We really hate being described as “small” or “boutique,” as it often disparages the work we do for our clients, not to mention ourselves. After all, small didn’t prevent us from being named a Forbes 2021 Top 200 PR Agency or a Michigan 50 Companies to Watch. Here’s the deal, we shouldn’t have to wave our awards around to be seen as capable and credible. Fifteen years in business and a good reputation should be more than enough.
For those of you wondering about the advantages of “small,” we present you with the top 5 benefits of working with a small agency, aka us.
You’re Kind of a Big Deal
This may sound a little cliche, but we underpromise and over-deliver. Our focus has always been on value-add and the people behind the brand. We know your birthday, kid’s names, hobbies, favorite drinks and we love spending time with you. We make one-on-one time a priority.
Our clients appreciate our honesty, transparency and bluntness. We will never blow smoke, and we will always provide you with recommendations based on data, people and ideas. We are passionate about YOU and your business and we never work with companies we don’t believe in. We get to be choosy and we choose you (we also get to be cheesy).
Dolla Bills
Guess who doesn’t have the overhead of 100 person agencies? Yep, us. We are adept at doing more with smaller budgets and we make every penny count for our clients. If there isn’t ROI, then it isn’t something worth doing.
We want you focused on results, not an impending invoice.
We Know Stuff
When you’re small, you often specialize in an area. Our specialty is integrated communications and understanding how all tactics work together to deliver results. You may hire us only for public relations, but we are going to tie it back to social media and digital to show value.
Our team is multi-faceted. Team members work within multiple disciplines allowing them to deliver recommendations based on experience.
In other words, we are smart.
Flexibility is Our Middle Name
You’ll never hear us say, “well, we’ve always done it this way.” We are flexible in our delivery of services and we know every situation requires a different approach based on who our clients are. There is no one size fits all.
We’ve had clients come to us with extremely short timelines due to funding restrictions and it was all hands on deck to create an integrated campaign to meet their project requirements. Larger agencies will stand around debating the timeline for the two weeks a client has allotted for it. Ain’t nobody got time for that (if this sentence stays in, it means Skye is allowing Kim to use bad grammar to make a point).
Culture
If you’re small, you’re typically pretty dang close as a team. Our culture is all about accountability; it’s what makes our team great. Each of us knows our roles and we show up every day excited to work for 8THIRTYFOUR and our clients. We are pushed to be creative, think big and have a ton of fun while doing it.
We are intentional about culture because it defines us as a company.
The entire reason we started 8THIRTYFOUR was to do agency differently. We threw out hourly billing because it only ever benefited the agency, not the client. Our tagline is “It’s About You.”
It’s what makes us better. So experience it for yourself and reach out to chat. We’ll buy you your favorite drink.
