What do clients value most from their agencies?

It used to be a pretty straightforward one this; clients ‘make stuff’ and agencies ‘make ads to sell the client’s stuff’

But then we all started talking at once.

Procurement said: “You can only make so much margin.”

Agencies said: “But we’re specialists, and that costs.”

Then agencies said: “Meet our network, buy it all from us and get a discount.”

But clients came back with: “Meet our in-house team.”

Then she said this.

Then he said that.

My dad said: “It’s just ads.”

I – being clever – explained funnels, omni-channel, programmatic, content.

Then dad went to cut the lawn.

You get the idea.

So, how to stand out?

To launch an agency, you only need three folks: a suit, a creative, a planner. And a spare bedroom of course.

Covid has accelerated how much of the old ways of working we could afford to dump, as we ditched the commute, wore shorts below the Zoom-line, and tried to keep the culture going with virtual escape rooms.

But, do you know how many agencies there are in the UK alone? Google told me about 25,000. Anyway, it’s a lot. So, how do you stand out from 25,000 mouthy types all claiming to be the best? So how does a client choose agencies and what do they value?

To find out, I asked our clients what they rated most about us?

Here’s what came back (and I needed to jazz up this article, hence the unnecessary word cloud):

It’s down to the people. We all knew that already, but good to hear it once again.

Let’s dig deeper. What do these people need to deliver?

Again, I asked our clients who said the holy trinity was communication, creativity and execution.

One by one.

Communication

Master the art of good listening, of hearing the unspoken, of keeping all parties informed, of finishing each other’s sentences. Do all this, and you’ll become a vital extension to their marketing team.

Creativity

Remember the bit about selling their stuff? Don’t do it for the gongs, do it for the sales teams, they need leads to get their bonus. And you and marketing become their heroes.

Execution

Ensure the journey from scamp to going live runs smoothly. Don’t forget, brownie points can be earned for effective navigation between your client’s product, marketing, brand, content and sales teams too. It’s not just what you do, it’s the way that you do it.

And lastly, be the glue.

Clients can be siloed for many reasons – the multiple regions they cover, the customer segment or vertical they own, the demands of prospecting for new business, or organic upselling.

This is where a good agency does well. They get amongst their clients, telling the disparate teams what each other is up to, how they can join it up for them and help elevate conversations to the exec level.

Now go build that team that your client wants.

Do that colour personality team test to match your people with your client’s people effectively. Blues (‘let’s do it right’), go well with Yellows (‘let’s do it together’), while Reds (‘let’s do it now’), are best balanced out with Greens (‘let’s do it in a caring way’).

And keep asking if you’re doing it right. Push for reviews, push for scores. You’ll learn a load, we certainly did.