How to Get a Best-of-Breed Brand

Best-of-breed marketing means bringing in individual experts to accomplish multiple tasks. Most agencies—even the big ones—don’t staff every kind of specialists you might needs to make your project soar.

But not to worry. Adapting to a changing marketing world with a best-of-breed approach can mean good news for you. Here’s why.

Solopreneurs are a new norm

A shifting workforce, evolving consumer demands, and rapidly changing technology makes working for yourself and collaborating with the world a trend that doesn’t have an end in sight. Solopreneurs and micro businesses are on the rise, which means greater access for your brand to experts who need to remain adaptive and competitive to survive.

Complexity is an understatement

Another benefit to you is that agencies no longer operate with big retainers and excessive teams of jack-of-all-trade generalists. That’s because marketing has become too complex and is always changing. From social media to disruptive tech to diverse audiences, the practice has become too broad to know everything about every aspect. Specialists have needed to emerge to provide expertise and deep knowledge in very particular areas, such as:

• Language translations including cultural expertise
• Social media
• Public relations
• Media relations
• Research, quantitative and qualitative
• User experience (UX)
• Accessibility
• Event management
• Mobile apps and specialized web development
• Specialty writing (tech content, research reporting, social media content, etc.)
• Targeted and disruptive ad planning and placements
• Videography
• Data tracking
• Consumer trend tracking
• And much, much, more.

Your brand gets more

Working with a team of experts provides both immediate and ongoing intrinsic value. Because specialists have their ear to the ground, they are quick to adapt to a changing marketplace and consumer needs. Which means your brand can be quick to adapt too. Another typical benefit is a leaner budget. With a focused team of experts, your marketing dollars are used directly to accomplish your goals, not to support the overhead costs of running a big agency with a trendy office space. What’s more, with a small team there are fewer layers of players, meaning less chance of strategy getting off course or miscommunication happening within the team. No more bait and switch or telephone game. The experts you meet are the ones actually doing the work, which also generates quicker turn-arounds, another important benefit.

Find the right mix

Combining the right team of experts is an important first step for success. Start with a clear strategy and identification of the specialists you need. Then seek out people who are experts in their role and are experts at running a specialized service. Make sure to choose people who work well with others, are self-motivated, know their own limits, and believe in shared accountability, rather than playing the blame game when things go wrong. Check references and trust your gut. Then assign your own in-house project manager or determine the expert to act as a team lead and coordinate efforts so everyone stays in the loop.

It takes a little leg work and willingness to share responsibilities, but in the end, a best-of-breed marketing approach leads to a best-of-breed brand—something everyone wants.