On Being an Advertising Company in Winston Salem

Learning by Doing: How Bucking the System Can Help You Stand Out

Wait. Advertising … Company … in Winston-Salem?

At UpperNinety, we pride ourselves on not being an ad agency. But one of our first thoughts when opening our doors was how people would receive a “not advertising agency” here in the Triad. If we insist on calling ourselves an idea collective, how will people and businesses discover us if the term “advertising agency” isn’t lighting up the SEO of our website?

Obviously, we want to stand out, but we don’t want to die trying. So we performed a little test. By running a Google Ad for the past couple of weeks, we’ve been able to see exactly what people are searching for. And it turns out, the keyword “advertising agency” isn’t that important to people outside of our industry. “Advertising company” is what people are typing into their search engines.

Of all the impressions made, less than 10 percent were the result of the keyword “advertising agency,” and it also drew zero clicks. But “advertising company” walked away with 85 percent of the impressions, and it drove 95 percent of all clicks. Keywords such as “creative agency,” “marketing agency,” and “marketing firms” all managed to make some impressions and earn some clicks as well, but we learned where to focus our efforts — hence the title of this blog post. We realized that by going with our guts and stepping away from industry norms, we indeed could stand out. So, here we are: an advertising company in Winston-Salem that plays by a different set of rules.

“Tried and True” is Actually “Done and Done Again.”
The lesson we learned from our Google Ad experiment is what we apply to all our clients. Instead of just doing what everyone else does to simply stay in business, we help businesses step outside their comfort zone to discover untapped possibilities that can actually drive growth. It’s not about being outlandish or overly risky — it’s about identifying and acting on how you want to stand out. We want to help you discover what your "advertising company in Winston-Salem” really is.

Let’s invent an example for the fun of it. Let’s say you’re part of the new Escape Room craze. You have two competitors in town, and all of you offer three completely unique, themed rooms where people have an hour to try to solve their way out, and your prices are all comparable. If you all provide the same service at the same cost, why should anyone choose your business over one of your competitors? You’ve learned from experience that the “fun” you have to offer is hard to describe in a quick phrase or soundbite.

So let your competitors try the fun angle. They’ll probably stay afloat without gaining or losing business. But you can position yourself differently in a way that creates real meaning and value around what you offer. Go after business owners and corporations. Show how what you offer is the ideal location for team-building. Explain how coworkers can learn to trust each other, better their communication and simply get to know one another in a way that beats the usual awkward icebreakers and forced interaction of an in-office team-building seminar.

By doing nothing more than changing the way you talk about what you do, you can stand apart. And when the employees leave, they take an experience with them that will help create solid word of mouth.

Don’t Take Chances. Create Opportunities
When you’re ready to change the way you look at your business, you’re ready to move your business forward. By becoming an idea collective — an advertising company in Winston-Salem — UpperNinety can do the same thing as any ad agency, but the way we approach ourselves is what makes us stand out. And we’re ready to do the same for you.