Kevin Elliott
Senior Marketing Specialist at Applied Research Associates
Website Address: ARA.com
What services does your company provide?
Creative, Social Media, Public Relations, Marketing Strategy, Video
About Applied Research Associates:
ARA is a national engineering and sciences firm. We work with government agencies doing high-end R&D, as well as strategic communication planning, marketing and market research, and media production to help those agencies reach the public.
How do you define success?
Helping clients reach and exceed their goals and expectations. There is nothing more satisfying.
What percent of your advertising service offerings does media buying make up?
0%
What makes your company unique?
ARA is the most technically diverse company I’ve ever seen. We are 30% PhDs and 70% advanced degrees. Our skills range from strategic communication planning for transportation agencies to nuclear blast physics to robotics.
Who in the industry inspires you and why?
Al Ries and Jack Trout are my favorite marketing theorists and writers. They provided the bedrock principles that inform my philosophy of marketing.
I’m also inspired by Harmon Brothers. Not just because of their creative, which is unique, but because they never forget that marketing, in the end, is not about creative. It’s about results. Like David Ogilvy said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
What is a tip for success that you would provide someone in your same industry?
Read everything Al Ries and Jack Trout have written. Then read David Ogilvy.
Another tip: Most campaigns don’t last long enough to be effective. Organizations quit too soon and then blame the marketers. Convince them to allow enough time for their marketing to work.