ChangeOrder

Good Marketing is Business Psychotherapy

"Finding a new creative agency can be like finding a new therapist. Why would you want to tell your story all over again to a new agency?"

One of my esteemed colleagues, Kara Costa, said the above quote in a meeting about how agencies are marketed. And she's completely right.

At agencies, we listen to our clients very closely. We provide them proper perspective. We unravel existing stories about their products, their brands, and how their companies functions. We help them forge new stories about themselves founded on the truths inherent in their brands. If things are dire, we write a prescription and make sure it gets filled.

As a result, client relationships improve with their customers. The agency, the company, and their audience relate on a deeper, more human level. Often, great marketing and strategic work from an agency can have an impact on how the company functions as a complete organism, making it healthier beyond the immediate deliverables at hand. A strong agency-client relationship can elevate an agency to be the company's therapist, easing them into the necessary efforts to create positive change.

There's a cost, though. Obtaining great design work can require as much introspection and effort as therapy. There is an emotional investment from both parties that creates a strong bond -- or painful friction, if the process isn't managed well.

Of course, friction is an essential part of any marketing work. A good therapist will challenge you in both direct and indirect ways, working to discern the best method to bring out your true nature. Without friction, there isn't change or growth. A good therapist won't just come out and say, "You should do this or you'll be sorry." They help bring you to an understanding contained within your own story.

And just like therapists, it can often seem like designers are only making observations about things already inherent in the client. This isn't devaluing the designer's role, only underscoring the intuitive nature of the designer and the quality of their insight. That's what we get paid for: active listening and reactive envisioning.

It's precisely for this reason that when strong client contacts depart for other companies, they have a predisposition to maintain their preferred agency relationships. I feel like this is part of the reason that agencies are constantly buffeted by the storms of agency reviews. People want to work with agencies that have a proven track record of listening closely to their needs.

You don't go to see a therapist for a few months, thank them for the hard work and effort, and then move on to start all over again. Wouldn't you hate it if you looked up and saw that your therapist was asleep while you were talking to him? Or that he didn't remember that in the third grade, you were taunted by your peers, which led you to lock yourself in the bathroom for a week and cry?

A ten-year client relationship, serviced by consistently excellent work, can evaporate in mere months without the shared experience that comes from working through business problems over time. That experience is the bedrock that keeps the relationship strong through turbulent business conditions. Companies don't get a chance to settle down into a comfortable, challenging relationship when people are flying in and out of their account. Without institutional memory, usually in the form of people and processes, trust evaporates.

What would happen if you treated all of your clients more like a therapist would: with deep respect, compassion, and focused attention on listening to exactly what their needs are. Would that give you the necessary edge to retain them?

On Saying No

The only major failure you should face in the business of design? The failure to recognize that a client project is something you should decline.

Why is saying no always so difficult?

Because you aren't that busy. It's just a quick little project in an area that you don't specialize in, but you might as well take it so when the next big project arrives, you'll have an even stronger client relationship.

Often, we end up in these situations as designers because we've not properly communicated what we want out of our clients. There need to proper boundaries, and if they aren't described or enforced, then the client often doesn't understand who you are and what services you offer.

These kinds of situations often occur with our clients:

The client thinks you want it, no matter what. This is the beauty of having strong client relationships -- they trust you with their life, their brand, and every project that could benefit from your magic touch. They like working with you. They genuinely care about your success. They just don't realize that what they're throwing your way is not the best fit. This happens often in seeking new clients: right client, wrong project. It's a subtle art to decline a client and still keep the door open for future business.

The client knows you need it. Yes, the studio has been quiet. The client's been aware of your increased focus and attention their business, throwing in bells and whistles whenever possible. The risk of this type of overdelivering is that clients begin to expect more for their money. They also expect that you'll drop anything to help. Smart and savvy businesspeople know this is when they can negotiate hardest on their own behalf.

The client doesn't know that you lack competency in an area. "Yes, I designed your logo and business papers, and I'll be happy to talk with you about building a database for your website." Designers don't like to admit weakness in a specific area, but you'll actually gain respect by bringing in the right professional or agency to support you and/or wholly take on a project you don't have a competency in.

The client wants you to do work that's part of their job role. Most often, designers are hired to do things that are outside the core expertise of their clients. But sometimes jobs come along that are part of a client's everyday work responsibilities, and you don't recognize it until it's too late. The risk with these kinds of projects is that you usually don't get to follow your standard agency process and have to work through the same politics as your client to have work approved. This can be a burn on your time and resources and make your project unprofitable.

The client feels entitled to your help. If you say no, there are plenty of other agencies yearning to get started on this project. And this threat is always halfway true. But if a client threatens to take the work to another agency, they're taking this tack because they want something from you: your participation, your investment, your attention. They know you'll do it better than that other agency. It actually proves that you have more leverage than you think and should talk more deeply with them about their needs.

Often, it's not up to the client. It's a problem that you're dealing with on your end that bleeds into your working client relationships:

You really do need the money. Yes, you need to pay rent. Yes, this work is not beneath you. Yes, the work will hopefully lead to better things. Yes, the Print Regional Annual doesn't accept PowerPoint templates as a category. Sorry. You have staff you need to keep busy. It'll be over quick and then you'll be on to better things. It is a fundamental truth that projects stroll through the studio that are purely money-makers and never peek their head up in your portfolio. But if word gets around that you're really, really good at the things you don't want to specialize in, you'll risk landing those projects over and over again. Like the old adage says, "Be careful what you're good at." Can you afford to promote yourself as an expert in one area and end up spending your time working in another?

And lastly, the most dangerous reason that you don't decline work:

You don't realize what they're really asking for and plan to figure it out while you work on the project. Disaster comes in many flavors, and this is one you never want to inflict on a paying client. Example: You design their identity. They're offering you some motion graphics work to animate it for a video. You've never used AfterEffects or Flash. Now isn't the time to crack the manual and dive in. Too high a risk of failure. Bring in a specialist. Mark up their time. Get it right.

Today's designers are business partners with their clients -- real strategists -- and you're continually thrown opportunities you don't really need or have the depth of knowledge to fulfill well. Be sure to let your clients know upfront what kinds of work you really want. The work that's really going to shine.

If that's not what a client has to offer for you, then be prepared to walk away gracefully. Make a reference to someone in your network who can fulfill their needs and return the referral in the future.