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Agency Relationship Status: It Doesn’t Have to be Complicated
Marketing and advertising budgets took a hit last year, but as consumer confidence remains strong, businesses are increasing spend, which means new client-agency relationships are being created. Like any new relationship, client-agency connections can be complicated, but they don’t have to be. Your new agency relationship can blossom into a true partnership if you’re transparent and set clear expectations. As someone who’s worked on the client and agency side, I’ve seen firsthand how a partnership can lead to success. Like many situations in life, doing this right involves managing the people and numbers side of the equation with deftness and clarity. Clarifying the Cast of CharactersAs your new agency relationship gets underway, it’s critical to discuss the activities of your existing in-house or agency teams and what is and is not working. That may sound basic, but sometimes people talk around the issue or make assumptions about what the new agency partner knows. Being upfront about it puts you and your agency partner on the same page for strategic collaboration. Also, be transparent about any office politics that may impact how work gets done. The agency partner may propose actions that involve a team outside your reporting structure. If your partner understands this, they can help you navigate any internal roadblocks and/or make the business case for a broader strategy internally in a way that contributes to everyone’s success. Another tip: Share the “why” in every conversation about a pivot, and expect the same in return. So, if there’s an internal decision to target a different customer segment, explain the motivation behind the pivot. That way, your agency partner will fully understand what’s happening and be in a better position to add value. Likewise, if your partner suggests a change — refocusing a social media campaign on a specific platform, for example — make sure you understand exactly why. This will not only ensure tighter collaboration between the client and agency teams, but you’ll also look more informed if asked about the shift when providing updates to your leadership group. It’s also a good idea to make sure the agency understands the full, often multifaceted scope of your role. People tend to wear a lot of hats these days. If, for example, you handle marketing and PR, but your agency interactions are limited to your marketing role, let them know you manage PR, too, even if it doesn’t seem directly relevant at first. The agency may be able to add more value when strategizing against the full scope of your oversight. Also, when working with multiple agencies, be transparent with each agency and create a collaborative framework that multiple agencies can work within. Solicit feedback to make sure everyone is working as a team to serve you, the client, in the most effective way. Establishing What Success Looks LikeOnce everyone is on the same page about roles and collaboration streams, it’s critical to create a consensus on what success looks like ahead of any campaign launch. You’ll need to come to agreement on what the important metrics are, e.g., sales by channel, and you’ll also need to agree on how you will arrive at the single version of the truth for each metric. Oftentimes, this is an iterative process. As the client, you may have established analytics you routinely use, but if you’re expanding your activities, your current methods may not be sufficient to capture the full scope of your campaigns. The good news is that agencies have seen it all, and your agency partner can help you create frameworks to measure success — ideally before campaign launch. This is also the right time to agree on formats for sharing data so that a mismatch won’t delay analysis and insights. You should also set a cadence for evaluating performance, keeping in mind that it may vary according to campaign type. For example, a media campaign launch typically needs a few weeks before reliable initial results are in. At the outset of the agency relationship, share as much historical data, performance metrics, and research as you can, and provide as much context and insight about the business opportunity as possible. Create timelines with the agency, and hold each other accountable so that your projects stay on track, with everyone focused on delivering results. Building a True PartnershipAs the client, you deserve a productive relationship with your agency, one built on trust that delivers results. All clients deserve that, no matter the size of the business or budget. But you have a role to play in building that partnership, and it starts with being transparent with your new agency, with the people involved and the metrics you’ll use to evaluate performance. Agency relationships don’t have to be complicated. Make yours simple by creating an open, collaborative relationship that focuses on results. When you take these steps, your agency partner will be better able to drive results with relevant, impactful new ideas. They’ll also be more prepared to support the internal marketing team. That’s a true partnership. Paul Her-Sturm is Senior Vice President, Digital Content and Strategy, at Hawthorne Advertising.
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Brand Response TV – More for Less?
