Jan 30, 2020
What kind of marketing agency picks Wichita, Kansas – a city
very close to the geographic center of the
continental United States, for its headquarters?
How about an agency with 4 media buyers, providing everything
marketing from traditional media buys
to a full-range of digital services including online presence and
reputation management, and serving an
extremely diverse clientele.
What kind of employees would choose to work for such an
out-of-the-way agency?
Could be people who enjoy a slower pace, a shorter work week, a
culturally-rich/affordable life-style,
extended benefits, and a five- or ten-minute commute to the
office.
Advantage Marketing strategizes with diverse client companies about
what needs to happen with their
businesses, collects a “lot of information,” and develops a “lot of
data” to determine when and where to
place ads to reach the target client base. Customized,
multiplatform marketing initiatives blend
traditional marketing with newer, “personalized” digital plans.
“bridging from one media to the next.”
Cori outlines a number of promotional targeting strategies she is
excited about for the coming year. As
an example, she expects a “boom” in OTT (over the top/subscription)
and DTV-connected television,
which allows focused zip code and contextual targeting and
cross-device matching.
Cori started her career as a sales rep in broadcast television.
After 5 years, she joined an agency. After
five years there, still not “settled,” she started Advantage
Marketing. Her partner, Amy Hoefer, who has
a background in cable television, joined the agency in a year
later. Cori believes that an in-depth
understanding of media buying planning has been critical to her
agency’s growth and that it is important
to establish and document processes to ensure scalability and
continued organizational success
In this interview, Cori explains the process she used to grow her
agency fast – and increase its service
offerings at the same time. In 2017, four years after agency
started, Cori and Amy decided the best way
to “grow” would be to acquire another agency. It wasn’t something
they wanted to do “on the fly.”
They selected a “great accountant” and a “great attorney,”
discussed with them their goals and
objectives, and targeted a successful company whose owner wanted to
retire. They signed the
necessary non-disclosure agreements and requested and reviewed the
company’s client list and
financials. Advantage had the capital to purchase the agency, but
Amy has had a number of
entrepreneurship classes, done a lot of research, and learned this:
“Don’t spend your own money. Get a
loan.” Makes sense. A “loan” leaves an intact “cushion” for dealing
with daily business expenses.
Cori took an SBDC (Small Business Development Center) Emerging
Leaders Program last year to learn
more about scaling her business, planning growth, and getting the
agency’s processes documented and
in place. She relies on the SBA (Small Business Association) for
valuable information on how to run her
business and, interestingly, still gets periodic mentoring from the
woman who owned the agency she
bought.
Cori can be reached on social media, on her company’s website at:
https://admarkict.com/ 0r by phone
at: 316.729.0500.