It is an unfortunate fact that many business owners and CEOs still consider marketing and web development to be separate entities. The line between marketing and web development is beginning to blur, and it’s time for traditional marketing agencies to embrace this new reality.

The ‘new’ web marketer is a jack of all trades, and they are the masters of collaboration. A jack of all trades is someone who is good at many different things, and in today’s world, that is a valuable skill to have. Someone who is good at marketing and development is going to be essential to thrive in this new world.

This is a major reason why we created The Agency. Our goal is to make marketers and web designers think and act as one. We wanted to create a hybrid agency that brings together the best of both worlds: marketing and development, strategy and execution, content and design. So, we combined forces to form a brand new agency – one that is focused on serving the needs of digital marketers and entrepreneurs.

Why Marketing And Web Development Aren’t As Separate As They Used To Be

The line between marketing and development used to be quite distinct. Marketers had a clear understanding of what they were doing, and they focused on growing a business by finding new customers and convincing them to purchase the company’s products or services. Web developers, on the other hand, focused on creating a website that was functional and easy to navigate. The amount of content on a typical website was also quite low. Back in those days, creating a steady stream of engaging content was considered to be ‘hard work’ that few marketers were willing to commit to.

However, the fact that marketing and development are two separate groups has been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the two fields have been connected for such a long time that it has helped foster a sense of collaboration. On the other hand, it has prevented certain specialized skills from being shared across the organization.

An extreme example of this phenomenon is HubSpot. HubSpot is a marketing automation tool that also happens to be extremely popular with web developers and designers. In fact, you can actually integrate HubSpot with all types of platforms, including WordPress, to get real-time feedback on what is happening across all your social platforms.

That said, the landscape of marketing and development has changed dramatically. Thanks to the growth of marketing technology and platforms, combined with the rise of digital marketing and content strategy, marketing and development are now more intertwined than ever before. A brand new agency like The Agency is now equipped with the tools and skills needed to bring the best of both worlds together.

The New Marketer And The Old Marketer

As we mentioned above, the new breed of marketer is a jack of all trades. They are good at many different things, and that is important to keep in mind when trying to describe their approach to marketing.

The first and most fundamental principle of ‘digital marketing’ is to attract, engage, and retain a target audience. This is typically done by harnessing digital platforms and social media to get in touch with potential customers, establish credibility, and share valuable content.

In today’s world, marketers are trained to look at the big picture and be methodical. Thanks in part to technology, digital marketing provides a comprehensive view of customer behavior and allows marketers to become more scientific in their approach to marketing.

This type of marketing is typically done in-house by smaller organizations and subsidiaries of larger companies. The key skill is the ability to work with little to no supervision. While in-house marketing is ideal for gaining experience, it doesn’t lend itself well to attracting bigger budgets. For that, you need to go ‘above and beyond’ what is considered standard practice.

A More Artistic Approach To Marketing

If you are a marketer who embraces a more artistic approach to marketing, then you are going to be inclined to think outside of the box. While the traditional approach to marketing focuses on metrics and figures, an artful marketer is going to be inclined to look at the big picture, find the beauty in the data, and create amazing marketing materials that draw in more potential customers.

Many marketing agencies have adopted this more artistic approach and even created entire marketing art galleries that display the work of creative directors, copywriters, and graphic artists. For example, Red Ventures is a marketing agency based in London, and they are known for their eye-catching and quirky marketing campaigns. One of their best-known marketing campaigns was for the television show, Peaky Blinders. The agency designed and created a fictional community for the show, and they used this opportunity to promote their services and gain new business. Thanks to creative directors like Mike Rowlands and Jonny Wu, who have a knack for finding the beauty in the numbers and data, and utilizing that beauty to inform their designs and strategies. This is a perfect example of an agency that brings a unique spin on marketing that is both effective and artistic. This is also one reason why marketing is one of the few disciplines where one person’s work can be significantly different from what another person does, but it’s still considered ‘marketing.’

Marketing As A Family Affair

Another important aspect of the new breed of marketer is the way they work collaboratively with other departments within the organization. Thanks to technology, marketing can now work remotely and collaborate with coworkers and teams across continents. A few years back, this probably would not have been possible. Even getting the data to market managers or strategists in a timely manner would have been difficult due to time zone differences and email archiving limits. The new breed of marketer is more aware of these issues and is equipped to deal with them.

Marketing Budgets Rise As Marketing Operations Evolve

The new breed of marketer is also responsible for growing and maintaining a business by bringing in new customers and retaining the ones they have already acquired. This is typically done by running marketing analytics, measuring the success of campaigns, and constantly improving upon existing techniques and procedures. Thanks to technology, this type of continuous improvement is easier than ever before, and marketers have all the tools they need within a single platform.

In the past, running marketing analytics and optimizable, testing, and implementing new marketing strategies was almost impossible. Thanks to the rise of digital marketing, all of this is now possible. The technology behind the scenes isn’t the only thing making this possible, either. Having a chief marketing officer who is also the company’s COO is also making a notable difference. Having someone in charge of both marketing and operations allows the CMO to become more of a thought leader and guide the agency toward the future.

The Rise Of Voice Search

Even before the pandemic, the way people were searching the web was changing. Thanks to emerging technologies and platforms, like Google Assistant, the way people interacted with digital content was shifting. Now more than ever, people are relying on voice search and quick answers to their questions. People are searching for information quickly and efficiently, which means content must be engaging and easy to understand.

Marketing agencies like The Agency are now equipped to take advantage of this new reality and engage with consumers in ways that traditional marketing platforms couldn’t offer. With the rise of AI and machine learning, virtual assistants, and smart speakers, marketers have a variety of technologies they can use to stay consistent and relevant to customers.

Being able to harness all this technology and to work as a team to see campaigns through to completion is what sets a full-service marketing agency apart from those who only design websites or produce marketing materials. Every member of The Agency is responsible for the overall strategy, marketing analysis, and campaign execution for our clients. This means that no matter what challenge our clients face, from marketing analytics to website design or content creation, we will be able to provide a full solution. And, perhaps most importantly, we will be able to do all this while thinking and acting like a marketing team.

The Evolution Of Marketing

With more changes and evolutions than perhaps any other discipline, marketing is always evolving. In these uncertain times, it is more important than ever to stay informed and ahead of the curve. Just keeping up with the latest marketing trends can be difficult, and with so much change and innovation, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

Thanks to the work of pioneers like Abraham Lincoln, William Waldorf Astor, and others who came before them, we have a pretty good idea of how marketing has changed over time.

In the golden era of marketing, people would typically get in touch with consumers via big, bold billboards or radio spots, promoting a product or service. Eventually, TV ads became the norm, and billboards fell out of favor. Today, with so many ways to disseminate information, including the internet, social media, and more, marketing has evolved into a much more sophisticated discipline.