Well, folks, let’s face it.  The economy is tanking like the Titanic. 

While many traditional advertising agencies have been dragging their feet and playing “wait and see” when it comes to adding online marketing disciplines like SEO, PPC, email and social edia Marmketing to their list of services, the smart ones realize that these services represent a viable additional income stream.  And who doesn’t like to see that income streaming? 

Besides, “greater knowledge of the digital space” (aka “the internet skillz to pay the bills”) is one of the Top Ten Wishlist Items for Agency Clients.  And a happy client is a paying client.  Usually.  Unless they filed bankruptcy while on antidepressants. 

In addition to that, if you have been flying solo as an internet marketing freelancer, entrepreneur or consultant, the idea of an extended recession might make the stability of a “regular gig” at an agency seem attractive.  (Or maybe not, if you’ve ever read And Then We Came to the End.) 

In short, I predict a lot more traditional agencies and internet marketers are going to be making a vocational love connection in the coming months. 

As a professional who has worked the client side as an in-house marketer and webmaster, done the freelance thing, worked at a digital agency, and is now working at a traditional agency that’s fast-tracking the transition into an integrated one, I have a pretty unique perspective.  Each type of position has its own challenges, but I don’t see a lot of posts out there for folks who are doing internet marketing in a traditional agency environment. 

So I figured I would write one. Here are some tips for how to succeed as an internet marketer in an old-school advertising agency.  

1.  Account Management/Client Services can be your best friend… or your worst enemy.  The likelihood that your skill set can be of value to the agency’s existing clients is probably pretty close to 100%.  Unfortunately, the odds that those opportunities are as obvious to the people who are managing the agency/client relationship as they are to you is probably significantly lower.  

Make friends with the folks in Account Management who are excited about the web.  Invest some time in helping them understand, at a high level at least, the benefits and value you can offer their clients.  They don’t need to understand exactly what you do (and probably don’t want to).  

They do need the confidence to “talk the talk” with their clients about internet marketing services.  They also need to understand enough to set realistic expectations for ROI.  The beauty of the traditional agency structure is that once you get Client Services/Account Management up to speed on the aspects of your work that are relevant to them, they’re free to manage the client relationship, and you’re free to actually do the work.  

2. Figure out where you fit in the process.  Traditional agencies are often very process-driven.  Traffic systems exist to keep projects on-time and within budget.  Most likely, however, if they’re new to offering internet marketing services, there is no place for your role in their existing process. 

Figure out the key touchpoints in the overall timeline for projects where you need to be included, and work with your traffic manager to make sure that all the copy for a client’s shiny new website isn’t getting approved and coded before you’ve had the chance to optimize it.  Or that coding and site architecture decisions aren’t being made without SEO implications being considered. Or that media buying campaigns aren’t being planned without considering paid search or display ads as part of the mix (where appropriate). 

3. Be willing to share your knowledge.  It can be tempting to try to be the Mystical Grand Poohbah of Web Marketing for your agency.  Shrouding what you do behind a veil of mystery can seem like a good way to guarantee job security.  After all, if no one else knows how to do what you do, they can’t replace you, right?  Wrong. 

There is a tremendous amount of mistrust of internet marketing in general.  That mistrust can poison your career at an advertising agency.  Be as transparent about what you do as possible, and if someone else is interested in learning, be willing to mentor and teach.  Just as you’re learning that it benefits you to learn more about the traditional agency disciplines like copywriting and branding, lots of traditional creatives realize that learning more about web marketing is in their best interests.  He or she who shares, wins. 

4. Be ridiculously, over-the-top clear about deliverables and deadlines.  This one probably doesn’t need much explanation.  I used to teach a class on Internal and External Customer Service as a civilian contractor for the U.S. Air Force’s Services Division. You have “internal customers” within your organization; usually in Client Services.  Be as clear and specific about deliverables, deadlines and expectations with your internal customers as you would an external client; possibly moreso to compensate for the “telephone effect” when they have to transfer that information to the client.  ‘Nuff said.  

5. Look for opportunities to add value.  Most people working in internet marketing have at least a fairly decent grasp of reading and interpreting web analytics…and very few people in traditional marketing and advertising have a similar understanding. The beauty of web analytics is that it can report specific and measurable ROI for offline marketing efforts as well, if implemented in a smart way.  Your unique skills can add tremendous value to even traditional campaigns, either in enhancing and expanding them across the web, or in tracking their impact more effectively.  

Agency life isn't for everyone (SEOs as a whole tend to be independent spirits with a strong entrepreneurial streak).  Mad Men notwithstanding, it's not all that glamorous.  (Yeah, I know it's set 40 years ago.  Everything was more glamorous in 1962 New York.)  And not every ad agency is ready to integrate SEO and other online marketing services into their offerings.  

Still, I'm convinced that you can thrive as an internet marketer in a more traditional agency environment. Just understand that you may start out as an "outsider," but your success depends on not remaining one.