According to Alan Magee, VP of Marketing at Empire Portfolio Group, big brands will always need general agencies, but most smaller, mid-sized brands are looking for partners who are experts in their niche.

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Alan gets into the difference between marketing for big brands and individual franchisees and how the marketing field has changed over the years. Alan and our host Daniel Weiner discuss agencies, positive and negative experiences with them, and challenges with agency relationships.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Alan Magee, VP of marketing at Empire Portfolio Group.

💡 Noteworthy: Alan got into marketing during high school. He eventually went to Clemson University and earned a bachelor's degree in marketing, followed by a master's degree in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin. After that, Alan entered the world of agencies. He went through the brand side, the strategic side of marketing, and the hospitality side and started moving into bigger and bigger organizations. 

💡 Where to find Alan: LinkedIn | Website

Key Insights

⚡ Marketing for individual franchisees is challenging. Franchise marketing is the process by which franchisors and franchisees use marketing strategies and tactics to attract new clients or customers and increase sales for their franchise organization. According to Alan, compared to marketing for a big brand, marketing for individual franchisees is a different challenge. "Every business is different, and fitness is a very unique business too, especially the boutique fitness area, where there's a lot of competition. There's a lot of change in behavior — what's happened with people, especially coming out of COVID, and what they're doing from a fitness perspective. So, it's fun. It's a good challenge. It's continuing to evolve, but I'd say my career has very much been a zigzag. If you look at it, you see that every time I move around, it's a zigzag. And that's very purposeful because every time I zig or zag, I want to add a couple more tools. I want to have a different experience, whether it's the size of the brand, the type of the brand, or the category." 

⚡ Specialized vs. generalist agencies. The marketing infrastructure has changed over the last few years. About 15 years ago, marketers were more generalist, and big brands turned to agencies of record. Today, however, they choose smaller independent agencies that are specialized. As Alan says, most brands may have a few specialist partners. "The market has gotten way more complex nowadays, whether we're talking about search, social, new media, Web3, development, or any of this stuff. It's gotten way more complex. There are so many channels; the channels went up 15X in the last five years. It gets more and more complicated. So brands are bringing in more subject matter experts into the business. And it's much more of a hybrid model. It's not as much of a generalist. It's much more hybrid, both ways. And so, brands are looking for more specific partners to fill the gaps on those things and to be the experts."

⚡The best agencies are proactive. Alan has a lot of agency experience — both positive and negative. Alan points out that every positive experience is first reflected in a good relationship. "I want you to be able to come to the table, be proactive, be asking those questions, be asking the why, and bringing value to our business. If I tease something out there, you should wanna jump on that and say, 'Hey, how can we help you with this? Here's what we can do.' I can always say, 'No, no, I don't need your help with it,' but I'm always looking for proactiveness."