At GreenMellen, we take our core values seriously (and ourselves not too seriously). We’ve written a few blog posts about our other core values to help explain each one:
Now it’s time to unpack the fifth and final core value: we think outside the box. That’s easy to say, and much harder to live out. So what does this practically look like in our daily marketing?
Proven Process with Custom Results
Our team has built up a clear and reliable process for building websites and other outstanding marketing campaigns. This allows our customers to expect consistently quality completed within a predictable timeline.
However, we also don’t let this process make our output stale or predictable. The consistency of the process allows our team to be creative and innovative within the set boundaries. We always seek to deliver a custom product that fits each client’s unique needs.
Going Above & Beyond to Find Value
The entire GreenMellen team tries to find ways to deliver added value to our clients—and even others who aren’t our clients. Perhaps the best example of this is our Brighter Web initiative, which drives most of our outgoing content marketing.
You can find examples of this on the resources page of our website:
- More blog posts just like this one
- Episodes of our bi-weekly podcast
- A regular meetup that we host on various topics
- Free downloadable marketing guides and templates
- Our monthly marketing newsletter
We take the time to share our knowledge with anyone who might benefit from it. Not every marketing agency does that, but it’s an important part of who we are as a company.
How We Respond to Client Requests
Some other marketing agencies immediately carry out their clients’ requests without a second thought. The customer is always right, right? But that’s not true if your client is depending on you to be the subject matter expert and guide them toward the best answer.
At GreenMellen, when a client asks for something, we ask why. (OK, not always. That would get annoying, especially if the answer is obvious.) We push back (gently) when we don’t agree with a client’s request. We realize that there may be a better approach—an out-of-the-box solution. It’s our job to act as our clients’ gut check, sounding board, and guide.
Moreover, our Wish Lists are an opportunity to think beyond the scope of work. These are an outlet for us to offer suggestions and uncommon ideas they may not have otherwise considered. Things change, and we must continuously adapt so we aren’t left behind or grow complacent.
Taking Care of our Team
Our clients are incredibly valuable to us, but so is our internal team. We would not be able to provide such outstanding marketing services without this collection of talent and experience. That’s why we continually find ways to make our team feel valued.
- Every week, we spend primarily in internal meetings to discuss projects and ideas.
- Every month, our team takes one personal day to rest and recover
- Every quarter, we take a few days to meet up as a team for Green Days. These are focused specifically on our internal workings and how we can do better.
- We also have a State of the Mellen meeting each quarter to share with the team how our business is doing from a financial and goals perspective.
- Our two partners meet individually with each member of our team once per quarter to discuss their status and how they can be better supported.
- Each team member is encouraged to attend conferences or take online courses every year to continue their growth as a professional.
Knowing What Services We Do (and Don’t) Offer
We try to stay focused on only the marketing services we’re best at: which essentially boils down to digital marketing. Anything to do with your business’s online presence is covered. (That might seem like we’re thinking inside the box, but extreme focus is pretty upcoming in our industry.)
Anything else, we try to avoid—not because they’re not important, but because we’re not the best people to offer those services. We have an entire list of things we don’t do because that’s important to remember.
This list includes, but is not limited to:
- Website hosting
- Video production
- Direct mail
- Traditional advertising
- Media relations
- E-commerce websites
- Influencer marketing
- App development
- Event planning
If you need one of those services, we might just know someone awesome that we can recommend. Because we’d rather point you to someone who can do the job right rather than try to do something we’re not incredibly good at.
Only Keeping the Best Clients
To make everyone’s lives better, GreenMellen only keeps our best clients. That means only the clients who benefit from our services and who we enjoy working with. We’re known to gently steer away clients who aren’t a good fit and recommend another agency that would be better.
So if you’re one of our current clients, it means you’re pretty awesome.
Rather than growing unsustainably, we’d rather pick and choose the best situations. This keeps our internal team happy and makes the clients we select to get the best possible experience.
Mostly Ignoring Awards
This might be controversial, but most marketing industry awards are meaningless. Companies pay a fee that essentially guarantees them an award. This pay-to-play model is the standard for most awards you see on other agency websites. It’s actually not a bad marketing strategy to put your budget towards, but it’s not the approach we take.
GreenMellen applies for a few select awards each year, but only those we feel has genuine merit. This means not having to pay a fee and if we know the criteria for winning the award is legitimate. So when we win an award, you can trust that it genuinely means something.
