Agencies need to adjust to client changes

In the same time period, business and particularly entrepreneurs have become more valued by society, as evidenced by the interest in TV shows such as 'The Apprentice' and 'Dragon's Den'.

Many of the university graduates of the past few years joined large companies and have spent the last few years climbing the corporate ladder. Some are in fact, the clients of today. Not that out of the ordinary, I hear you say?

Well, these marketers are part of a new crowd, bred in and influenced by an economic environment where purse strings were tight and the excesses of the 1990s were increasingly frowned upon. With them, they have brought new traits, not previously associated with the corporate world; these executives are entrepreneurial as well as web-savvy.

What's more, such traits mean that these clients are well aware of the possibilities that more interactive communications of the day can offer. Where once it was all about 'push', clients now demand solutions that enable their customers to 'pull' product and company information and even conduct transactions themselves.

These changes, together with the marketing department's perennial bugbear of proving its value within the company, may explain the swing of marketing budgets away from above-the-line agencies.

It has been well documented that the proportion of budgets spent below the line has been quietly increasing at the expense of traditional TV and press ads. One of the factors for the shift is the innate measurability of campaigns executed using direct and digital channels.

Another observation of clients today is that they want agencies that can see the overall business problem while also helping them make the case for the work internally. But going further, agencies who take a more holistic approach and demonstrate an understanding of a client's own internal complexities are today's winners.

Communicating how their proposed work will impact other areas of customer interactions makes them stand out in clients' eyes, and contributing ways to achieve integration with other aspects of the programme, executing across touchpoints really puts them on the road to creating value for clients.  Now, more than ever, responsiveness and an ability to innovate are most important drivers of success with clients.
 
The days of thinking only within channels are over. Clients want agencies that consider the overall customer interaction programme as a long-term engagement, making appropriate contacts and messaging through the right channels at the right time. Increasingly, instead of partnering with one agency for each individual discipline, work is consolidated with fewer partners, each accounting for a larger slice of the cake.

The benefits are plain to see. For clients, first it means less internal resource is spent managing numerous agencies, resulting in the whole marketing exercise being far more efficient with less administrative burden. Agencies can then be paid according to outcome; measurable performance metrics that are defined collaboratively in a spirit of partnership. More importantly, the overall quality of work produced should be higher, with a greater level of integration between components of the engagement through the different touchpoints, thus creative themes can be more effectively made to run throughout a programme of communications.

More effective campaigns lead to more loyal customers. As outlined above, the opportunity exists to up the ante, exceeding client expectations with an understanding of business strategy to produce truly integrated work that helps grow a client's business. 

Adopting new, more flexible structures that enable this way of working is key. Today few agencies have the specialised mix of true strategy, sector and channel experts as well as creative flair that enable them to capitalise on the new needs of clients. Few have transformed into the agency of the future.

The recent realignment at Carlson Marketing can be likened to the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle being put in place. Through ongoing conversations with our most loyal clients, we have seen the reality of new client demands and needs unfold before our eyes. The pieces were being lined up -- the expertise required was identified, targeted and systematically brought in-house. We learned a lot from Peppers & Rogers Group, the management consulting firm Carlson acquired in 2003.

Indeed, our structure can now be likened to a consulting firm model, with small flexible teams and subject matter experts that are inspiring to work with. After years of change and a multimillion-pound investment, our offering (consisting of Meeting & Events, Sales and Marketing Service and Carlson 1to1) has the breadth to provide existing and future clients the services they require. Our people have the depth of experience and expertise to work with clients to develop strategic direction and then execute right across the channel spectrum.

Their goal is to plan interactive engagements that are so compelling customers literally stop in their tracks. Campaigns that orchestrate experiences, guided by the reality of the customer being in control, to engage and involve and not interrupt the customers we seek to build relationships with. We are an ever-evolving industry and must ensure we are ready to adjust as needed. We believe the outlook in the industry is extremely bright - for those players who act fast enough to adjust to the new reality.

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