Digital agencies have evolved in interesting ways over the last decade. And I mean “interesting” in a good way. The commoditization and disruption of the very components that make up the digital agency business model have led to new levels of creativity, new ways of understanding and applying data and numbers, and have pushed agencies to think about what makes their approach different from their competitors.
The days of needing to be able to do it all — and do it all well — have essentially passed. Brands don’t buy agency services the way they used to. At the end of the day, building the right team is more important than selecting the right vendor who will do everything for you. Large brands also cyclically rely on agencies to perform a bulk of their work, yet still build in-house marketing groups and take control of the work from time to time. For agencies weathering those cycles, two key components will need to rise to the top:
- The ability to act and adapt with agility
- The ability to bring new perspectives instead of answers
Connected Cohorts™ does both.
We mentioned in our post about the Wedge Model that Connected Cohorts™ involves strategy and execution teams with customers and influencers in order to support the combined efforts of both sales and marketing teams. But it does more than that. Connected Cohorts™ improves collaboration, creates conditions for innovation and market expansion, and fosters a thriving brand ecosystem.
What is Connected Cohorts™?
Connected Cohorts™ is designed to unite marketing and sales teams with the extended ecosystem of people they work with, sell to, or influence. And we approach relationships by thinking about the actual systems that move the needle and create growth for brands.
As a service offering (the “what” in this case), Connected Cohorts™ is a five-week engagement in which we lead a series of workshops designed to do just that: connect the teams responsible for sales, marketing, strategy, and execution with influencers and end users. As a mindset, it’s how we approach client relationships and projects.
The “why” in this case is simple: We believe in the potential of people to work together for a purpose greater than themselves. New products and services miss the mark when they go to market because the people inside the company don’t work together in ways that give the people outside the company what they want.
We saw these groups of individuals — cohorts of people — disconnected from each other and limiting their own potential. So we created Connected Cohorts™ to unlock the inherent power of marketing and sales teams to achieve new levels of results.
We call this your X-Factor: being a connected inside the company to give the people outside the company what they want. We’ve developed this as a proprietary framework that brings both agility and new perspectives.
Agility
We emphasize quickly learning about and understanding how the various cohorts in a brand ecosystem are connected. We lead several exercises designed to explore areas that focus on functions, processes, and experiences. The full-day workshop is highly agile, and we apply what we learn in one phase to the next.
New Perspectives
At the end of the Connected Cohorts™ engagement, clients have new understandings of the health of each cohort based on their current state and preparedness to act. They receive prioritized areas of need for each cohort, and a high-level action plan to address those needs. We also give our recommendations on which needs to address in-house, and when to seek outside support. Finally, we give our recommendation on a governance model to create adoption, retention, and engagement among the various cohorts.
If you’re interested in learning more about Connected Cohorts™, sign up for our emails to receive information about webinars, case studies, research, and conference presentations. You can also reach out to hear more about our one-hour in-person presentations for companies interested in connecting teams inside their company to better serve the people outside the company.
