Let’s face it; marketers spend a fair whack of money each year on agencies. But do they always get their money’s worth? Who knows, you get what you pay for most of the time in this business, but sometimes companies really don’t get the value for money they deserve – or more to the point – what they get doesn’t always do the job as well as it could do…and they never really realise, because no one commissions two agencies to do the same job.
Of course buying creativity is difficult; a bit like commissioning an artist. You’ve seen their previous work but you live in hope that what they do for you is going to live up to expectations. Also, trying to describe the design process is as notoriously difficult as trying to describe how to ride a bicycle; the gulf between the theory and the practise is the same for both.
Then there is this thing called ‘strategy’. It’s elusive and a little difficult to quantify – but it has real value too. As well as not realising the worth of great creative, many clients haven’t grasped the added value of strategy, devised by experienced performance-driven agencies. And if they have, they don’t always get the chance to use it most of the time.
So many companies think they know what they need…when actually they only know what they want…but good agencies know what they really need. And it’s something they’ve never even thought of. This is fine, because clients set objectives and make informed decisions…and it’s an agency’s job to be on top of the game of ways to make that happen.
The best way to get your money’s worth from your agency is involve them in the big picture as early as possible. A client brief should not be “Make me this”. It should be “I need to achieve this. What do you suggest?” Think of the agency as a business partner, not a fulfilment house, and you’ll get a lot more bang for your more-than-a-few bob.
We are really lucky at VGroup to enjoy this kind of relationship with most of our clients. Perhaps we don’t say it enough…but to all of our clever, creative clients who say “What do you suggest?”, “Okay, I’m willing to give that a go” and “I’ll leave it in your capable hands”…thank you! You make our jobs more rewarding, your customers satisfied and the world a slightly more beautiful place.