Scale Matters.

For many years, I ran the business development function for a well-known technology focused marketing communications firm.  I formed Anura Strategies based on my experiences in that role and one key observation – there was a significant portion of the marketplace that was grossly underserved.

Traditional agencies are great places with very talented people, but the business model of the traditional agency leaves a lot of companies on the outside looking in.  Neither company can afford to work with the other.

A lot of innovative companies are born with sales and engineering cultures (we’ll call them SECs for short) – marketing is largely thought of as lead generation and sales support.  At some point, the network SECs depend upon to grow their companies begins to produce diminishing returns – they need a brand and marketing to soften the sales cycle with prospects that aren’t relying on the endorsement of a third-party as part of their decision-making process.

Companies that find themselves in this position have a choice between a few basic directions:

• Make a dedicated marketing hire – growing companies often debate about whether to hire a seasoned senior executive or someone early in their career development.  Both approaches have their pros and cons, but SECs often lack the first-hand knowledge to adequately evaluate the talent they interview and making the wrong hire is an expensive proposition.
• Outsource marketing to a traditional agency – many SECs go in search of expert help and find that the minimum engagements that many traditional agencies require represent too large of a risk.  If they do decide to make the investment, SECs are ill-equipped to evaluate their potential partners and many are disappointed with the attention they receive, the results relative to the investment and become cynical toward the agency model.  The truth is that this is really a symptom of a scale issue – agency overhead and management models require a certain level of investment to turn a profit and SECs are often challenged to fully utilize what the agency has to offer.

We formed Anura Strategies to address this issue and have developed  a business model that allows us to engage SECs in a manner that is flexible and more aligned to their needs.  Our model allows us to provide clients senior level expertise at a much more modest investment level until their business grows to the point where a traditional agency is a better and more realistic fit.

Give us a call.  Leap Ahead!