At PR, social media and SEO agency, Punch Communications, they have, over the years, focused on how social media and search engine optimisation have altered the traditional PR landscape whilst encouraging their clients to view the three disciplines as one complementary solution.

This year the approach has been thrust into the spotlight, particularly as so much prominence has been placed on expert content placement and relevance, says Account Director, Keredy Andrews

Google has always remained firm on the fact that any content and links produced on websites needed to be appropriate and valuable, and that those abusing the system would be penalised. However, Google recently announced some changes to its webmaster guidelines which have impacted the way links should be best incorporated into content and also highlighted the worth of social sharing. This reiterates that relevancy and quality, as well as campaign integration, is here to stay and that anything written on-site or created off-site needs to adhere to these guidelines.

As the web of marketing agency disciplines slowly knits together, PR agencies are turning to storytelling to create brand identity.

But there's a big difference between storytelling and spin, says Senior Consultant at Cherish PR, Julie Thompson-Dredge.

As consumers and people who consume media become ever better at spotting a ‘blatant pitch’ or plug, marketing agencies and PR people have had to become cleverer at telling stories.

Know your buzzwords

Storytelling is very different from fabrication though. It’s often thought to be a subtle synonym for that much-maligned PR phrase, spin, but in fact a good PR agency will view storytelling as using a real-life trend or story to set a client’s product or service in a cultural context. It’s a way of making a brand relevant and authentic – which is the only way a journalist worth his or her salt is going to cover you.

At Cherish PR, we’ve told the story of erotic writing through erotic writing workshops we’ve held for journalists for our client Mills & Boon. A 150 year old romance brand, brought up to date, we tell the story of the history of erotica up to the modern day. This has resulted in first person articles by journalists which told a story, and brought the brand bang up to date.

A good marketing agency will use all the tools available to them. One media platform can often support another, which is why few PR agencies or marketing agencies overlook the enormity of social media and the power it has to lift campaigns and boost ROI.

It's difficult to fathom the fact that Twitter has been filling our screens and shaping our social sphere for 7 years. In that time 170 billion tweets have been posted by over 200m monthly active users. It's hard to gauge the success of one platform alone, yet these stats go some way:

There was once a time when Jez Furlong, Creative Director of Cleverducks (part of Cherryduck Productions), used to shudder on hearing the stock ‘all-under-one-roof’ and ‘one-stop-shop’ descriptions of marketing agencies.

Now, he's running one. So, what happened?

To me, a one-stop-shop always used to sound, well, cheap – a bit lazy, tacky, a bit… pound shop.

So what made me swap my comfortable existence as a Creative in a plush central London ad agency, for exactly one of those outfits?

Some marketing agency trends are more surprising than others. Last year the IAB posted some research that stated only 55% of businesses had adapted their business strategy to include social media. What do the PR agencies have to say? Gemma Farmer, from Neo PR tells all.

Marketing agency trends can be fickle and fleeting. But one that is still floating around (and not just in the cyberspace above us) is the notorious Big Data.

Yes that is right we are in the era of Big Data and marketing agencies are just warming up with their efforts to tap the marketing potential of this floating information source. Over 2.5 Exabytes of data are created everyday (1 billion GB to 1 Exabyte) and that number doubles every month. Most of this data is still drifting just out of marketing agencies’ reach, temping them with its juicy information, but quickly agencies are devising ways to reach new heights and tap the Big Data cloud.

As marketers learn more about Big Data new marketing agency trends are popping up with ways to utilise its potential. Over 90% of all data was created in the last two years, this offers brands an opportunity to grab their slice of the data pie and be one of the first to try new marketing approaches. Although over $500 billion is spent on Big Data marketing every year, 40% of that amount is wasted due to an inadequate use of Big Data.

So how should you use Big Data?

Marketing agency trends point to an integrated living experience where everything consumers do leads to another more informed advertising proposition. In this environment a simple activity such as placing your daily coffee order can help other brands to decide what time you will be the most susceptible to an additional promotion such as, what kind of products you might be interested in and the exact location to target you.

Many brands and businesses are already finding innovate uses for Big Data. Macy’s famously tap their Big Data mine to predict spending habits of their customers and please their investors.

But these trend leaders haven’t quite achieved the complete synergy that Big Data promises as the holy grail of marketing. Olgivy demonstrated a whole range of marketing agency trends for Big Data in their showreel of ‘A Day In The Life Of Big Data’:

Olgivy present an extreme and futuristic picture of life with Big Data but in many ways we are not far off from achieving this. Marketing agency trends for the source have lead to some concerned consumers voicing their objections on how it will impact on their daily lives.

