When you stop and think about it, there are millions of specialists in the world of healthcare. There are your podiatrists, your pediatric doctors, ENTs, heart specialists, brain specialists, and the list goes on and on. There is a certain glistening factor about these specialists. They are called specialists, after all. They are experts in something. There are people walking this planet who know everything you could ever want to know about all of those teeny tiny bones in your foot. That’s amazing! That’s so much knowledge about one thing. It bowls you over, almost.
In the midst of all of these specialists sits a holistic doctor, an internist, a jack of all trades, master of none, one might say. She might not know every bone in the foot, but she can tell if you have a sprained ankle or a broken ankle. He might not know if you have a totally blocked sinus, but if you have a sinus infection, he’ll be all over it. These doctors know a lot of specialists and can help you build a network, an army, of specialists if that’s what you need. But they can also help you an awful lot themselves.
The marketing world is a lot like the medical world these days. There are all kinds of specialists. Social Media, PR, customer service, advertising, and most confusing to me, “marketing specialists.” There is noting wrong with these folks (I’m not calling anyone a proctologist here), but sometimes you don’t need a specialist. Sometimes, you need a more holistic approach.
An agency, if it is doing its job well, can be like that holistic doctor. While expertise is in abundance, the term “specialist” is not often used. Nor is guru or expert. An agency, though, can help you see the big picture. It can help you see how a Social Media campaign here supplemented with a heavy dose of PR tactics over there could really boost your company’s health. If you think you might need a marketing check-up, talk to an agency like ours first. Tell us how you’ve been feeling, what tactics you’ve been trying, and how they seem to be working for you. We may tell you that the specialists you’ve been seeing seem to be quacks, or we may say that you could really enhance what you are doing by exercising a couple of new options. We may say that we have a couple of other specialists in our network we’d like you to talk to.
The holistic approach of an agency does not negate the importance of all of those specialists out there. It just means that we can offer you a more broad perspective covering your entire bill of marketing health.
And hey, we won’t even take your blood! At least not the first time….
Image by luis solis. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/LuisSolis
Nice parallel. Well done.
Thanks, friend! 🙂
Excellent analogy! Agencies are indeed like internists. Alas, some people prefer to do brain surgery on themselves. And others simply fear doctors (it’s called “iatrophobia”). Sometimes, though not always, that fear is justified. They’ve used agencies run by crazies who behave like House. Or they’ve used agencies run by quacks like John R. Brinkely. Too bad the business doesn’t have an AMA to drive out charlatans.
Yes, just like doctors, it’s easy to find the agency that’s a “pill pusher.” Have you tried this? That? The other thing? You’re still not rich? Hmm. Bye!
You definitely have to find an agency that you can trust and build a relationship with. I think it could be worth it though if you are looking for big picture advice.