Simplicity is worth the sweat.

Why Higher Ed Marketing Needs a Reality Check

In today’s fiercely competitive higher education landscape, institutions aren’t just vying for attention, they’re fighting for survival. As the student population shrinks and skepticism about the value of college grows, universities and colleges must radically rethink how they connect with prospective students.

Brand Choice in an Age of Information Overload

How many decisions do we make in a day?  Zillions.

What we choose to do, say, eat, and wear are just the beginning.

Scrolling and streaming alone present thousands of communication options – which should we stop and commit to?

What would you do if every day you came home and found that 30% of everything you bought in the last week was stolen?

My goodness – you’d install new locks, invest in surveillance equipment and probably buy a pit bull to watch the place.

Clients rarely get the credit they deserve. For every marketing challenge, SMA presents a range of options – the best of which often ask clients to step beyond their comfort zones. Hey, that’s why they hired us, right? It isn’t easy. Committing to something new, defending it up the corporate ladder, takes a certain amount of professional moxie. But yeah, it’s what works.

There is no shortage of notable phrases about the power of simplicity from the greatest thinkers in history. Einstein, Pope, Emerson, Longfellow… they all give credit to boiling down, finding truth, and being direct. “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.” (Albert Einstein)

Here’s some tough love for marketers: No one wants to watch, read, or listen to your ad. They do not care. There is staggeringly strong competition for attention to your ad. And, besides, your ad is probably not relevant because the vast majority of people who are exposed to it are not, at that moment, in a buying mode for your product.

AI is the talk of every business. “If I had a dime for every time I've heard the term AI at the World Economic Forum in Davos, then I’d be very rich indeed,” wrote Sprina Srivastava last week in Business Insider.

SMA was founded in 1990, then re-founded in 2014 – to be more agile, predominantly digital, built for a marketing landscape changing faster than you can say tl;dr.

Since then, we’ve learned a thing or two. Or ten.

SMA has long been regarded as among the best B2B ad agencies. SMA combines talented, experienced people with the most advanced marketing technology to consistently create powerful advertising and marketing programs that can change the trajectory of any client’s business.

For B2B companies – or for any highly considered purchase – the buyer journey can be complex, with multiple channels and multiple touchpoints. How do marketers know what’s working? And what isn’t?

Boozy, backbiting, stressed out – a perfect description of what SMA isn’t. In fact, if fictional DD were to learn about real SMA’s afternoon ice cream runs, he’d probably need another drink.

Who knew weeding could be so much fun?! We had a great time pitching in, digging up, and getting our hands dirty volunteering with Randall's Island Park Alliance.