DMR #39: DAVID HORNE – How do you run a successful modern marketing agency?

David B: How do you run a successful modern marketing agency? Why is the best marketing invisible? And how do you earn your customer’s trust in a high-tech world? Those are just three of the questions that I intend to ask today’s special guest, David Horne. David, welcome to DMR.

David Horne
David Horne

David H: Thanks for having me, David. Pleasure to be here.

David B: Welcome. I try to have as many people on here called David as possible!

David H: Yeah.

David B: David Horne is a writer and marketer based in North Carolina. He’s co-founder of the modern marketing firm Magnetic Ideas and founder of Fan Park, a subscription platform that connects fans to their favorite artists and thought leaders, David, what’s the difference between a modern marketing firm and a traditional marketing firm?

David H: I think the biggest difference is traditional marketing may not take a digital first approach or really factor in a lot of the design thinking principles around solving problems and creating pathways and looking at that from not just a specific channel, but strategically and then what are the best ways to do that across all mediums with digital being a cornerstone of that; digitalize the hub and then the other areas of marketing, whether it’s advertising or traditional print or branding or whatever and how those fit in to that to create some consistency across the board.

David B: You say that traditional firms aren’t design led. Does that mean that design should be the primary focus of a modern marketing firm?

David H: I do and when I say design I think of it more on the terms of the big D-design, so not necessarily how something looks but how are we solving a problem and what are the options to solve that problem because there’s typically many different paths and ways to achieve a goal. It’s about looking at everything, all the internal factors and external factors in resources, what are your capabilities at that brand or that company, as well as what’s available out there for them to do to connect best with their audience and customers.