4 Reasons B2B Companies Should Consider a Virtual Agency – Especially During These Uncertain Times
For business-to-business companies, a virtual agency offers expertise, flexibility and value.
As a B2B marketing agency in Atlanta, we’re extremely grateful for first responders on the frontlines who help us stay safe and healthy, and also for those who are swiftly adjusting to new working conditions, whether remote or some other creative way—all in the spirit of allowing people to have access to the most fundamental and basic needs.
At a dizzying pace, the world has had to adopt virtual tools to keep moving forward. At C.E.K. & Partners, an Atlanta-based B2B brand building firm, for over ten years we’ve had the tools and processes in place to support our team working virtually—everything from secure cloud data storage, file sharing and collaboration tools to time tracking. These tools, along with strong governance and policies, have allowed us to build a culture of inclusivity while servicing our clients around the world—whether they’re in Atlanta, London, Sydney, Shanghai, Toronto or New York.
We know that whether it’s during good times or uncertain ones like today, hiring a virtual brand building and B2B content marketing agency means everyone benefits—clients, employees and the agency.
Many wonder, how does work get done at a virtual agency serving B2B companies? The same way it gets done when a company has a central HQ location.
As you consider your next B2B brand strategy partner, you should consider the advantages offered by the virtual agency model that can support your team during uncertain times, as well as over the longer term.
Here are 4 advantages offered by a virtual agency offering marketing research, brand strategy and content creation services to business-to-business companies:
Advantage #1: Tapping into Expertise
Virtual B2B brand strategy agencies can thoughtfully build a team of experts brands need to achieve results— across disciplines such as market research, brand strategy, content marketing and creative design. There’s access to a wider talent pool, the right talent, that isn’t limited by location.
This means tapping into dedicated experts versus a preassigned team that may be stretching to handle areas beyond their skills or knowledge. In other words, your healthcare marketing initiative will be supported by a copywriter or brand strategist with deep healthcare industry experience and not by a fintech writer or vice versa.
We’ve done this so well with our market research, strategy and content creation services that C.E.K. & Partners has been dubbed, “The fintech/payments industry’s favorite B2B content marketing agency based in Atlanta.”
We believe expertise leads to superior outcomes. It’s exactly why we provide B2B companies with the expertise that matches their needs (instead of preassigned or junior team members).
Advantage #2: Extend Capacity + Scale Quickly
Virtual agencies allow a B2B company's in-house marketing team to scale up quickly when extra bandwidth is critical to ensure business continuity and to avoid overtaxing existing employees.
Here are a few common scenarios in which our Atlanta-based B2B branding and content marketing agency offers the ability to help teams scale quickly:
· Support B2B Companies Post-Acquisition.
After B2B company makes an acquisition, there’s a transition period when the acquired company needs support with integrating their marketing and sales materials with the acquiring brand’s. This takes time and consideration. Yet often a dedicated team hasn’t yet been assigned.
· Capacity for Lean B2B Company Teams.
B2B company's in-house teams can encounter periods of high growth, or on the flip side lean times, leading to hiring freezes or even layoffs. Having a virtual B2B branding agency as a partner means that your team can rely on senior talent swiftly jumping in to operate as an extension of your team whether it's for market research studies, support with content marketing or customer communications. It’s an option that’s more affordable than hiring all the needed experts to achieve an initiative with a firm deadline.
· Support for the Unexpected.
With the right B2B marketing agency partner, it’s easier to scale up to meet changing workloads and demands. Today we’re finding that the volume of communications in-house B2B marketing teams need to produce during COVID-19 have been unprecedented and required extra support from their agency partners.
Check out the below article offering 5 Tips and Considerations During These Uncertain Times.
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Communication During These Uncertain Times
Advantage #3: Value
When selecting an B2B brand strategy agency partner, value is a critical part of the equation. A common question is, is it more expensive to have a dedicated senior team assigned to your initiatives?
Here’s a closer look at the value offered:
· Savings Passed on from Lower Overhead.
Certainly, a virtual operating model means lower overhead when compared to a traditional agency model—these savings are passed on to our clients.
· Confidence to Stay on Track.
The business-to-business companies we work with benefit from dedicated experts focused on their work, but they also find that a virtual branding and content marketing agency’s ability to flex up relatively quickly offers them immense value and confidence knowing that we’ve got their back to stay on track.
· Efficiency + Accuracy of Senior Talent.
Traditional brand strategy agencies fueled by junior talent might appear less expensive until the time associated with rounds of revisions begins to add up.
Remember, someone more experienced can complete tasks more swiftly. Often this is less expensive than the time that accrues for lower rates. Additionally, fielding fewer emails from junior talent, you’ll be freed up to focus on leading your team and other important matters.
Advantage #4: Dedicated Team
We offer B2B companies and our employees a better way to work. Empowering senior talent to conduct their work when and how it works for them, and offering a culture of inclusivity to military spouses who move around the country and flexibility to single moms or those with passionate pursuits outside of work, means when our team members are working, they are fully present and engaged with yours.
"Virtual teams allow us to be more diverse and inclusive. Location bias (rural vs. urban) goes away, and remote teams already have a better track record: According to a 2016 study by RW3 CultureWizard, 77% of remote teams were multicultural." - Forbes