How Do Marketing Agencies Use Marketing Automation?

As the month of love approaches, it’s time to think about the adoration we here at SharpSpring have for digital marketing agencies and the commitment we feel to them.

Sure, those other marketing automation platforms might have a “program” for agencies or a special pricing plan, but SharpSpring is an entire platform built around the needs of marketing agencies. So while the other guys might want marketing agencies to swipe right, we’re looking for a LTR. (For those of you not on the dating scene, that’s a Long Term Relationship.)

If you are in the market for a platform and you work for a marketing agency, you should consider these questions:

How does the marketing automation platform serve marketing agencies?

There are some platforms out there (specifically ones bathed in Orange or Purple) that stand in between agencies and their clients. An agency signs a client to the platform, and the vendor’s logo/branding is everywhere. SharpSpring puts the agency-client relationship in front with these agency-specific features:

• Rebrandable interface: SharpSpring’s interface displays your agency logo and coloring. Every aspect of the platform reflects your brand – even the notifications.
• White label URL: If your clients look at the URL, they won’t see another vendor name.
• Rebrandable sales materials: Grab a resource, drop in your logo and make it yours. Need a white paper to help sell a client on marketing automation? Need a sales slick? It’s all there for you to leverage.
• Joint sales calls: Looking to pitch a client? The SharpSpring team will hop on the call with you if you’d like.
• Multi-client management console: Manage multiple clients on the platform with a single sign-on. Switch between instances with ease.
• Add a client in-app: No need to call us…just click ‘Add’ and get new users up and running.
• Share templates across clients: Have something that works great for one client? Use it for another.

This SharpSpring agency partner really summed it up:

“We used Act-On and HubSpot prior to going with SharpSpring. The other two platforms are good ones, but the SharpSpring product allowed us to have more control over our clients in terms of interaction, billing, and plan design.”

– Raymond Cobb III
JBMedia

How does the marketing automation provider serve marketing agencies?

With other platforms, you may be a client or a customer, but here at SharpSpring, we call agencies ‘partners’ because we truly believe that we’re in this together. When our agency partners succeed, we succeed. We’re dedicated to understanding the unique needs of agencies and helping them grow. Here are a few examples of how we do this:

• Agency pricing model: With SharpSpring, agencies can turn marketing automation from an expense into a revenue generator.
• Month-to-month billing: Agency business is tough to predict. We get it. Some of us have been there. We want to earn your business every month, so we don’t tie you down to an annual contract.
• Peer-to-peer advice: Check out our Agency Perspectives series, articles written by agency principals for agency principals, with marketing automation in mind. Topics such as The Three ‘Gets’ for Signing More Clients and Growing Your Agency With Retainer-Based Relationships are the norm. If you are a leader at an agency, you need to be getting this series.
• Agency-focused research: We’ve established an ongoing partnership with a research provider that zeros in on the specific needs of marketing agencies, rather than marketers in general. There’s a difference, and we know it.

Again, here are the words of a SharpSpring agency partner:

“I’ve used other automated marketing platforms at another agency, however they are wildly expensive and more geared towards large business. SharpSpring was affordable enough for our agency and our business clients. SharpSpring is by far my favorite 3rd-party vendor. Truthfully it is the product as a whole that really made us decide we NEEDED to use it.”

– Steve Buck
Black Tie Digital Marketing

SharpSpring does welcome companies who want to buy from us directly. We also let them know they can get the power of SharpSpring on their own or, if they don’t have the resources on hand, they can work with one of our amazing agency partners to achieve their marketing automation goals.

So go ahead and say yes to a date…for a demo, that is. See if we’ve got what it takes to make you fall for us.