Careers in Marketing: Should You Work For a Boutique Firm?

Whether it’s clothes, food or a brand-new car, an intelligent marketing campaign will make customers believe they have to have the given product.

Marketing firms are responsible for creating, implementing and sustaining effective campaigns that will ideally become firmly lodged in the public consciousness.

While each firm offers their own services and benefits for clients, at the end of the day their goal is essentially the same – to help drive traffic and direct sales to their client’s business.

If you’re planning a career in marketing, you’ll have the choice of either working for a boutique firm with smaller clients or at one of the big industry leaders responsible for the world’s most famous ad campaigns.

To learn more, we decided to find out what it’s like to work at a boutique marketing firm.

Dave Reed at boutique firm Giants & Titans thinks the way the company works, its focus on personal development and the variety of projects are clear differentiators from larger firms.

He said: “As a smaller, more agile team of specialists everyone in our team works together to deliver results for our clients. This inclusive, open and collaborative style is in contrast to bigger agencies where roles tend to be more restricted to a particular set of tasks.”

The company’s personal development opportunities also make a difference. He said: “We have a people strategy based on clear progression and as a smaller team, our guys tend to advance their careers more quickly than in bigger agencies.

“It’s much more effective for us to promote from within and this strategy obviously benefits both our people and the business’ balance sheet.”

In larger agencies, employees are often allocated to a specific brand team, which has the capacity to feel as though you are working in the clients’ business, rather than within an agency role.

Dave added: “We get involved in a huge variety of work for brands with lots of different challenges. One minute we could be thinking about how to raise awareness for a new moisturizer on social media, and the next we could be shooting a new range of shoes for an up & coming fashion brand. Because we solve problems for a diverse range of brands no two days are ever the same.”

G&T often pitch against large firms and win thanks to being more agile and flexible. Dave said: “Big agencies are like oil tankers: they are large and full of crew who operate in a set hierarchy and do things the way they have been done for decades.

“They are undoubtedly great at transporting large loads from A to B and have a degree of power because of their large engines, but try getting them to change direction and they need to engage reverse gear for three miles just to stop!

“As a powerboat we have all the key specialists onboard, built with the knowledge and skill to go further, faster with impressive agility. Powerboats are built to move fast, adapt to changing situations and create ideas that deliver big results.

“Big brands like our clients NIVEA & Kaspersky are wise to the fact they need agencies that match their ambition, not their size. A big agency does not necessarily equal big thinking, big service or big results.”

Brand marketing is one of the many important elements in business. Dave said: “It’s crucial for a business to have a solid brand identity because it gives everyone connected to that brand - whether they’re a client, employee or supplier - something to differentiate the business by.

“G&T operates in a market where there are 22,000 other agencies claiming to do what we do but thanks to our powerboat branding, clients can see a difference between Giants & Titans and the other 21,999 agencies who are looking to work with them.”

Dave notes that brand marketing also creates an emotional connection between the business and its customers. Without that emotion, the relationship is purely transactional and can therefore be easily discarded or usurped by a better offer.