LIFE
May 29, 2023
6 Mins to Read

5 things to know when comparing Major Tom to other agencies

5 things to know when comparing Major Tom to other agencies

It's hard to know if you're making the right decision when hiring an external marketing agency. 

You want to make sure that you're getting the most for your money, and that you're not going to regret the decision later on. You’ll likely take time to look at the work created by the agency, and the agency’s online reviews (positive or negative). For the lucky candidates, you’ll spend some time speaking to a sales representative. It takes time, effort, and work. 

We’ve put together a handy guide to help you compare Major Tom to other agencies. We want you to feel confident in your decision. We believe that by providing this information, we'll make it easy for you to qualify us.

This article will walk you through 5 things to keep in mind when you do your pre-hire comparison analysis! 

1. Our average client relationship spans 5+ years 

Long client relationships say a lot about an agency. There’s an endless amount of trust built into long-term partnerships. You would never stay with an agency who you either don’t get along with or who isn’t delivering the results you want. 

At Major Tom, the long-term relationships we have with clients are a badge of honor. With the average client staying for five years and our oldest client already being with us for 14 years and counting, we consider ourselves lucky to have cultivated such meaningful relationships. 

Clients appreciate that we go above and beyond in providing exceptional service that meets clearly articulated expectations. And they tell us this — we’re not just guessing — you can see for yourself in the section below or by taking a look at our Clutch reviews

handshake with client after successful meeting

Our team’s genuine relationships with the clients they work closely with speak volumes about the trust that’s at the core of our partnerships. We're all about having fun while still being professional — it's no wonder clients stick around. 

2. Over 100 reviews showing results and communication as our top strengths 

We hired an outside, unbiased agency to better understand what clients were saying about us. They analyzed over a hundred reviews on six different platforms to see what the overarching sentiments were. 

a. Team feedback

The consultants pulled common themes mentioned about our team. The results showed most people commenting on our communication skills, our services and results, and the client-specific approach we take. 

What does this mean for you? Well, you can test our communication skills right now. Reach out to Scott, Major Tom’s Fit Manager. See how quickly he responds to your query! 

It also means we’ll provide you with the services you need to get the results you want. We don’t simply execute a client’s wishes. We first do a discovery session to find out exactly what they’re looking to achieve. Sometimes, a client may come to us for a brand refresh when really, they need a better communication structure to reach their audience. 

The approach we take is client-specific because your business is unique. Your marketing needs, the goals you want to achieve, and who your brand is all need to be considered to deliver an approach that works for you and you only. 1-2

b. Major Tom feedback

With feedback mentioning Major Tom as a whole, the consultants noticed there are three top themes: Services and results, communication, and innovation.

You can expect services that combine channel development, creative tactics, and top-tier technologies to grab that sky-high ROI your business deserves. A member of the project management team will be your dedicated point of contact, and they’ll make sure to communicate with you in your preferred method, whether that’s Slack, email, or phone calls. 

With long-term partnerships, we pride ourselves on innovating on our client’s behalf. The better we know you, the more we can develop your digital marketing strategy and boost your brand to new heights. 2-3Overall, the outside consultants reported that “​​from all feedbacks, only 2 reviews are negative,” which we’ll call a win! We’re taking it as a well-deserved sign that we’re doing things right by our clients.

3. Come say hi: We’re still brick-and-mortar! 

We’re around! We’ve always had clients from across North America, so we were (luckily) set up with Zoom before the pandemic hit. And while most of our teamwork and client collaborations are done over Zoom, we’ve kept our boardrooms and office space. 

We also make it a point of pride to know our team, our clients, and our contractors. We don’t outsource work overseas unless it’s one of our employees travelling or living with family abroad. 

While we hire both internal employees and work with clients from far and wide, we still love a nice, solid handshake — call us old school that way. So if you’re near one of our brick-and-mortar headquarters, come and drop by. We would love to meet you. 

major tom vancouver office

4. You’ll benefit from our 4-phased proven process

When you hire an agency, you want to be sure they’re a team that can guide you. Major Tom’s been building websites, creating media campaigns, fostering social media communities, and producing content that converts for over 22 years. We’ve learned a thing or two along the way. 

