An advertising company is a business that provides a full range of marketing and promotional services. They offer their clients eye-catching audio/visual advertisements to increase brand awareness and boost sales. They have experts for each department that handles the entire process from start to finish. These departments include client services, creative design, media planning & buying etc. Strategic Planning Strategic planning is the process by which an ad agency creates a game plan for attaining its long-term goals. It involves identifying key objectives that include sales, market share and client growth. These must be both measurable and attainable. Effective strategists understand the importance of clearly communicating their plans to rank-and-file team members. They know that a strategy must be complex enough to take all the factors into account, but also simple enough to drive participation. They achieve this by combining foreward-thinking inspiration with concrete, what-can-we-do-today pragmatism. For example, a small ad agency may need to increase its revenue to meet sales and market share objectives, while simultaneously increasing its staff and service offerings. Its strategic plan might then address how it will do this by analyzing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). It also includes creating short-term action items that cascade down from the organizational level to the individual levels of each functional area. Creative Design Creative designers dream up advertising campaigns for the companies that hire them. These individuals, often working in teams, write the script or wording for advertisements and create any artwork that might be needed. They also develop direct-mail campaigns consisting of sales letters and brochures that go out to prospective customers. Creatively-designed ads are often viewed as works of art rather than merely commercial messages. Ads that rank highly in artistic creativity are frequently lauded for their production quality, clever dialogue or imaginative visual and sound elements. A creative agency that identifies as full-service digital can provide all of the services that are usually associated with traditional ad agencies, plus design and strategy work. Agencies of this type excel at complex projects, including immersive web-based experiences that engage audiences with compelling content and technology. Some of these agencies produce their own content internally, while others partner with social specialists or PR firms for this purpose. They may even act as a product development firm, building products for clients in addition to their own portfolio of branded creative content. Media Planning & Buying Media planning and buying is the process of identifying, assessing, and selecting media channels and platforms to deliver your advertising message to your target audience. It is one of the most important aspects of any advertising campaign. A competent media strategy can increase brand awareness, drive traffic and deliver a positive ROI. However, a poorly executed media strategy can have disastrous results for a brand’s reputation and revenue. This step involves thorough research to understand your audience and find the right marketing platforms to reach them. It also involves testing and retests to determine which creative and ad placements will be most effective in reaching your audience. Media planners can use insightful data to optimize campaigns in real time to maximize the impact of your marketing budget. This requires a centralized dashboard that offers visual reports and easy-to-understand analytics. This information can be used to adjust campaign goals, restructure budgets and improve future marketing initiatives. Account Management Account managers (or client services or business development directors) act as the link between agency and clients, managing their accounts, ensuring projects stay on track and providing support to the wider team. They’re also involved in research, brainstorming new promotional strategies, presenting ideas to clients and generating estimates for advertising campaigns. Account management can be a highly rewarding career path if you enjoy building relationships and delivering creative work that delivers business results for your client. You can measure your success by metrics like client retention, client satisfaction score and account margin. When selecting key accounts, look for companies that offer you a broad business prospect and have the scope to sustain and grow your relationship over time. You can identify the right fit by using a strategic checklist. For example, you can use a list of criteria that includes product and cultural similarity, revenue, partnership, location, etc. You can also use a digital platform to help you nurture and identify your most valuable account partners.