Jan 30, 2023
No one enjoys massive waves of corporate layoffs. It removes skilled team members from adding value to the company and discontinues their ability to serve their customers.
This was the case with Google in January 2023 when they announced they will be laying off 12,000 people.
Google represents just one corporate titan in the recent layoff trend. Others like Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, along with Google, have eliminated at least 51,000 jobs in the past few weeks.
When the economy entered its first post-pandemic recovery phases, many employers started hiring at staggering volumes. Fast forward a short while later, and now these same entities are deciding that they no longer need the extra help.
With Google’s layoffs rolling through their corporation, many of their ad reps that once served their advertising clients are disappearing from the digital ether. Instead, Google has recommended that their advertisers turn to third-party resellers like local ad agencies.
While many will be polishing their resumes in the wake of 2023 layoffs and scanning through job listings once again, agencies have an incredible opportunity to continue growing, scaling, and generating new business from local clients that seek an expert ad operations team to support their marketing goals. Clients that once worked directly with Google are now left seeking a new solution.
So, what will this look like exactly? We’re going to break down for you what the rest of 2023 will look like for many ad agencies as they navigate a new environment that further increases demand for their expertise.
More on Google’s relationship with advertising agencies with Kasim Aslam on Agency Talk (Starts 2:16)
What’s Shaping Up for Local Ad Agencies in 2023:
Ad Spend is Going to Take (At Least) a 5.9% Jump
In a November 2022 report from MarTech, media ad spend in 2023 was projected to leap by 5.9%. Now that Google is discontinuing much of its in-house advertising services, this number will likely increase for local agencies as new eager clients are looking for a new ad operations provider.
More Business Development for Local Agencies
Now that Google’s internal support for advertisers is decreasing, they will not possess the same in-house bandwidth to support individual advertisers on their platform. For businesses that heavily relied on this service, they are likely to now seek the help of local ad agencies to act as their expert resource.
From a business development perspective, this presents a golden opportunity for ad agencies to promote their advertising services, especially campaigns run on Google products. Agency leaders should expect to hear questions from potential clients regarding paid search, YouTube advertising, and programmatic channels as prominent discussion points.
Beyond the sales process, agencies should invest heavily in truly understanding their clients’ business models, goals, brand positioning, and target audiences. Google never provided this more specialized level of service, and now this unique selling point for agencies can become their greatest strength.
Agencies Will Need More Ad Operations Support
As demand rolls in for agency services, a holistic product suite will not be a luxury. Instead, it will prove a necessity.
For example, if a client wants to run paid search but you do not offer this service in-house, they will then turn to another competitor that can and will meet these needs. If all you needed was one additional service as part of your offering to land this account, how do you quickly launch these campaigns at a high-performing level?
As our friend Marcus Murphy from 5ive has said, agencies often fail in isolation. If you are not actively expanding your network beyond your office doors, are you receiving the support that you need to scale profitably?
This is where a white label ad operations partner comes in.
Here are some of the most notable benefits your agency receives from a white label partnership:
Cost Savings – Avoid the traditional hard costs of building and maintaining an internal digital marketing infrastructure, from software applications to personnel.
Increased Expertise – Instantly access another team of experts across a wide range of digital marketing and advertising services. No more crash courses!
Scalability – Increase or decrease your volume of work as needed to better stabilize your internal capacity and bandwidth.
Flexibility – Tailor your partner’s services to meet the specific needs of your clients.
Time-saving – Spend less time recruiting and training people to fill skill gaps at your agency and spend more time on sales, client relationships, and strategy.
Reporting – Leverage your white label partner’s comprehensive reports to prove the value of your agency to your clients.
Branding - Brand your partner’s services as your own for more control over your own branding and increase your credibility with clients.
Get the Support Your Agency Needs for a Busy 2023
Are you anticipating a massive increase in your agency’s services this year, but feeling concerned about how to meet the demand? You don’t have to face it alone.
At Conduit, we partner with established and successful local ad agencies across North America to deliver elite, holistic performance for your client’s campaigns in a 100% white label format. With our infrastructure based on communication and performance, we equip you with the means to confidently say “yes” to the biggest and best opportunities to land and expand new accounts.
You focus on making your agency the best, and we’ll manage the rest.
To learn more about launching your own ad operations partnership, schedule a 20-minute discovery call today.
