We speak constantly of the need for agencies to become strategic marketing partners with their clients and not just suppliers of projects. Fine, you say, couldn't agree with you more. But what about those clients who either just don't get it, or who are simply not interested in your strategic capabilities?
As one old high school basketball coach used to say, "When your opponent is not willing to engage you, you've got to take the game to them." Not on their terms. On yours.
This applies to the advertising business as well. When an agency principal called asking for some research help, we chatted about the prospect pitch he was about to make. The company wanted help with social media, and the principal wasn't sure how to approach it.
"I'm not real sure about this prospect," he began. "He employs a number of salespeople, and doesn't really believe in social media. They've been posting for two years and haven't seen a single lead come out of it. While he is understandably skeptical, some of his salespeople and prospects are active on LinkedIn and asking for better content to share, so he feels he should make another attempt."
"Are other agencies competing for this business?" we asked. "Yes," he replied, "several others."
What a great opportunity to zap the competition and convert the client at the same time. Instead of delivering a social media project quote, this was a perfect opportunity to deliver a social media program. The prospect was plainly open to the investment, but felt that posting for the sake of posting was a waste of money. Many business people feel this way. As pragmatists, they are generally willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, but will do nothing that doesn't directly contribute to profits.
"Jim," we said, "this is an excellent opportunity for your agency to convert a social media project into a full-service account by helping this prospect develop a program that would tie every post to a business result, create qualified leads for his salespeople, and secure your agency's position with the client as a marketing partner." And with that in mind we constructed a program.
The program used social content as the centerpiece. The prospect wanted better social media, so the agency focused on making that investment produce measurable results. The agency proposal also involved a content strategy tied to specific sales goals; paid amplification to extend reach beyond organic; a landing page for each campaign theme to capture and qualify inbound interest; a lead handoff process that delivered scored, qualified prospects directly to the sales team; and a monthly reporting cadence that connected social activity to pipeline activity.
Did the prospect buy the program? It's too early to report. But the concept is guaranteed, especially with pragmatic prospects who want to see a direct relationship between where they spend their money and the results they get. By submitting a complete program, not just a content calendar, this agency could be assured of the project's ultimate success.
Remember: take the game to the client.
Each time your agency is asked to do a project, come back with a program to support it. If asked to do an ad, submit a response and lead generation program alongside it. If asked to build a landing page, propose a campaign to drive traffic to it. If asked to design a logo, propose research and testing, a trademark search, a brand standards guide, and so on. Each time the agency works a program instead of a project, they show the client they are a thinking agency. One that can see beyond the project at hand to the larger picture of success. This positions the agency as strategic. Proactive, not reactive.
For those clients who already have that part handled, establish the agency as an intelligent supplier. A player. Maybe the next time they bring a project, they'll be open to full-service help. The agency will have earned their respect. But your agency's greatest potential rewards lie with those clients who don't get it. Those who don't understand the connection between projects and programs in the success of their advertising and marketing efforts. If the agency can gain their confidence by using logical, strategic approaches in responding to their needs, it will be on its way to becoming the client's marketing partner.
During our agency careers, we did this with every account, large or small. Each time we made a new project connection, we would go out of our way to learn as much as we could about what was happening in the prospect's business, and submit an intelligent program as the solution to the problem. Most of the time we were able to sell prospects more than what we were originally called to propose. And more times than not, we would continue to work for them in this way. Clients like it when agencies think bottom-line profit, not just artistic execution.
