There are about 14,000 marketing and advertising agencies in the US.

Just like the brands they are hired to develop marketing plans for, agencies need to find new ways to stand out from the competition. In order for an agency to prove itself better and different from the rest often comes down to creating an excellent first impression. In the world of marketing agencies, this means presenting the pitch of a lifetime. How can you show the prospective marketing team that you understand their business? What makes you able to deliver a superior pitch versus other agencies?

As an agency, a great way to stand out -- but also one of the most nerve-wracking -- is to start taking chances and not be afraid to really rethink your clients' messaging. Even though it can push both you and the client out of your comfort zones, with great risk can come great reward.

It’s that time of year again... The smell of printer ink and anxiety pepper the air. People put on their game faces and psych themselves up to go head-to-head with the competition.

When businesses talk about understanding customer choice they’re usually referring to the purchase decision, but this is just the last choice in a longer decision journey. Understanding all of the choices made throughout the customer journey is vital to growing your business and developing strategies to impact choices made earlier on can dramatically grow your sales pipeline.

You can’t throw a proverbial rock at marketing and strategy publications these days without hitting an article about customer-centricity. And for good reason. In today's marketplace, the customer is firmly in the driver's seat - switching brands and services at a rate like never before - and companies that put their customers at the center of their business are seeing an increase in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall lifetime value. Forbes recently reported that 64% of companies with a customer-focused CEO are more profitable than their competitors.