At last—the long awaited organization you never knew you wanted or needed is here—SoDA, the Society of Digital Agencies, often confused on Google search with:
Nonetheless, it’s one of the most important new organizations for the Digital Marketing field. I say it’s the “UnCola of SoDA”—only because it’s already proving to be an organization like no other—one made up with leaders in the industry that are set to make a change for the benefit of their clients, their business and our future. They even have a regular UnConference, so it’s a pretty fitting title.
SoDA is an exclusive, invite only society for industry leading digital agencies. It has actually been around for over 3 years, and to date includes over 40 agencies worldwide (61% of which are in North America). SoDA members are among some of the industry elite: WDDG, BigSpaceship, Firstborn, HUGE, AgencyNet, Rockfish Interactive—and yours truly, Terralever.
Part of what makes Terralever distinct in this group is its Digital Strategy offering and the caliber of the strategy and online marketing planning provided. It’s something that you won’t get from many agencies, but to us, it’s at the core of everything we do online. It’s like gospel, and is practically tattooed on everyone here as a means of agency initiation. Just ask Roger Pimentel about his latest blog post, “In Online Marketing, Strategy is Still King,” in it he makes a great point.
One of the big benefits of being part of SoDA is the round-table discussions. In these discussions, leaders from some of the top agencies in the country connect with one another to discuss best practices, education and advocacy; helping to further the industry. Last month, SoDA held one of these discussions regarding Digital Business Development—where the industry is headed, the opportunities and issues that we face and the solutions that can help. While we could figure out many of these solutions on our own, now we have a collaborative network that helps us get there faster.
For me, it’s been a long-time dream to be part of an organization that seeks to establish standards and requirements for any upstanding digital agency—it’s been a somewhat unruly and wild industry, experiencing lightning-speed growth, ever since the bubble burst in 2000. So, what I can promise you is this: we will participate, we will contribute, we will learn—but most of all—we will seek to make the world a better place with what we know best: All things digital.
