This blog was written by Joe Koufman, CEO and Founder of Setup.

Armed with 20+ years of marketing, business development, and management experience, Joe Koufman founded Setup to ignite relationships between marketing agencies and client-side marketers. His unique agency perspective – having worked at a small digital firm, an independent full-service marketing agency, and a massive holding company – is what inspired Joe to help marketers find agencies that are the perfect fit.

Setup saw incredible growth in 2019. I could not be more proud of everything that my team accomplished in the last twelve months including some BIG changes.

Here are 2019’s top 10 highlights:

#1 Highlight - The company rebranded!

We accomplished a rebrand from AgencySparks to Setup - marketing matchmakers with the help of our partners at Modo Modo Agency. Of course, this is no small task and it took “all hands on deck” to make the transition smooth. The team came up with some fantastic content to build buzz for the transition. The feedback we have gotten from clients, agency partners, and others has been overwhelmingly positive, our social media engagement increased - receiving over 13,000 impressions across channels and increasing followers on all platforms during the campaign - and, after a slight dip, our web traffic is back to a similar level to before the relaunch.

Read Realted - AgencySparks is now Setup, the marketing matchmakers

#2 Highlight - Setup® services are now nationwide.

It was a major goal to become a national company rather than a regional player, and 2019 was the year it became a reality:

1. The Setup Network now extends from coast-to-coast. In 2019, we served clients all over the country and signed agencies around the United States. While most clients do not care where their agency partners are physically located, it is valuable to offer options in various regions of the country.

2. We attended 14 out-of-state trade shows (in cities like Austin, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Chicago, IL; Indianapolis, IN, and others) in 2019. This has been a wonderful way for us to connect with national brands that may need marketing support.

#3 Highlight - Hit a record number of connections.

We continue to strive to make the best quality and highest volume of introductions possible for marketers.

2019 was a record year in both departments and represented a significant increase over 2018. While we now offer new services, connecting brands and agencies has been our lifeblood for almost six years, so delivering more connections is key to our (and their) success.

#4 Highlight - Introductions were extremely profitable.

Our agency partners closed multi-millions of dollars in net-new business as a result of our introductions. We are humbled to have earned the trust of some of the top brands in the U.S. to help them secure agency support.

#5 Highlight - Our agency network grew substantially.

Setup has the most agency partners in the company’s history with two former agency partners returning after several years hiatus. Our retention of agency partners in 2019 was the highest in our history. We feel closer to our agency partners than ever before.

#6 Highlight - Launched new services to further assist marketers.

In addition to our services such as the Agency Assessment, we launched new services including Custom Agency Search Consulting, Recruiting, Business Development Training, and Marketing Diagnostic. While we were hired to deliver all of the new services in 2019, we are continuing to see robust demand for them in 2020.

#7 Highlight - Continued to produce valuable content.

Marketing leaders have been engaging with our content on our website and social media channels in record numbers. We aim to provide valuable content that informs, educates, entertains, starts a conversation, or improves our followers’ marketing efforts.

Some of the highlights include:

1. Resources Center - Find comprehensive guides, templates, and workbooks that elevate marketing strategies. Download our agency selection guide, budgeting template, agency scorecard and more for free!

2. Blog posts - From writing about the emergence of the hit social media platform, TikTok to the Stranger Things marketing campaigns to industry-specific posts, we cover an array of topics in our weekly blog. We post about the latest news in marketing with insightful contributions and advice from marketing leaders from agencies and brands.

3. Videos - The Marketing Mindset series is a fun, educational look into the agency-client relationship and marketing updates! Check out a video - we certainly had a fun time making them.

4. Agency Resources - While a lot of our content supports client-side marketers, we realize we service agency leaders as well. These agency-catered blogs focus on tips to improve business development efforts and the agency-client relationship.

#8 Highlight - Acknowledged/promoted team members.

Every Thursday we focus on uplifting and recognizing team members who honor our values during the week. Recognizing hard work is imperative for growth.

This year, we promoted two key members of the Setup team in 2019 - Sam Moran became Director of Operations and Madeline Evans became Social Media and Content Manager. Both Sam and Madeline stepped up their output for the team and therefore leveled-up in their careers.

#9 Highlight - Increased engagement with the Atlanta marketing community.

The Setup team continued to engage with the Atlanta marketing community in three key ways in 2019:

1. We hosted five events (four #MarketersBreakfasts and a happy hour) with the best brands and agencies in Atlanta and received an average review of at least 9 out of 10 for each event.

2. We attended over 30 Atlanta marketing community events with marketing organizations like AIMA, AMA Atlanta, Atlanta Ad Club, TAG, and more. Talk to us if you’re interested in attending more events or getting involved!

3. We donated hundreds of hours to Atlanta nonprofits mostly through 48in48, Everybody Wins! Atlanta, and several nonprofit boards.

#10 Highlight - Moved into a new office space!

Setup has outgrown our old office so, as of January 2020, we now reside in a beautiful new space in the historic Brookwood Exchange Building on Peachtree Street in the southern end of Buckhead in Atlanta.

2019 was an amazing year for Setup!

Thank you to all of our friends, family, partners, and colleagues who made it so! We are looking forward to an outstanding 2020 serving and assisting marketers to accelerate their growth.