Over the past 30 years, I've worked on both the client and consulting side with a lot of agencies, account execs and creatives—including some of the best in the world, such as Lee Clow at TBWA/Chiat/Day.
There are things that digital marketing agencies would probably love to say to their clients but sometimes don’t because they’re concerned being totally honest might have negative consequences in the relationship. Based on several years of conversations with agencies, here’s what I think digital marketing execs would really like to tell their clients about working together in an effective partnership:
1. Who’s on first?
It’s critical to agree from the start who’s going to be doing what. If your digital marketing agency is working with another ad agency responsible for another aspect of your brand’s marketing mix (such as a print campaign), you as the client need to be very clear who’s in charge of what. Otherwise, there's risk of double-teaming or a fight about which direction your marketing efforts are headed.
2. Take me to your leader
Clearly communicate who’s responsible for making the final decisions on creative, spending and production; who needs to be consulted first and who simply needs to be informed. Doing this at the beginning of the project will save everyone a lot of time and frustration.
3. No guts, no glory
If your approach to managing your brand is minimizing risks, then your relationship with a digital agency is probably doomed from the start. We’re all in the first inning of a long game in terms of what works (and doesn’t) in digital marketing. So, as the client, be willing to do experiments to expand what works and learn from what doesn’t. But if you’d rather keep dropping coupon inserts in the Sunday newspaper instead because it’s “safe,” good luck with that.
4. Life isn’t fair, but marketing budget allocation criteria should be
Digital agencies respect great TV campaigns as much as anyone, but after 50 years there’s still a lot of debate on how to really measure their impact. If an agency demonstrates that various digital marketing efforts are achieving a great ROI and killing the metrics agreed on in advance, agree to shift the marketing mix and budget accordingly.
For digital marketing options (SEO, e-mail campaigns, branded content, social media, mobile advertising and so on), there are scientific ways of measuring their impact. If these new ways of marketing to the target audience are working, and the other agencies can’t show the same level of business results from more “traditional” marketing channels, it’s time to rob Peter to pay Paul!
5. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Agencies aren't run like the one on “Mad Men.” It's actually really tough to make a buck in this business. The budgets are a lot smaller than what you’d work with doing television campaigns, and it is incredibly labor-intensive. So agree it’s in everyone's interest that the agency make a decent profit. Staff according to your stated needs and our P&L requirements.
6. School is never out for the summer
There aren't any books to read on the latest thinking in digital marketing, since they’re out of date by the time they’re published. You’re going to have to work with your agency to keep up.
I’m always happy to provide my clients links to the best blogs and thought leaders, as I'm sure most agencies are. But you have to put in some effort, since there’s a certain minimum level of knowledge and understanding you’re going to need to make the decisions your agency is going to ask you to make.
7. Where’s the love?
Don’t let anything I’ve said give you the impression we at digital agencies don’t love what we do. We absolutely do! It’s a very exciting time to be an agency, especially one that focuses on digital marketing. We just want you to understand some of the challenges we face on a daily basis, and some of the things you can do to help us be successful. We’re going to work our butts off for your business and make sure we understand how it works. All we ask is you return the favor and take a bit of time to learn how ours works as well.
If you’re a digital marketing agency, e-mail this to your client and set up a time for a frank and open discussion. If you’re a client, see what your agency thinks of these “truths”…you might be surprised what you learn.
OPEN Cardmember Kip Knight is President of KnightVision Marketing, which works with CEOs and marketing teams to help build their brands with solid marketing strategies and creative, practical solutions. Follow him on Twitter at @kipknight or e-mail him at kip@knightvisionmarketing.com.
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