How to Use Software to Differentiate Your Agency
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In this episode from Agency Journey, Gray interviews Mike Donnelly from Seventh Sense about building software in the agency space and how agencies can use technology to differentiate from the competition.
Mike’s background is in enterprise technology sales, where he learned the hard way how difficult it could be to get ahold of decision-makers. He would often contact the individual, but the message was never read or heard. He began to discover patterns with individuals and discovering what times work for them.
This gave him the idea of predictive software to discover the best time to contact individuals. Seventh Sense now helps businesses optimize email send times for both email blasts and nurture sequences.
Predictive Email Software
Other email optimization software is based on demographics or industry data to determine open times. This isn’t the most effective since each individual communicates differently, even if they appear the same from the outside.
What Seventh Sense does is collect past email history and test sends times to gather data. The more information Seventh Sense collects, the better they can predict the best time to send emails based on past patterns.
Using Software to Boost Agency Results
Working with agencies has given Mike and his team insights into the space and what challenges they see their customers facing. The main thing he sees in this industry is noticing how most agencies look similar to every other. Many are essentially becoming a commodity.
However, the best agencies take a step back to find a way to differentiate their service. For example, the content itself is becoming a commodity online. If a business has 5 agencies pitching content marketing with a cookie-cutter solution, there’s nothing unique to make one stand out from the rest.
What he’s seen the top agencies do, though, is find a way to give their client’s an edge. This usually involves a low-cost software solution that can scale that will amplify the agency’s results.
In the marketing software space, there are thousands of solutions, with new ones appearing every day. It can be tedious, but an agency that takes the time to package select software to boost their work will set themselves apart from the competition.
Building Software as an Agency
Another trend Mike’s seen in the agency space is agencies moving into productizing their own solutions. More and more often, this is in the form of software, with agencies looking to differentiate and generate more revenue.
It’s a popular idea that software is easy to build, but it is a tough industry,, as Mike and Gray discuss. There’s a lot of competition, and it is very complex. There are so many variables to be aware of.
If an agency wants to build software, Mike recommends doing it in-house instead of outsourcing. Outsourcing is considered the “cheaper” option, but it can easily cost a lot more money and headaches.
If you’re interested, in using Seventh Sense, you can learn more on their website. They currently have a HubSpot integration and will soon be releasing with the HubSpot and Salesforce CRMs.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Seventh Sense or connecting with Mike, you can reach him on email or Twitter.
