Our Insights

Our Company Description – Please Select “Other”

September 22, 2020
|
Read Time: 
 Minutes

By: Beth Saunders

I have been registering for a lot of webinars during Covid.  One, I feel it is more important than ever to stay up to date on what is happening in the media industry.  But two, good webinars feed my business soul when I cannot attend conferences or see “live” speakers.  However, as I’ve been registering for these webinars, I have noticed a phenomenon – there is never a company description in the dropdown box, you know the one, it asks you to best describe what your company does, that actually comes close to what we do here at Lewis Media Partners. I always need to check the box that says “other.” Oddly, most of the webinars I sign up for center on the media industry:  how channels are evolving, how to maneuver through the minefield that is social media, media ROI in times of limited budgets.  So, one would deduce that professionals in the paid media industry would attend these types of webinars.

There are no company descriptions for media agencies but rather the vague, typical choices similar to what you’ll find below for a webinar about the new role of TV in a post-Covid world. I have to believe there are others out there who have run across the same situation?

Hmmm, but even if media agency was a choice, that still would not come close to detailing what we do at LMP.  This phenomenon led me to thinking about how we accurately describe what we do at our agency.

In the simpliest of terms, we are a full-service media agency, offering strategic expertise in all paid media channels, data analytics, SEO and content management.  In more accurate terms, we are an integrated performance media company.  To say we “do” media planning and buying feels a wee bit archaic to us.  Who really relies on a targeted rating point anymore?  What does that mean in a world driven by video on 10 different platforms chosen by consumers with vast interests at all age levels? How do I measure incrementality?  How do I account for a point of diminishing return within a campaign?  How does my website content drive other channels? These go beyond the basics of media into a greater exploration of how to achieve a client’s true goals, whether that be revenue, leads or awareness.  Doesn’t that make us almost everyone’s type?

Now, granted, that’s a lot to put in a “company type” in a dropdown box; however, it does prove that an agency such as Lewis Media Partners cannot, nor should it, be boxed into a nebulous category.  Real partner agencies such as LMP offer a client so much more and strive to break the barriers of the media norm.  With a data intelligence tool in house that helps to answer the hard questions and shows almost real-time media and business results (and yes, we can show the effect of traditional and digital media within a campaign), we prove ourselves to be so much more than most who are still describing themselves as media planning and buying shops.

Perhaps in the future, we will see a company type that reads “smart, evolutionary, business partner who has 30+ years in the media industry.”  I’d check that box!

Beth Saunders