Disruptive Unicorns

Chartered marketing firm Disruptive Unicorns also works as an advertising agency. It describes itself as passionate about helping businesses take on their markets, and its method starts by mapping the buyer's journey through what the firm calls the marketing experience, or MX. The firm then builds its advertising and content around whatever gaps it finds in that experience. It presents its work under three headings: discover the problem, create the response and report on the results.

Mapping the buyer's journey before spending

The firm uses persona research, customer journey mapping and human-centred design thinking to work out what a target buyer needs at each stage of the journey to conversion. From that mapping it identifies the right structure and channels for the business, and the mix of marketing that will reach the buyer when the buyer is ready to act. Each recommendation is tailored to the target market and to the goals the client has set.

Advertising and content across channels

Once the gaps are identified, the firm develops advertising campaigns that can run across television, social media, influencers and other channels. Its content and creative work is written to capture a persona's attention on the channels that persona uses, so that the message is shaped for a specific buyer rather than a general audience.

Inbound marketing built on HubSpot

The firm is an agency partner of HubSpot, an inbound marketing platform. Its inbound work covers lead generation funnels, customer acquisition and customer retention, with content written to bring prospects in, so that customers can find a business through organic search and through paid media. The firm says its storytelling is built to meet each buyer on the way to a purchase.

Turning lookers into bookers for destinations

The current focus of the firm's public material is on tourism and destination brands. It describes the aim as turning lookers into bookers, by understanding the customer and the channels where they make decisions. For destinations, the work is storytelling for audiences who might live, work or visit, delivered through content, events and activations, either as single projects or as monthly campaigns.

Live dashboards tied to each client's metrics

Reporting is built around the client's own goals. Once those goals are agreed, the firm builds a dashboard tailored to the client's metrics that can be viewed in real time, so that a client sees how a campaign is performing without waiting for the next meeting. The firm argues that this kind of transparent data is what allows a strategy to be adjusted quickly.

Design thinking behind the agency's approach

The firm describes its philosophy as combining design thinking, advertising campaigns and digital marketing technology to grow businesses in a sustainable way. It says it places the client's goals at the core of its work and that it treats the customer experience as the outcome of a well-run company.