Spending four days locked in a conference room with other fifty other agencies executives, creative minds, and media experts is a humbling, energizing, and powerful experience. And, if I’m honest, quite exhausting.

Jake and I  just returned from an AMI (Agency Management Institute) workshop in Orlando with a long list of action items. Yes, it was that good. But we returned with something greater: a renewed passion for our partner agencies. Since the inception of KeyMedia Solutions, we have been committed to delivering quality online advertising options to full service and creative advertising agencies. Over the last eight years, this commitment has not changed. There have been many learning lessons along the road; naturally, we’ve taken a detour or two and re-routed the course a few times. But the destination has always been clear.

Ad agencies and media strategists are facing a daunting task!

  1. The days of an annual plan and limited media options are long gone. While media plans 20 years ago included only three or four tactics (print, radio, TV, and OOH), today’s plan looks more like a NASA spreadsheet with complicated formula’s and variables.
  2. Much of the planning and buying used to revolve around standard demographics, GRP’s, and frequency calculations. Today, we need to consider life stages and behaviors in place of demographics and report on engagements, view completion rates, conversions, and heat maps.
  3. Creative strategy has elevated significantly over the years. While big ideas and beautiful graphics win awards, we need to also be focused on developing creative that delivers ROI. The power has completely shifted from the advertiser to the customers in how, when, and where they intersect. How does that ad affect engagement metrics? Or deliver qualified leads? We need strategically developed (data driven) creative to move the needle in addition to winning the awards.

These are not easy routes to navigate; the technology combined, with customer expectations, is making this more challenging every day. Many of our agency partners are sharing that it is very challenging to keep up with the changing technology, roles, rules, and options. They appreciate our team’s dedication to testing, learning, and sharing; they feel it allows them to deliver a consistent solution as well as keeping them better educated on what is happening in the digital space.

To build on this in 2019, we will be kicking off a client only, quarterly e-newsletter. We will share insights, how-to’s, selling tips, and talking points. Our intention is to further equip our agency partners to be able to communicate, share, and talk digital advertising with confidence. The goal continues to be to deliver world-class service, customized digital marketing strategy, transparency, and education to our clients. The newsletter is the next evolution.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can get on our insider’s e-newsletter list, call or email Jake or myself. We’d be happy to chat with you.