Original title: There Are No Good Marketing Agencies
Original author: Damian, head of communications at aori_io
Compiled by: Ashley, BlockBeats

Editor’s note: Marketing agencies in the crypto industry are often seen as a shortcut to enhance brand influence, but this is not the case in reality. This article points out that most organizations have difficulty truly understanding the core of a project and are suitable for short-term execution rather than branding. In contrast, excellent internal marketing talents have more long-term value and can go deep into the industry, actively learn and establish real industry connections. In the end, the success or failure of marketing depends on the initiative of the project itself, rather than the commitment of the organization.

The following is the original content (the original content has been compiled for ease of reading and understanding):

Recently, I had dinner with a friend in a small town in Hungary and talked about marketing in the crypto industry. When communicating with colleagues, it’s hard not to talk about encryption, because my family and old friends don’t understand the industry at all-I’m sure many people can empathize with it.

This friend told me about his painful experience working with a crypto-native marketing agency (name omitted). On the one hand, I smiled bitterly, and on the other hand, I listened carefully to his troubles, because he was not a marketer after all. I felt sorry that his team had wasted time and money, so I reminded him: “I told you before not to hire a marketing agency, because there are no ‘good’ marketing agencies.”

I went on to explain to him that it was wrong to expect marketing agencies to proactively produce high-quality content for you. They won’t help you define your brand, understand the uniqueness of your project, and have enough creative drive-after all, their energy is spread among multiple customers.

As a startup, the harsh reality is that your projects are likely to be prioritized lower than those of your big customers because they are more valuable to the marketing agency, and not just because of long-term partnership agreements. In the encryption industry, the LOGO and industry influence on websites are a common currency. Retaining the most valuable customers is one of the core strategies for marketing organizations to maintain their own business operations.

Are marketing agencies really useless?

Actually, it’s not. I know that employees in most marketing agencies work 8-10 hours a day, providing deliverables to multiple customers. Their customers gain value because they already know the direction of their narrative, or at least the brand image they want to create. The role of marketing agencies should be limited to improving short-term or medium-term output capabilities when large-scale content production or specific marketing activities are needed.

McDonald’s marketing dilemma

Marketing agencies are just tools, they are just a means to help achieve goals, not the “X factor” that makes your marketing great out of thin air. Marketing organizations often promote their expertise in brand building and technical concepts, giving small projects the illusion that they will help you gain a foothold. But please don’t be fooled by the “LOGO x LOGO” cooperation cases on the marketing agency’s website-how do you know if they terminated the agreement after only a month of cooperation?

A truly good “marketer” in the encryption industry must have at least a slightly lower technical understanding than DevRel (Developer Relations). However, it is difficult for employees in these marketing agencies to have the motivation to study in-depth on-chain technology beyond the already low-paying 8 hours of working time.

Imagine if you were on the salary of a McDonald’s store manager but had to master complex concepts such as oracle, database, zero-knowledge proof, MEV, AI, loan, pledge, and re-pledge. Would you be willing to take this job?

There may be some excellent senior managers under the hierarchy of marketing organizations, but most of the time they don’t interact directly with customers, but are busy with team management and developing strategies based on customer feedback. Some managers are even responsible for 7-8 customer accounts at the same time. What about bad managers? They may do nothing all day long and spend all day in endless conference calls.

On the other hand, junior employees within an organization, despite their meager salaries, may be passionate about the industry and willing to invest their energy in understanding a client’s project and building a truly valuable narrative. But they are often blocked by middle managers-managers who care more about KPIs and value quantity rather than quality. If every customer requires a comprehensive marketing strategy, organizations must make trade-offs in time investment, and these trade-offs are usually based not on market needs, but on the organization’s own business interests.

This does not mean that the marketing agency model itself is a complete failure. The problem lies in the lack of responsibility of managers and the inability to set reasonable expectations for customers.

Senior management certainly does not want to lose customers or conflict with customers, but in the long run, for the survival of the organization and for the customers ‘own interests, managers must learn to say “no” to customers. At the same time, the project party also needs to realize that no marketing organization can replace an excellent internal marketing person.

Internal marketing is king

Those marketers who are really good in the encryption industry have grown up through their own active learning, active participation and industry connections. They eventually became excellent community managers (@thisisfin_), growth leaders (@0xMista), marketing leaders (@lou3ee), and narrative leaders (@ kranotmark). The reason why they are stronger than marketing agencies is because they are truly integrated into the industry.

My point is that either you go deep into the industry, or you can only linger on the margins. If you don’t understand the area and communicate with your audience, it’s hard to find marketing ideas. In other words-this is marketing, and market research should be your basic skill.

“Extractable Value”(MEV) in Marketing

If your project is considering hiring marketing support, hire a marketing person directly. Hiring your first great marketer is like appointing the chief general of a new army. He will be responsible for leading the entire marketing front and deciding whether to continue to expand the team or draw on external marketing agencies.

If you must hire a marketing agency, at least make sure your internal marketing leader has a clear strategy. They should be able to formulate clear tasks and communicate them to the marketing agency to ensure that the agency’s execution capabilities are utilized to the maximum.

For example, your marketing leader needs to publish four blog posts per month. He could ask a marketing agency to help write half or even all of the content-provided he provided all the necessary resources and guidance. If a marketing leader can formulate excellent strategies, allocate tasks rationally, and ultimately drive business growth, he is a good marketer. If a marketing organization can perform these tasks efficiently, they are a “qualified” organization.

But in essence, the value of a marketing organization depends on the quality of the customers themselves. If your project itself has no highlights and no product-market fit (PMF) has been found, no matter how good the marketing organization is, you will not be able to save you. If your project has a lot of stories worth telling but doesn’t know how to express them, the marketing agency can’t help.

However, if your project is clear about what you want to achieve and only requires executors, a marketing agency may be a good choice-provided you can manage them like an internal team, providing regular updates, guidance, and feedback. So, a rule of thumb is: Never let a marketing agency be your first marketing employee.

Marketing organizations that promise to be four times better than internal marketers are simply nonsense-this can even be regarded as the marketing organization’s own “poor marketing case.” In fact, the value they can provide is simple (and even boring): if you need extra executives and they have certain industry connections, they may be right for you. But in comparison, internal teams are better because you can give employees enough time to learn and grow, and when they truly integrate into the industry, there is no reason why they can’t do a good job in marketing.

Failed communication

After all, marketing organizations and project parties have a common problem: their communication skills are too poor, or even “shit level”.

The job of marketing agencies is essentially communication, but they often exaggerate, causing customers ‘expectations to be infinitely amplified. The project party accepted these false promises and expected the organization to provide value far beyond reality, but did not take the initiative to manage external teams. This often leads to a lose-lose situation.

There are no natural winners, and there are no “good” marketing agencies. Whether you choose a marketing agency or not, you are the only one who ultimately determines the success or failure of marketing.

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