You can’t afford to stop marketing. But in this economy, you might feel like you can’t afford to keep marketing, either.
So what do you do?
Many businesses attempt to find a middle ground by outsourcing some of their functions to external agencies, consultants and partners. But the number of digital agencies in the U.S. has grown by 54% over the past five years, according to Promethean Research. With all of these options, how do you know you’re picking the right partner for you?
We’ve developed York IE’s marketing practice specifically for growing tech companies. We’re helping them build brand awareness through our drumbeat marketing philosophy and develop a results-oriented go-to-market strategy using cutting-edge practices and technology.
Think of us as a challenger firm — a high-level, strategic advisory firm that is more agile than traditional agencies. We’re an extension of your team. This means we can provide the breadth of a full marketing program, and the depth of personalized programs to fit your GTM needs – from website development, to content marketing, to operations execution.
Clients often switch to York IE after experiencing common hangups with traditional marketing agencies or public relations firms: high hourly rates, siloed communication and overly transactional deliverables that miss the bigger picture. I would know; I spent over 10 years working on the agency side, so I’ve seen it from every angle.
It’s different when you feel like a partner instead of just another client. Don’t believe me? Just ask Michael Collins, Lytica’s vice president of marketing. Our team helped Lytica secure media coverage from its Series A announcement, generate an influx of leads from a new eBook, implement HubSpot to power marketing automation and more.
“York IE brings a wide variety of talent to bear, so we can test certain hypotheses and then double down on those strategies that are effective,” Collins said. “That variety of capabilities enables York IE to be more of a partner than a standard contractor. They provide guidance as to campaigns they’ve seen work. They provide input into our larger content strategy. And they have the arsenal of talent to execute on those strategies and campaigns.”
We start every engagement by understanding your vision, strategic goals and immediate needs. Then, we’ll guide you through all stages of a successful marketing program, filling in the gaps to help you grow.
Here are seven things that set York IE apart from other external marketing options:
1. We understand the pace and hustle of growing a technology company.
York IE is uniquely qualified to help you grow your business, because we’re a growing tech company too.
We’re working constantly to grow our own brand, and we bring those same best practices to our clients. We have our pulse on what’s working in marketing today and how to grow organically without spending your entire budget on paid ads and pay-to-play media opportunities. Unlike slow-moving, big-name agencies, we understand the speed and pace of startups. We can handle tight deadlines and timely pivots because that’s the world we live in.
We aim to feel like a true extension of your team. Two examples come in the form of our talented marketing directors, Meaghan McGrath and Cassandra Cattabriga. Meaghan was a rare recipient of the “Auditoria OG” sweatshirt, given only to the foundational members of the Auditoria team. Meanwhile, Launchable flew Cass all the way to Japan for a week of all-hands meetings — just because she was so ingrained with their team.
2. We deliver marketing strategy and execution.
You’re not just looking for marketing help; you want expertise that factors into the broader goals of your business. At York IE, we see the bigger picture.
That means combining both strategy and execution. Many agencies will provide detailed plans and playbooks, without actually helping their clients to execute that strategy. A plan is great, but without a team to act on it, how will you see results?
Big agencies tend to be siloed; if you’re working with a PR firm, for example, they’re only focused on writing your press releases or pitching media outlets. They’re covering the important component of external communications, but are they measuring back to the impact on the business? Are they connecting with other facets of your marketing team to make sure one message is being shared?
With York IE, you’ll gain access to the resources you need for every aspect of growth marketing: content, distribution and measurement, all in one service offering.
We’re here to help you define your strategy but also handle the daily aspects of actually implementing that strategy. No matter your goals — driving more website traffic, increasing your social engagement, optimizing your content, ensuring your CRM is set up — we’ve got the people and technology to help you achieve it.
3. We don’t charge expensive hourly rates.
Most marketing agencies bill their clients hourly. This often creates a more transactional, task-oriented relationship.
You might use up all of your billable hours by the 15th of the month, leaving you high and dry for the rest of the period. Or you could be stuck in constant scope conversations that leave you wondering how big your bill is going to be.
York IE engages its clients on monthly retainers, which takes the guesswork out of budgeting. While we typically stick to a scope of deliverables, we also maintain the flexibility to help you wherever you need it.
Got a big launch this month that requires a PR push? We’ve got you covered across all aspects of the launch, not just a press release.
Trying to engage your social following ahead of a big conference and think outside the box? That’s in our wheelhouse too. We love scrappy marketing. Our team is here to support your goals, not hit a quota for hours and move on to the next task.
4. We adapt to the evolving needs of your business.
We can also scale our entire program over time to grow with your business. Unlike traditional firms, we don’t rinse and repeat each month. We want to build the foundation with you, grow you to the next step and constantly challenge you to rise to the next level.
We want to ensure they are working on the things that actually drive the business forward. We’re always focused on efficiently growing revenue for your business.
Our team will help you:
- implement the systems to track your outbound and top of funnel activities;
- create compelling messaging and content that attracts buyers;
- distribute that content through owned, earned and paid channels; and
- create dashboards to measure the effectiveness of your efforts and continue to improve performance.
And for our early–stage clients, we’re here to help you nail your messaging and meet your ideal customers where they are.
5. We offer expertise in website projects.
Your website is crucial to your GTM function. It’s often your first impression on prospective customers, investors and partners. A website is an opportunity to tell your story: who you are, how you can help your customers and why you’re the best option.
York IE offers comprehensive website services. We’ll help you handle everything from crafting website copy to the back-end development of your site. Once you’ve established the foundational messaging of your website, we can help you build your marketing strategy to drive your audience towards the site.
It’s difficult to find this level of strategic and practical guidance across subject areas anywhere else in the market.
6. We lean into automation and data-driven decision-making.
Marketing is both an art and a science; we try to balance both sides for our clients.
Our team members offer expertise in everything from storytelling to SEO to CRM management. We complement this experience with proprietary data and automation technology that helps us gain better insights into the market and your competitors.
It all comes back to efficiency. We want to spend more time on the most valuable, strategic elements of your program. That’s why we’re using proprietary AI tools to automate the more menial marketing tasks so we can spend our time on the finer points of the strategy we’ve developed together.
7. We offer additional resources to help you scale your business.
York IE is more than a marketing agency; we’re an advisory and venture capital firm. We offer Advisory as a Service across product, GTM and finance.
We see things holistically and can tap into these other resources for advice — or help you redirect your energy towards different goals. Whether you’re engaging our services across functions, or you simply need some guidance from an expert in a different area, we’ve got you covered.
Your marketing goals are going to evolve as your business does. Find a partner who can scale with you. One that’s not afraid of a challenge and open to being flexible as your needs change.
Does working with York IE sound better than engaging a traditional agency? Set up a chat with our team today to learn how we can help you scale your business efficiently.
