A Day in the Life: Behind the Scenes of a Marketing Agency

Warning. Blog take over alert by Allie. Several Beatles references ahead.     

So if you’ve ever watched Mad Men, you’ve probably wondered...is that what agency life is like? While I regret to inform you it isn’t all whiskey and naps day in and day out, we do sit around and brainstorm for quite some time until the right idea strikes (but not for Lucky Strike) and we definitely sit in all hands on deck meetings to discuss updates on our client accounts. We have kombucha on tap and we do group squat challenges. We also have lots of dogs around, because dogs are the best. 

That being said, I wanted to give you all the inside look at what actually goes on behind the scenes at a marketing agency. Because while our Instagram may show only the highlights, there’s a much longer, unedited demo reel.  

There is never a moment of silence, and there is never a dull moment. There’s something going on ALL THE TIME. I say this to prospective hires when I conduct interviews for our growing team. I’ve worked here for quite some time, and I can count the number of times I’ve been bored on one hand. Our job listings might read – WANTED: Ability to fix a hole before the rain gets in. Marketing = creative problem solving.   

We wear many hats, being a smaller agency. While I might be the lead on an account for say a food and beverage company, I might also be the lead on a kids entertainment brand, a co-lead on a b2b service-based brand, the event contact for a nonprofit gala, and a secondary account manager on two other accounts. An account manager on our team handles all details for a client, depending on the nature of the project or retainer we have with them. That could be strategy, website development and oversight, social media concepts, content development, branding and identity maintenance, constant communication and updates, metrics reporting, ad creation and media buys, partnerships and relationship building, event planning, research...I can go on. Point is, our team is made up of some pretty talented people who know how to shift gears like a boss. 

Here’s an example of what a typical day could look like:

• Check morning emails – look for red flags and any responses from the previous night’s follow ups and questions 
• Run a few creative concepts for a client past our social media team 
• Review and report metrics from a recent sale to a client 
• Hop onto a prospect call with an established brand looking to launch a new product line 
• Correspond and review graphics and edits with one of our graphic designers for an ad we are placing in a trade publication before sending to the client for their approval 
• Respond back to a web developer about what images we want where for a new client’s web build and test the drafts in mobile, tablet and desktop to ensure a good customer experience 
• Create an agenda for a call with a client tomorrow and send over
• Send SEO reports to other members of my team for their clients 
• Have an internal meeting with Laurel (our CEO) to discuss a few potential partnerships to investigate for the agency 
• Check my to-do list 
• Re-check emails and respond accordingly 
• Read an article about trends in the industry and send out to team members for when they have a second 
• Have a call with a prospective vendor 
• Eat lunch
• Meet with the team for 5-10 minutes prior to a brainstorm with a potential client 
• Brainstorm meeting – ideas flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup 
• Follow up with a few people I haven’t heard back from yet
• Draft a newsletter for a sale starting next week 
• Play a game of fetch with one of the office dogs and then take part in the squat challenge with the team 
• Re-check emails and the to-do list 
• Look at the calendar for tomorrow to see what’s on my plate
• Do some research on the prospect’s company from earlier in the day 
• Review ad metrics for a client and make adjustments to their campaign
• Post a blog on a client’s website 
• Review a proposal another team member compiled 
• Check my email. One. Last. Time. 

Like I said...there’s never a dull moment, and it’s getting better all the time.