Factor 3: Applied Creativity

Our new website - the evolution of Factor 3

 
Over the last 10 years there has been a huge growth in the number of specialist marketing agencies. Some of them in 'niche' areas such as web design, email, multimedia, SEO and more recently in Social Media and Mobile - but as the web has evolved, so too has the number of skills and disciplines that need to be called upon to execute truly cross-media campaigns. Many small agencies felt it was a natural extension to call themselves 'full service' in order to compete with the big boys, and thanks to that, 'full service' has become something of an unsubstantial term.

Against this backdrop, many agencies that operated in these niches knew how to use and manipulate the technology, but didn't really have the solid marketing credentials of the larger, more established traditional agencies. Larger agencies found it easier to entice staff with digital skills, while digital agencies found it tough to entice traditional marketers. Originally, SMEs especially went directly to these 'digital' agencies because their marketing issues were seen as technological ones... but, many companies learnt the hard way that technology is no substitute for the right messaging, targeted at the right audience, engineered to compel the right response, regardless of the medium.

So, the last 5 years have been an interesting period for online development, and also for agency convergence. It's also been a steep learning curve for businesses as to who they should turn to and trust with their marketing challenges. Smaller agencies have been bought out by larger players which brought its own problems, such as internal power-plays interfering with the ability to 'get the job done'. Many niche agencies have disappeared due to their lack of marketing fundamentals or ability to generate tangible ROI, yet others have focussed on their small size and unique specialism as their strength - the amount of choice out there for business owners is staggering, and we're sure at times overwhelming.

Just as there are good designers and poor designers, great photographers and poor photographers, good programmers and... well, you get the idea; so is the case with many agencies as they've battled through all of the changes within the industry, and struggled to ensure they can STILL offer 'full service' in this converged media world.

Here at Factor 3, we did things a little differently. To a certain extent we did things the hard way, but where we have ended up has already demonstrated that it has been worth the toil.  Factor 3 went out to find a suitable 'digital' agency they could bring into the fold, and one of the agencies they looked at was mine. For political reasons 'WE' weren't interested, but I certainly was. Factor 3 had a high pedigree, high calibre clients and was held in high regard for its advertising credentials, impeccable design, compelling copy and a level of customer service that was second to none.

When we discussed the potential fit for me to come over and start a new 'digital' department it lead to some interesting conversations, but the outcome was that we didn't want 'digital' to be a bolt on accessory. We wanted the principles of digital marketing to be fully understood by the agency, to make sure when we said 'integrated agency' we could truly mean it... that it was part of our DNA. This has led to a year of a lot of internal training, key management decisions and establishing an effective digital process, regardless of the digital requirement. We've made sure that traditional media is correctly considered alongside digital launches and the same vice versa. Yes, we are a truly integrated full service agency. It’s not just Factor 3 that have done the learning; since working here it has truly blown my mind how much I still had to learn about effective marketing techniques that were not platform dependent, and realise how much my old agency fitted the stereotype of thinking we were full service, when we were nothing of the sort!

Everyone at Factor 3 is now truly engaged in the digital process, and in the last 12 months alongside myself we now have a digital development manager and an in-house development team, all working alongside existing account managers and ensuring there isn't a challenge that could be brought to us that we couldn't deal with, or a digital brief that we couldn't execute. We have brought in an enviable CMS framework too, which is held in high regard by all who use it, including the NHS. We also have access to a bespoke email deployment platform, which leaves all 'commercial' email service websites in its dust (more on this soon). Existing clients, as well as new ones, are very happy at what the new and improved Factor 3 can offer them - A true one-stop-shop for all of their marketing needs, and a powerhouse of consultative expertise and fresh creative thinking.

So, this website is the culmination of a year of fundamental change and a true reflection of who we now are. We've built it in HTML 5 so we're entirely future-proof, (Internet Explorer... hurry up and catch up! You're being left behind by nearly all of the other popular browsers) and ensured we're fully W3C/DDA compliant. A comprehensive portfolio of our creative output can be explored via the "our services" and "our clients" sections, and of course we have this wonderful blog where we can demonstrate more directly why we're so good at what we do. We've JUST started to optimise our meta data (at the time of writing) and we will be launching a fully blown SEO campaign imminently, so we will be appearing in the top 5 for all of the search terms you would expect to find us under.

So here we are - a new site, a new beginning, and I personally would argue (and not just because the boss pays my wages) that we have the best creative full service agency in the South West. Read our blogs, visit our seminars (details of the next one will be released very soon) but most importantly, pick up the phone and talk to us about your marketing challenges... then you will experience firsthand the Factor 3 difference.