Brands and businesses are quick to mine Big Data to beat their competitors and rake in as much revenue as possible from their customers. However the uses for Big Data don’t have to be invasive or promotional. In fact, many brands are not using Big Data to improve customer experience. One leader in this field is Amazon, despite their huge database and potential to utilise their data for promotions they have placed a large focus on their marketing efforts to improve customer experience as Fast Company describe in their blog post – How Companies Like Amazon Use Big Data To Make You Love Them:

“Last month, I talked to Amazon customer service about my malfunctioning Kindle, and it was great. Thirty seconds after putting in a service request on Amazon’s website, my phone rang, and the woman on the other end--let’s call her Barbara--greeted me by name and said, "I understand that you have a problem with your Kindle." We resolved my problem in under two minutes, we got to skip the part where I carefully spell out my last name and address, and she didn’t try to upsell me on anything. After nearly a decade of ordering stuff from Amazon, I never loved the company as much as I did at that moment.”

Customer service is an area where two popular marketing agency trends can join forces; Big Data and the evolution of brand to consumer relationships. A personalised consumer to brand experience can only come as the product of a well-informed interaction. Enter Big Data into the equation. With competition heating up amongst brands for loyal customers their focus is switching from acquisition to retention and a customer service informed by Big Data can provide this.

If you are looking for an agency to harness the power of Big Data for your company then get in contact with FindGood on @wefindgood or submit your brief now.

Influencer-led campaigns are quickly becoming one of the most coveted forms of marketing for brands says Pooja Sookur, Digital Account Manager at Integrated Marketing Agency whynot!.

But when it comes to building credibility, a strong marketing agency search and selection process will help clients secure the right team for the job.

Reaching consumers during the decision making process rather than after it is what makes this kind of marketing really valuable. Not just to drive sales but also to build strong and lasting brand awareness.

Brian Solis, in his book “What’s The Future Of Business?” introduces the ZMOT concept in relation to technology. ‘Zero Moment Of Truth’ he says it “is that moment when you grab your laptop, mobile phone, or some other wired device and start learning about a product or service (or potential boyfriend) you’re thinking about trying or buying.” With a goal to get a head start at this point of the purchase cycle, many brands choose to pre-build credibility by asking people from the community to test, review and recommend products to their peers. Not surprising, since 70% consumers trust brand recommendations from family and friends, whereas only 10% trust advertising.

Who are the influencers?

Influencers are difficult people to define. A limited definition; they are people who have a measurable impact on the online communities they are a part of. Because of a steady output of reliable information from their end, people in the community trust them. The level of influence however, is more important. Do they influence people to just ‘follow’ the brand? Or do they actually influence people to take action? Make a purchase? Speak up and amplify the campaign’s impact?

For the purpose of this piece, let’s assume they are the latter and have the ability to generate an action out of someone else. For anyone who has reached this point of impact, it is a position they will not want to sully or damage. With that in mind, the parameters for brands shift from finding the right message to communicate, to finding the right people to communicate it and more importantly, the right marketing agency to convince them to come on board. Following that is the challenge of building a rewarding relationship with influencers without rewards. Using reward systems (coupons, freebies) the possibility of skewed results cannot be ignored. An organic exchange of product for feedback is the ideal situation. And to get to a point where you can expect that from influencers, you will have to find a marketing agency who has been cultivating these relationships already.

Marketing trends, like agency consolidation, are transforming the way the industry works, says Becky McKinlay, Managing Director of Marketing Comms Agency, Ambition Communications. Here, she outlays how the changes will affect mid-sized marketing agencies -- and their clients.

Where we are today: the latest marketing trends and the mid-sized marketing agency

As industry consolidation continues apace, the bigger marketing agency groups continue in their quest to dominate, increasing their reach across new territories and offering broader services and specialisations. Keen to satisfy their newly enlarged structures and resource levels, as well as impress shareholders and the City, they will concentrate on global clients and no doubt, service them extremely well. Those clients who require centralisation and economy of scale will continue to benefit from these new structures for the foreseeable future.

For Branding Agency Mat Dolphin, the question that repeatedly comes up when they first start talking to potential clients is: “Where are you based?”. Creative Director, Tom Actman explains that the answer really doesn't have to be that complicated.

“Where are you based?”

It’s a completely reasonable thing to ask and it’s understandable that someone we’re working with would want to know where we are whilst doing the work.

Although often the question isn’t exactly about where we’re based, it’s actually about how close we are, geographically. For clients it would all see to be about the 3 L’s: Location, location, location.

Whilst we completely appreciate that someone might want the reassurance that we’re just down the road, it is something we feel is becoming less and less important. Whilst it’s by no means revelatory to point out that technology is making the tools we use to communicate more accessible and easier to use, it is something we can’t ignore. The requirement to be in the same room as the people a branding agency is working with is becoming less and less important.

Marketing Agencies, Marketing Agencies, where for art thou Marketing Agencies?

Do you know what your prospective client marketers are thinking? Do your assumptions match up with what they're looking for?

For example, these stats show nearly three quarters of client-side marketers think marketing agencies talk too much about themselves first. Further, while 59% of marketing agencies think referrals are the best way of attracting new business, 58% of client-side marketers actually first hear of an agency via the agency themselves.