When Clients should listen.

When I started in the Advertising business, it was towards the end of the "Mad Men" era. Three martini lunches, taking clients out to expensive dinners and flying them to tropical getaways in order to maintain their business. Those days, for the most part, are long gone! Yes we still cater to our clients, but meetings happen more often in the office or a coffee shop than a hotel bar. Instant contact with smart phones and mobile devices mean that many meetings don't even happen in person. Since everyone's schedule is busy, meetings have to be more efficient and time conscious.

I addition, the Agency / Client relationship has changed. In the 60's through the late 80's the Agency was the expert on marketing and branding and the client was more inclined to do what the Agency proposed for their business, because, after all the Agency was the expert!

Now days the relationship is a little different. I have observed that as clients have become more educated, the paradigm has morphed. Clients now are more vocal, and many have hired marketing specialists, or they themselves majored in marketing in order work hand-in-hand with agencies to come up with solutions to better spend their advertising dollars.

I believe the change overall has been for the better. The relationship between client and agency has become more of a partnership, where each partner cares about the brand, marketing, design of the business and wants to make sure the best possible solution is the the one that makes it to the public.

There are occasions, however where the client still needs to defer to the agency (or design studio). I'm a Creative Director of a small design shop. I have also worked for two of the largest advertising agencies in the southwest. For over 20 years I've met and listened to many clients, given input to help them create advertising solutions to help sell and expand their business and developed long partnerships and in some cases life long friendships with them. The following are three areas I've discovered, where clients still need to listen to their agency:

1. Photography- There are two areas that need to be addressed in photography used in ads and web. The first is professional photography. Everyone has a camera these days and the camera companies have given us many automatic settings that allow us to take really good images. But, let me just say that having a good camera doesn't make you a good photographer. Professional photographers train to do what they do. They understand composition and they have worked with professional designers and know what the designer needs in a photo for an ad, brochure or poster. They understand lighting and they make sure that things in the background don't look like they're growing out of someone's head. Second, is they know how much PPI (pixels per inch) is needed when they shoot. This is incredibly important if the images are to be used in print instead of on the web or on video (see my previous blog on ppi, dpi and spi). Hire a professional photographer, it will make your life easier in the long run and your company will have a polished image that will better sell your product or service.

2. Design- whether its a logo, brochure or the side of a truck, graphic designers have the ability to cut through all the garbage out there to give your brand better message. Designers don't just put something on the page because it looks pretty, there is always a valid communications reason why something is designed the way it is. Just look around you, everything you see was designed by a designer, signs, rooms, streets, buildings and even automobiles, you hire them for their expertise, trust them to do their job.

3. Time- A wise man once told me you can have any two of these but you can't have all three, FAST, GOOD OR CHEAP. This is so true. If you do it fast, it may be cheaper but you lose quality. If the agency tells you it will take a certain amount of time to get you the quality you deserve, you should listen. They have a lot of combined experience in their field and know what they're talking about. After all, isn't that why you hired them in the first place?

Good agencies welcome the new working relationships that exist between between them and their clients. We love what we do and that's why we do it! We listen to you and learn about your business in order to produce the best possible message. On the other hand, It's still very important for you to know when it's time to listen to us.


© Copyright 2013 Michael Burke