Aspen Marketing Services Reviews

Pros

Good work/life balance and everyone is very nice

Cons

Not really a traditional agency if that is what you are looking for.

Advice to Senior Management

Create some growth opportunity for those in your organization - show some promotion within.

Pros

Fast paced environment where you will have an opportunity to learn a lot and fast. Great way to get marketing experience with well known clients. Benefits are on par with other companies. Personal time off is quite generous overall.

Cons

Company grew too fast and suffered from growing pains. Employee recognition used to be commonplace and has essentially vanished. Company has become middle management and process heavy. There are some issues at the middle management level. Aspen does not promote from within, as they should limiting career advancement.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management needs to be more in touch with those in the trenches. Middle management sugar coats information and senior management doesn't get a clear picture. This hurts the employees and the customers.

Pros

Very lucrative place to work and the benefits were fantastic. Also a fun environment at times depending on what department.

Cons

many of the managers were extremely rude to their employees and humiliated them in front of peers. Brought moral way low.

Advice to Senior Management

Maybe put yourself in the shoes of the people you have working for you. especially since they are most likely more educated and qualified than you.

Pros

- Work / life balance
- Laid back culture
- Good people

Cons

- Low employee performance recognition
- Workplace politics
- Non-standardized performance review process and delayed/inconsistent annual review delivery across staff
- Non-objective and non-comprehensive 360 feedback methodology of employee performance

Advice to Senior Management

View commentary in cons section highlighted previously

Pros

Aspen Marketing Services tackles more than just DM, its a full service agency that has many branches that are utilized to support all client needs - from online to broadcast, print to telephony, you name it and we say "how high?". The positives about working at a medium sized company such as this is you learn a lot, and fast. Its a crash course on interpersonal skills, being resourceful, getting the most bang for your clients buck, and learning how to live without (without tech support in the office, without a project manager, and without respectable bonuses - hmm perhaps this answers the next question). But really, there are some great people that make the day to day enjoyable, the projects are challenging (in a good way, and the skill sets I have accumulated are invaluable.

Cons

One negative aspect of Aspen Marketing Services is it is growing though some growing pains. The company has not taken the time to appreciate or understand each unique branch it has acquisitioned. This makes working with other branches (and working internally) challenging because there is no common ground or established process. Everything is still being built up or broken down. The upper management still has not found or established their rolls especially on how to utilize their employees efficiently and effectively. I'm sure it will get there, but for now it is still a work in progress.

Advice to Senior Management

Care.

Pros

Fun people that are talented. Generally, there are a great many 'team members' that get it. That understand what hard work does, and the rewards to themselves, that the job was done right and to the level that they believe in. The atmosphere is somewhat laid back, which makes some things about going in worth while. There are some caring and understanding senior and junior level management staff that 'get it', but that isn't all that is needed. Though the work is more stressful in todays economic climate, the ability to feed off of some others in the company makes things a little easier to live through. The company sells marketing and as such is devoted to the client and does show that in the work that it delivers. We do go the extra mile whenever we can to not only impress the client base, but more importantly, retain them with honest effort and hard work. Some employees or teams are enthusiastically supported.

Cons

Hours can be long and very stressful. Poor communication. Lack of 'real' recognition. Disinterest in the way that others perform. We market well to and for our customers, but haven't mastered that art within our own company. We don't communicate well within the 'teams' and as such, the teams themselves essentially spread the word, sometimes to a fault. Some middle management seems to be oblivious to things around them, and far to caught up in the politics of the day. The highest management staff are to much into micro-management and therefore try to fix things that they perceive as broken, without knowing, or fully considering the facts as they really are. There is a high tolerance for the sales teams, as in any sales company, with the unfortunate side effect of suffering within the other support teams. This leads to problems in communication and the ability to work together to reach the goal that is intended.

Advice to Senior Management

Support all groups equally. Fully understand the problem, before acting on what you perceive as the problem. You wouldn't bring a solution to the table of a customer without knowing their business and understanding their needs. Treat the people or teams within your own company the same way. Believe in what your staff is able to do for you and offer you. You are as much our customers as your customers are to you. An idea, solution or complaint is only bad if it is not listened to or thought about with an open mind.