Strategic Insights – We’ve Got Ideas

These days everyone is pinching pennies. It would be foolish not to, given the state of the economy. As a service provider, we know clients are scrutinizing their budgets — not just trimming the excess but also wisely cutting back in order to prepare for a possibly lean 2010. Thus, in an effort to maximize clients’ marketing dollars, our team brainstormed ways to make our process more efficient. Since our process relies heavily on input and feedback, following are a few tips for clients on how to engage an agency effectively and efficiently. Some are big picture, some are simple methods or changes, but we hope all will help clients make the most of our services. In no particular order:

• INFORMATION Think of information as the recipe for your project. As the client, you know the most about your end goal as well as the details, parameters, constraints and guidelines to keep in mind in achieving that goal. The more of those accurate details we have up front, the more efficient we can be in helping you achieve your desired end result. If we don’t receive the information from you, we’ll ask questions – possibly many – to be sure we fully understand the objectives. As your creative and technical partner, we want to help you think through the entire process and anticipate future needs/wishes. This step might seem to delay the project, but in fact, inefficiency defined is getting halfway down one path, only to receive additional information and realize you should have taken another path.

• NOTICE Planning is key when it comes to efficiency. Whether it is at a project’s inception or towards the end, the more notice we have, the better our ability to provide service to meet and exceed your expectations. This applies to any level of detail, from a project’s master deadline schedule down to your availability on a certain day. Especially when approvals are required in order to move forward, being able to plan around moving parts, e.g., a decision-maker’s schedule, is crucial to avoiding bottlenecks, etc. Notice from you helps us plan our priority queue so we can work more efficiently.

• RESPONSE Speaking of approvals… Since practically all our work product requires input and approval from at least one client representative, we are accustomed to waiting on responses. If you come to us with a set of goals you’d like to accomplish within a certain deadline, we will do our best to give you a clear timeline for getting it done (or we’ll explain why it isn’t feasible!). But no matter what we do on our end, at various points along the way we will need to hear back from you; thus, you help contribute to a project’s efficiency. Particularly when trying to meet aggressive deadlines, your timely response might significantly affect our ability to succeed.

• INGREDIENTS In addition to feedback and approvals, many projects also depend on client-supplied materials. From specifications, to artwork files, to bullet points, to full copy, we will be able to begin more quickly if you supply us with complete and thorough materials up front (or at necessary points along the way, if more practical).

• TRUST You know your business better than we do (although as your partner we strive to learn as much as possible!), but often our perspective allows us to see solutions you may not have considered. Furthermore, our experience helps us know what works (or, when something didn’t work before, what might make it work better next time!). Constraints, parameters and requirements often bog down creativity; while we know you can’t eliminate all the “do’s” and “don’ts,” if you can give us the essentials and then trust us to run with it, you might appreciate the outcome. “We’ve got ideas,” after all, so who knows, maybe we’ll think of something you haven’t!

Everyone has “clients” — what’s your advice on improving efficiency?

By Marie Duncan, Account Executive
Strategic Insights