Brand Central Station

I’m not sure why clients never understood this … but when it comes to getting the best out of their ad agency or PR firm for the least amount of money, clients turn from being “marketing partners” into “general contractors from hell.”

I an’t tell you how many times I’ve received RFP’s from clients that read more like a purchase order for gravel than a request for our best thinking on a tough marketing assignment.  I’ve always wanted to respond: “Thanks for the bid request – we have a sale on four-color ads this week but we’re a little short on brochure ideas, can we arrange for a two-for-one swap?”

Now comes a study commissioned by Jones & Bonevac that reports at least 30% of marketing agency staff time is ineffective or wasted due to poor communications from their clients.

See, it was just as we suspected … it’s all the clients’ fault.

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No, it’s not the latest iteration of Mad’s classic “Spy vs Spy” comic drama.

When it comes to advertising creative, it doesn’t always have to come down to an “all or nothing” proposition, does it?  For small and mid-sized businesses especially, the hard reality is that many times the design, content and sometimes finished production of a  piece needs to be done in-house or it won’t get done at all.  Some agencies look the other way, some get all “high and mighty” about it.

Here’s the reality: it’s gonna happen, get over it. 

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This is from a great post directed to freelancers on the Freelancefolder blog.

Freelace writer Laura Spencer provides a list of 45 questions for every freelancer to ask a new client (the entire list is posted after the jump).  Looking over that list, though, it occurs to me that many (if not all) of these questions are relevant things for an account manager to ask an agency – or internally – for a marketing manager to ask a new “client” inside their own company.

Some of these questions might be considered a bit mundane.  In my experience, new client relationships are often filled with the excitement of the “win” for the agency and the high expectations of a client who has been wooed by great creative and charming personalities. 

Questions like “Which is more important, quality or speed?” seems to have the potential to take all the romance out of the relationship right away.  (Double entendre intended.)

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If you’re like me, nearly every e-card you receive this year will either end up in your Spam folder or all of the images will be blocked by your email client (I use Outlook).  Instead of downloading images and dealing with the various “cyber-security” issues associated with these emails, I usually just note who sent the mail and then send it to the trash.

I have no idea how many clever Photoshop examples, flash games or silly photographs I’ve missed over the years.  But what’s more interesting is to think how many of these senders think they’ve made a positive impression on me when, in fact, they’ve made no impression at all.

This may be one of those times when going “old school” is the best rule. 

Alan Underkofler writes a blog dedicated to “following up” with customers, prospects and the other people who are important in your business life.  Throughout the month of December, he’s been trying to reinforce the importance of sending Holiday Cards to your contact base.  In fact, last week, Alan reminded us that it’s still not too late!

If you happen to be one of those thinking “it’s too late to send holiday cards at this point” or “does sending holiday cards really make a difference in my business?”, I would encourage you to consider recent research by Hallmark:  Hallmark found that businesses say they use greeting cards as a “kind of investment in their business…  They’re investing in customer relationship with the hopes that it will pay back”.  The company has conducted research that found at least half of customers who received holiday cards from businesses say they are more likely to continue doing business with that company versus another one. 

Alan recommends using an online service called SendOutCards which allows you to upload a contact list, select a card, type in a personal message and then have your cards in the mail the next day.

My business partner and I have a meeting with a client today.  We’re going over marketing and media plans for 2009 and talking about a whole host of issues related to what we accomplished this past year and where we’re going in the next.

But when I talk to some of my friends who are either freelancers or own their own small agencies, they’re too busy scrambling to get work done for this year to even think about sitting down with clients and talking about the year to come.  And that’s a major problem.

As I mentioned in my post on Marketing in a Recession, you have to make sure your happy customers are exactly that: happy.  And that’s because the 80/20 rule quickly turns into a 90/5 situation.  The economy will force more of your eggs into a smaller basket – to not take the time now to make sure that basket belongs to you is foolish.

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On-going education is a vital part of any professional growth plan – and that’s especially true for marketers, PR flacks and ad folks.  After all, aren’t we supposed to be setting the cultural bar for the rest of society?

Scary thought, isn’t it?

Well, now is a good time to consider how you’re going to stay sharp for clients.  PRWeek’s Next Conference (scheduled for next week in NYC) looks to put people in touch with various “thought leaders” in the world of digital marketing and online spin-meistering.  The best part, though, is it looks like there’s still room to get in to the conference.

Here’s the line-up (from a recent promotional e-mail):

• A Q&A on the economics of publishing with Bob Nolan, managing partner of Halyard Capital (new speaker)
• Predictions about what’s coming, from experts like Tom Arrix of Facebook (new speaker), Steve Rubel of Edelman, Peter Kim of Dachis Corporation, and Evan Neufeld of ComScore
• Roundtable conversations covering word-of-mouth marketing, and taking risks on the digital frontier
• Keynote on the future of digital media by Robert Thomson, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal
• Killer content, covered by Bonnie Fuller, trendspotter Marian Salzman, and Michael Zimbalist, head of R&D at The New York Times Company
• Lessons about how top in-house teams like IBM are organizing for success in the digital world
• A model for the next generation in PR leadership, including digital know-how and media expertise.

We won’t be able to make it, but would love to hear from some PR and marketing folks who manage to attend.  Be sure to make your reservation today.  Or e-mail pilar.mustafa@prweek.com with a question or two.