising is about having a creative edge over similar products in the market and thus, it is necessary to hire a competent ad agency. However, the successful managing and organization of the different departments of an ad agency is a daunting task (Wilson 2006). The article below shall provide some organizational and managerial tips for ad agencies.
Literature review
As the manager of an ad agency in contemporary U.K., one must keep up the flexibility of the organization as also be rigid about its conventional practices and codes of business. Ad agencies deal with cut-throat competition— they have to hold on to lucrative customers with the right amount of creative potential and PR tactics. Management of an ad agency will require thorough knowledge of the industry, the ability to think out of the box, a team of dedicated and creative professionals and proper interaction personnel with different companies. Mostly, you should possess degrees in marketing or advertising to tackle the challenging job. De Cieri indicated that “most CEO’s of ad agencies are partners in the business, which gives them more decision making power” (De Cieri 2008).
It is very important to follow up the efficiency of the different departments by holding weekly meetings and to use all possible forms of media to create more dynamic projects. If there are any delays in the project, it is mandatory that the client be informed in advance. An efficient manager also keeps track of the developments in the market and the strategies of competitive firms. Thus, as per Kuhn, “one could adopt the twin method of joining a professional advertising organization and read advertising publications to develop new strategies to maximize profits” (Kuhn 2007).
As a manager of a highly competitive ad agency, you must not be apprehensive about firing employees who do not reach the targets set by the company. Communicate their shortcomings in writing and devise an action plan for them. Also, avoid shady business practices like shortchanging or overcharging a client for any advertisement campaign— honesty in contracts will help build the goodwill of the company (Barlow 2007).
Direct involvement in the running of the different departments of the company is essential to evaluate the ad agency’s performance and public image. Meeting the key members of your staff in an informal capacity, like in a lunch break, will break barriers of communication and provide honest and useful insights about the action plans of the departments. Look up the ad promotions and campaigns on display and search for ethical employees and commend them or encourage them openly, to develop a healthy and dedicated work atmosphere (Roy 2008).
Examples of System concept
It should be stated that according to Bocij, “the objective of a system is normally very specific and often can be expressed in a single sentence” (Bocj 2006). Thus, the goal is very prominent from an organizational point of view. A manager needs to work accordingly to achieve this goal. However, there is a need to analyze the entire situation before acting. The “usage & applications of computer-based information systems by organisational level” (Bocj 2006) illustration indicates that competitor analysis, cash flow forecast and sales order invoice should be respectively based on strategic, tactical and operational mode as a transition process.
As a manager, you must set the goal for the staff— write a mission statement for your employees so that they can know the scope and targets of the company before they handle the demands of clients. Understand your agency’s limitations and specify them is important when you are tackling clients or industries. You can channelize your agency’s services into a specialized kind of marketing campaign, like street marketing teams or guerilla marketing that will make the right kind of clients come to you. It is very important to have a sharp and dedicated accounts department to perform a regular audit on every department of your ad agency so that there is a sharp focus on specific client needs because such approach would benefit the organization in a huge manner and would enable the management to overview the condition of the organization and plan beforehand on a long term basis. This can be archived by the proper use of evaluation of employees on a quarterly basis. Another mode of operation can be regular reviews of jobs and inspections without any prior notice would also be helpful. In case you are just starting off, it might be a good idea to partner with local freelancers and production studios as this will help in decreasing your annual designing budget as it would be cost effective in the sense that local freelancers would charge much less than hiring professionals of the field on a monthly basis. The same process can be followed by hiring freelance copywriters and graphic designers for projects. Taking the help of production studios will help in lowering your equipment and printing costs (Cameron & Green 2005). The creativity of the staff in your ad agency will help your growth. Thus, it is very essential to promote the gifted marketing and advertising experts by offering dynamic internships with supplementary practiced professionals in your company. Keeping in touch with interested candidates in local universities will help you get the right minds for your agency (King 2006). Company policies should be followed rigidly. Thus, it would be a great idea to organize an in-house training program for the entire staff so that they can learn the company’s policies. Veteran professionals in the field of advertising, sakes, copywriters and designers can be hired for these interactive training sessions (Jones 2009). As an efficient manager, it will be your responsibility to see that the agency’s website is updated with the news of every completed project as this will help draw more potential customers. Mention the time taken to complete the project and the budget on which your agency worked as both details are very necessary for your company’s reputation (Barney 2006). To get low-cost advertising for your ad agency, you might sponsor community events where the public will be easily drawn in large numbers. Advertising for college festivals might also draw the attention of the young brigade. Maintaining a personal touch with customers is very important for reviews of products and for creating awareness about new services in the market. Special clients can be invited for annual events or sports events to build patronage (Zimmerman 2006).
Conclusion
A good manager serves as the link between the employees of the agency and the company management at the top levels as the manager will convey hindrances and needs of the employees and also serve as the corporate voice to get the projects done within the prescribed deadlines and following the ethics of the company. Make sure that you review and approve all advertising projects and materials to be used as well as the hiring of models or celebrities to endorse the products. Check all clauses of all advertising contracts made for the company or for clients. Being thorough and alert is the key t success in the world of advertising. Last of all, the manager must develop healthy corporate relations with clients from different industries. There are several attributes to success. Punctuality is one of the main clauses along with accuracy of content and clarity of form. (Bocj 2006) The advertising world thrives on contacts and right timing and the manager has to be the face of the company.
References
Bocj. K., 2006. Managing Organizational Information. Pearson Custom Publishing, Australia.
Barlow, J., 2007. Employee software: Should you use it? Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 14 (4), pp. 7-12.
Barney, J., 2006. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17 (4), pp 99-120.
Cameron, E., & Green, F., 2005. Making Sense of Human Management: A Complete Guide to the Models, Tools & Techniques of Organizational Change. Kogan Page Publishers, NY.
De Cieri, H., 2008. Human Resource Management. NY: McGraw Hill.
Jones, N., 2009. Competing after radical technological change: the significance of product line management strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 34 (13), pp. 1265-1287.
King, D., 2006. Changing Shape of Leadership. Ebsco publishing, Sydney.
Kuhn, B., 2007. Prying Eyes: Privacy in the Twenty-first Century. Twenty-First Century Books, London.
Roy, R., 2008. Dynamics of organizational Information. System Dynamics Review, 24 (3), pp. 349-375.
Wilson, C., 2006. A Strategy of Change: Concepts and Controversies in the Management of Change. Cengage Learning EMEA, NY.
Zimmerman, D., 2006. On the Path of Success: Facts and Fictions. IBL & Alliance Ltd, Auckland.