With seven offices in four countries and 300+ employees, Firewood Marketing is ready to partner.

Digital marketing moves fast. Time is always of the essence, and timing—having the right people in the right place with the right knowledge—is critical. As an agency marketing team member, being able to react quickly and expertly navigate this landscape can be the difference between meeting and exceeding client expectations.

Working as an embedded marketer—someone who regularly sits side-by-side with clients in their offices—gives you an edge because you’re in the room when stakeholders discuss new ideas, concerns, or changes. This may be a bit unconventional, but it affords you a broader, nuanced perspective on your client’s thinking—removing layers of guesswork on the best way to approach any given project, from the initial phase to midstream to a last-minute request.

Here are some specific ways that being embedded helps:

Three-alarm fires.

When working next to stakeholders, their issues and challenges quickly become yours—and are much more easily communicated, understood, and solved. Instead of allowing issues to fester due to the nature of long-distance communication, by being an embedded marketer you can swiftly discuss problems and work together to brainstorm solutions that are easy to implement and acceptable for everyone. In one such case, we were able to act quickly to get negative keywords approved and added, campaign budgets shifted, and reports created to fully explain and alleviate an external issue that impacted our campaigns.

by being an embedded marketer you can swiftly discuss problems and work together to brainstorm solutions

Adopting technology.

Let’s face it, the adoption rate of new technology and features can be slow. When you work with people who are embedded in the team, ideas and testing strategies tend to flow more organically. For our embedded team, it’s not uncommon to have very preliminary discussions around new testing ideas in informal settings. Then, depending on the needs, these tests can be further fleshed out or more quickly implemented. This not only speeds up potential adoption rates, but can also decrease the workload and back-and-forth on both sides.

ideas and testing strategies tend to flow more organically.

Building relationships.

Naturally, when you work with clients day in and day out, you get to know them on a different level; so it’s easier to build relationships. You see up close the way they think, how they like to work, and what makes them laugh. This allows you to create a kind of shorthand with them that makes it easier to work toward a common goal and have more fun along the way. Plus, it creates a great culture for off-sites!

Working as an embedded marketer has a lot of pros. Better communication. Faster reaction times. Stronger professional and personal relationships. The days of Mad Men appear long gone. Now it’s all about the client-agency partnership.