Agencies, Learn to Speak Client

May 30, 2024

As marketers we know that market orientation is key.

Understanding the needs and wants of your target consumer is everything.

Brand marketers know that, and well-trained agency marketers know that.

But one thing I've seen play out over my career is the absolute disconnect between what agencies think their clients want and what the client actually wants.

Agency fam, it's time to learn to speak client.

Let's start with a blunt truth: CMOs and brand marketers spend as little as 5% of their time on agency-related work.

What agencies obsess over, throw every living moment into, is simply not a priority brand side.

That doesn't mean it's not appreciated, and it certainly doesn't mean they don't care about it. Truth is it's often the agency work which is the most enjoyable, and the agency people the most fun to spend time with.

But there are other priorities which take precedence. Logistics, seasonal cycles, new product launches, budgeting, getting space on shelf, plain internal politics. All of these take up far more time than comms and campaigns, and they really should.

It doesn't matter how creative or potentially effective a campaign might be if the product is sitting on a container ship stuck in the Suez canal.

Trust me, had that one personally.

What clients want from their agencies is support. 

Supporting them directly as well as delivering on the campaign or project they've given you.

They want you to take the heavy lifting away, take away the pain and what they can't make time to do.

Respect and appreciate their time, don't add to their load, and keep on top of communications. Make it easy for them to feel in safe hands.

Try to understand how they work, what matters most to them in an agency relationship, their business and personal requirements, the internal dynamics and where they might need a trusted ear or a supportive voice.

And remember, you are likely just one of several agencies they are working with. So built trust, be the one that listens rather than preaches.

Ultimately they are giving you money to let them do a better job for the companies they work for. Or perhaps just to hit their bonus KPIs.

This isn't to say agencies should simply bow to the whims and demands of their brand masters, absolutely not. You've been brought in because you have an opinion and a perspective. But apply that to an understanding of what your client needs to win.

My first marketing role was at an agency I founded, and running a business gave me a broader understanding of business priorities which I was able to use to my advantage as my career developed through agency business, consultancy as well as client-side and now as a Fractional CMO.

I know how to speak client.

One final anecdote to highlight the point.

One of my greatest agency wins was with The LEGO Group, pitching and winning with an idea that was very much my baby.

For the best part of two years I was frustrated that my client hadn't signed it off to go live.

Fast forward a short while, I was now client-side at The LEGO Group myself and was given that very same project, my agency baby, to manage and push live.

It never made it. I couldn't justify the time, however successful I knew it would be, however proud I would be and however much it had cost to put together (and it wasn't cheap). I had Star Wars Day, Black Friday, LEGO Super Mario campaigns to deliver.

So, again, seek to be as understanding and supportive as possible. Become a trusted go-to by understanding what your client needs, and you won't look back.

Oh and one thing guaranteed to boil client piss, don't assume you know their business better than they do. You really don't. No agency does.