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It's important to know all the things that a marketing firm does well. The traditional advertising agency model is dying. One of the many reasons the model is dying is because of what advertising agencies choose to do and choose not to do. For example, advertising agencies choose not to focus on the hard and dirty parts of marketing like process, technology, program integration, infrastructure and measurability. Here are the things we choose to do, and we do them well:

Planning—Plan the work and work the plan. That's a motto we've used around the office for several years. If you want to get anything done, you have to have the right people, with the right experience, aligned with the right goals (now that's a plan). We help our clients prepare for success by helping them find their strategic bearings. Here is a snapshot of the planning services we provide:

Consulting
Some companies have all the arms and legs they need to get the job done but crave an outside perspective or expertise in a specific functional area of marketing. Starr Tincup delivers a wide range of consulting services to meet specific marketing objectives. For example, we frequently engage with clients to create a lead-flow blueprint.

Planning
We have helped numerous clients create concise business plans and marketing plans. Our planning process focuses on simplicity, alignment and measurability. When we align the right people with a few critical initiatives, great results follow.

Training
Our vantage as marketing consultants who have worked with hundreds of clients affords us a level of expertise that is hard to come by. We love sharing our experience with marketing folks who want to talk shop. We offer several training programs to bolster your strengths and eliminate the gaps in your professional experience.

Research—We know a lot of fancy phrases like primary and secondary research, quantitative and qualitative research, and even conjoint and multivariate analysis. But at the end of the day, all that matters is that we answer the questions we need to answer to help your company grow. We do that very well. But please don't mistake our pragmatic approach to market research for a short cut. Our market research capability is world-class. In fact, much of our market research projects are performed in partnership with Equation Research – one of the country's most sophisticated market research firms. Here is a sample of the market research projects we perform frequently:

Campaign Testing—We test campaigns in all mediums to ensure their efficacy before rollout.

Pricing Research—Formal conjoint pricing surveys allow us to pinpoint the optimal price point for your product or service.

Market Segmentation and Demographic Analysis—We use primary and secondary research to create a profile of your ideal prospect.

Infographic Analysis—This is a fancy phrase that means “the information usage characteristics of your target market." Infographic analysis helps us identify the best places to market.

Psychographic Analysis—This is another fancy phrase. Psychographic analysis helps us identify and leverage the intangible or common emotional characteristics of your target market.

Competitive Analysis—This one is self-explanatory, but we do a more thorough job than you’re probably accustomed to.

Prospect Experience Modeling—We pretend to be your prospects so that we can provide you with an objective analysis of how your sales and marketing machine appears to the outside world.

Field Sales Surveys—Your sales folks are on the front lines. Our Field Sales Survey provides your company with valuable information across multiple functional areas.

Win / Loss Analysis—We talk with the prospects you won and the prospects you lost to find out why. There is always a trend.

Infrastructure—Any company can drive leads. That’s a fact. If you spend enough money, you will drive leads. Sometimes you don’t even have to spend money to drive leads. But it’s what happens after the lead that is important. Poor marketing infrastructure can wreck your perfect marketing campaign and create a bad prospect experience. If you’re not set up to respond to leads within a few hours (not a few days or weeks), then you have an infrastructure problem. The good news is that solid process development combined with effective data management and a responsible technology plan can help you create wonderful prospect experiences and a significant competitive advantage. Check out our areas of specialization:

Business Process Development—What happens to a lead after the prospect clicks the submit button, leaves the trade show or hangs up the phone? To ensure that your best prospects receive the best treatment, an entire ecosystem of people and technology must be perfectly aligned and calibrated.

Data Management—Solid sales and marketing programs generate tons of data, from form submissions to web analytics. This data is the beating heart of your company. The better the data is leveraged to identify and nurture your best prospects, the better your company performs. Data management is the single biggest obstacle facing most marketing organizations. We’re data management experts.

Sales Technology Implementation and Integration—Even the best salespeople can perform better with the right technology. With so many options to consider, it’s comforting to work with a firm that evaluates and implements sales technology on a regular basis. Technology is critical to the success of our sales and marketing programs, so we work hard to implement and integrate the right technology for our clients.

Marketing Technology Implementation and Integration—From email delivery applications to comprehensive marketing automation solutions, Starr Tincup has been at the vanguard of marketing technology since our founding. Marketing technology can be your best friend or your worst enemy. We know what technology is right for you based on your company’s stage of development. Our technology philosophy is simple: process first, technology second. We’ll make sure you don’t get stuck with more than you need.

Dashboards and Reports—You know you need them. We know how to get them. It doesn’t have to hurt as much as it does.

Programs—There are exactly one gazillion different ways to market. Some work and some don’t. Some are right for some companies and not right for others. It just depends on what goals you are trying to achieve. Below are a few things that we’re really good at. They may or may not be the right programs for you. We need to know more about your company and your objectives before we can prescribe the right marketing mix. Give us a call and we can talk about it.

Internet Marketing—From search engine optimization (SEO) to search engine marketing (SEM) and everything in between, we have you covered. We know all the tricks of the trade when it comes to driving traffic to your website from advertising and organic searches. We even have some secret weapons.

Direct Marketing—If it’s supposed to drive a lead, we know how to do it. We are truly direct marketing experts. Spend five minutes on the phone with us and you will know this to be true.

Advertising—Every now and then advertising makes sense for B2B companies. When it’s used the right way, in coordination with other integrated marketing tactics, advertising can be a valuable tool for increasing response rates and brand recall. Our design crew knows how to create effective ads that are more about driving leads than winning awards.

Event Production and Promotion—If you’re going to spend all that money on a trade show, make sure you plan for an effective outcome. Great trade show initiatives include a pre-show, at-show and post-show strategy. Starr Tincup can help you leverage your trade show appearance to close deals.

Webinar Production and Promotion—Webinars are great tools for establishing thought leadership and developing late-stage opportunities. We’ve produced more than 50 webinars for our clients. Starr Tincup ensures a quality online event with high attendance levels.

Creative Design—Our design team is world-class. These guys aren’t schmoes. Check out our bios, and then check out our portfolio. We’ll make you look good.
Internet Public Relations—The traditional PR agency model is dead. PR firms are charlatans, and print media is vestigial. If you want visibility and awareness from PR, you have to get it done on the Internet. But the rules of engagement are different now than they were when print media was at the top of the food chain. It’s not who you know anymore; it’s what you know. Relevant content is king.

Content Development—Isn’t it hard to find a good writer? Like a really good writer?
Not ajust-graduated-from-college-with-my-English-degree-and-have-spent-the-last-ten-months-learning-business-jargon-and-cliches kind of writer? Our copy desk is fluent in effective business prose. We understand the markets we serve, and we know how to generate content that informs and sells.

Web Development—We have more than one thousand websites under our belt. And some of them are pretty good.