Most importantly, you need a proven process that: 
Keeps projects on track, on time, and on budget 
Delivers results 

While most agencies won’t post their secret sauce publicly, we’re not afraid of giving up the goods. Rising tides lift all boats; if another agency wants to better itself using our process, then clients everywhere benefit.

Here are the four phases from our proven process and exactly what you can expect to happen if you partner with us:

Explore: the first phase

By starting with the Explore phase, you get to know us, but more importantly, we get to know you. We take a deep dive into your brand’s needs, the goals and objectives you want to achieve, and why those are important to your business. 

We’ll also take this time to research anything else we need to know about you, your competitors, your business, your audience and their motivations, and the market landscape.

Strategize: the second phase

The second phase, Strategize, involves developing a plan to win and mapping out the steps to succeed. 

Clients benefit from our long view of their business. By that, we mean we take a future-focused approach, looking at how we can best support your business in the long run. We value long-standing relationships because time together gives us the opportunity to innovate on your business's behalf. To get to that point, we need to show you the long-term value of working with us. 

strategy and planning cartoon

Execute: the third phase 

It’s one thing to identify a path, but another to walk it. 

You can have the absolute best strategy in place, but without actually executing it, it’s just an expensive piece of paper. We know the value of world-class execution because we do not like to see our strategy go to waste. 

Our team of tactical specialists is entirely in-house and works collaboratively to ensure consistency across every aspect of your project. 

Optimize: the fourth phase 

Digital marketing isn’t a one-and-done venture. The best way forward for your brand is to stay vigilant and remain critical. Use your data to better understand the weak and strong points of your strategy, and then optimize accordingly

5. We’re industry agnostic 

Being industry agnostic means we not only work with a wide spectrum of businesses, and we pull inspiration and information from other industries. Defaulting to an agency focused on your industry may result bias; once you’ve solved the same problem the same way over and over again, you’re less likely to gain a different perspective. 

Darren Maher, Major Tom’s Director of Web Services, says looking to other industries for solutions offers clients several advantages. When you’re building a website, for example, you will encounter numerous problems; challenges are in the nature of complex web builds. But chances are, these problems are universal and not necessarily specific to your industry. 

If you try to solve the challenges that crop up by copying what your competitors are doing, you’ll end up passing along the same pain points and frustrations your customers are already experiencing. You won’t be better; you’ll be the same. 

The key is to solve challenges uniquely by digging deep and understanding the root cause of the problem. Then, look outside your industry for inspiration on the solution.

Innovation 

You and your competitors are likely facing similar challenges and successes. If you only keep a status quo perspective, it will be difficult to innovate beyond the obvious. 

By studying how other industries approach similar problems to yours, we gain fresh perspectives and new ideas that can help drive innovation in your own industry.

strategy and planning cartoon

Cost savings 

What drives businesses to adapt and optimize? Often, it’s cost savings. You want to look beyond what your competitors are doing and look at the efficiencies other industries are achieving. 

By borrowing solutions from other industries, we often find ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Best practices

Success and failure are universal business experiences. 

By studying the practices of other industries, we can learn from their successes and failures and adopt best practices that will help us improve your performance.

Risk management 

No one has a crystal ball, but you can look at how others stop problems in their tracks. Is there some sort of risk management other industries take that you can adapt for your own business?

By understanding the risks and challenges that other industries face, we can anticipate potential problems and take steps to mitigate them before they become critical.

Competitive advantages 

What do other industry innovations mean for your business? Can you use trends or developments popular in other industries to your advantage? Take AI, for example — this technological step forward has become a competitive advantage for businesses in a wide spectrum of industries, not just within the tech space. 

By staying up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in other industries, we can gain a competitive edge over your rivals and position your brand for long-term success.

Have any other questions we can answer? Get in touch today. 

Victoria Samways, Marketing & Brand Manager

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