It’s easy to build a quarterly marketing plan that sticks too close to the status quo. However,great strategists know that a truly memorable marketing campaign involves innovation. Direct Response TV, or rather its hybrid Brand Response TV (Direct Response for Brands), continues to be part of that innovation; it can build companies into unicorns (private company valued at over $100 billion) – all thanks to high return-on-investment (ROI) memorably and measurably. Direct Response TV has always integrated accountability and driven consumers to respond. The beauty of today’s Brand Response TV is that it catapults growth, fiscally responsibly — while always building, protecting, and enhancing the brand. It’s a fantastic way for companies that want to achieve unicorn status or experience any kind of phenomenal growth. Brand Response TV, like Direct Response TV, is typically discounted by about 40 to 60 percent from general advertising rate cards. Brands can essentially get twice the advertising for the same price a general advertiser gets, which means they don’t have to compromise quality just to stay in budget. As a result, customers are reachable at any time, day or night, for a price many brands can afford. What is Brand Response TV Marketing? Brand Response TV (BRTV) marketing leverages brand advertising and direct marketing to reap the benefits of both mediums. Brands need not even always advertise their products or services with an offer via approach.Instead, brands can work to reach the minds of their target market, ensuring the brand is top-of-mind when customers are evaluating options down the road. Don’t believe the hype? Companies like Harry‘s, currently valued at $1.7 billion, increased its company sales, generated new leads and captures, boosted website traffic, and strengthened customer relations all through direct response TV. You can buy a specific time slot for a notable program like The Voice with NBC or Fox’s Thursday night football, but it will cost significantly more. When you’re placing a DRTV advert, you don’t know exactly when it will be airing initially as direct response TV is purchased in given “day parts,” which means you can get into essentially any programming time period offering advertising, but you might not know the specific moment the spot will air. Agencies and marketers do receive pre-logs confirming over 95 percent of airings on average and then following airing will be provided with post-logs. Despite origins of being one of the oldest advertising mediums out there, BRTV is an intelligent channel, and has been a catalyst in growing brands including 23andMe, Coursera, Chime, Fanatics and Harry’s into unicorns. Why Does Brand Response TV Work? Accountable advertising delivers ROI and builds brands in a big way. Brands can measure data ranging from completed sales to successful conversions using BRTV. It gives brands the ability to make instantaneous decisions about where to go with their next advertising campaign. That’s why Brand Response TV plans can pivot within hours, days, weeks and months, unlike more traditional marketing plans. The ability to track results helps tailor each advertising campaign to the target audience in ways they want to interact with the brand, which is key to building strong, lasting customer relationships. Further, Brand Response TV allows consumers to connect with brands and get to know them on a more personal level. It creates a loyal customer base and encourages engagement. By comparison, traditional TV ads only raise product awareness, and generally sidestep the direct call to action that traditional direct response uses. Data from direct response TV placements also helps brands directly connect with the target audience. It’s possible to build a landing page and track traffic flow to that page during the time a direct response spot airs. Other algorithms can track buying trends, sales trends, and browsing activity during the same time, thus giving brands a powerful collection of data to better understand what resonates and what doesn’t. There are predictive systems that determine when a piece of creative is expiring. Brands can have many creative pieces running in the same market using different messaging approaches because they all air in varying time slots targeting different audiences, expanding the possibilities available with just one campaign. Older methods of marketing are seeing a revival and Brand Response TV is stepping in. Having a strong level of accountability in the developmental stage of direct response TV means it is possible to fine tune each ad campaign to maximize brand reach. Brand Response TV doesn’t require millions of dollars in testing, either. Brands can evaluate results through collected data and dial media spend up or down. Despite the size of a company, the marketing or advertising budget may not be that large – like traditional direct response, BRTV maximizes every dollar spent, which makes it a great economical choice in a media planning strategy. Final Thoughts Everything old is new again. Brands and companies keep discovering the beauty of brand response and how it helps products and messages sit top-of-mind for consumers, all with effectiveness and accountability (with the right tracking data). In this world, it’s all about that ROI. The beautiful thing about today’s Brand Response TV is that all it takes is a modest budget and an interest in data informing strategy to see some success. Karla Crawford Kerr is VP of Marketing with Hawthorne Advertising, a Los Angeles based, woman owned performance advertising agency specializing in analytics and accountable brand campaigns for 35 years. Crawford-Kerr was named Volunteer of the Year by the Electronic Retailing Association and Direct Response Marketing Association/Response Magazine MOY Top 10. She has served on the Direct Marketing Association Broadcast Council Operating Board and was ERA’s Chairman of D2C Programming & Education for nearly a decade. She has judged awards competitions including the ANA B2B Awards, Moxie Awards, Invent Help–INPEX Pitch to Pros and DMA Echo Awards. Her portfolio of clients has included BLACK+DECKER, Clorox, Gerber Life Insurance, Nikon, Oreck, Procter & Gamble, Transamerica and the US Navy.
