Effective Techniques For Dealing With Advertising Clients

Note to Mentors

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Unit Purpose and Aims

The purpose of this unit is to;

The aim of this unit is to help learners how to manage client relationships within an agency and to understand the processes that are in place to help do this.

Learning Outcomes

Learners will;

1. Understand the processes used in agencies for dealing with clients

Learners can;

1.1 Explain the hierarchies and processes that exist within agencies for communicating with clients

 

 

1.2   Create an effective communications plan

Corryn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVHTEytizi4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s318vlrZNg
This video cuts off the headlines a bit, but there is music.

 

1.3 Explain the key features of a good client/agency relationship

 

 

2.  Understand client management techniques

2.1 Demonstrate how to use a number of communication methods and consulting styles:  a) across a range of clients b) appropriate to a particular client

 

http://www.slideshare.net/DNMountain/stickmen-8039938

2.2  Explain how to manage client confidentiality

 

2.3 Show an understanding of negotiation techniques

 

Learning Tools, Resources & Links

Things that will help the learner develop understanding of this unit;

Mentors please add your ideas, examples, case studies, links to articles, videos, etc. here.

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Understand the client

Each client differs, lets not forget they are all human beings and you talk differently to your grandmother than you talk to your brother in law.

It comes all down to understand and read the client’s needs; their fears, their ambitions, their philosophy and their heritage.

The Saatchi brothers understood this quite well when they pitched about 30 years ago for BA.

In an article in the Guardian it says:

Even the founding of M&C Saatchi involved some smoke and mirrors. Moray MacLennan, the chief executive of M&C Saatchi Worldwide, recalls pitching for the British Airways account, up for review when the airline protested against the brothers’ removal from Saatchi & Saatchi: “There were basically a handful of us working out of a single room. BA needed a worldwide network, the kind of agency that employs 20,000 people. So we took a lease for a day on an empty building, hired a group of models to pose as staff and held the pitch there – the best looking employees I’ve ever seen. The building was just round the corner from BBH who were also pitching for the account and they told BA what we were up to. So they asked for a second meeting and we had to rehire the building, redress it, employ the same models and prepare loads of fake CVs. They certainly knew what we were up to, but I think they liked the chutzpah. Anyway, we won the business.”

Read the full article here.

When dealing with clients, and in general with other people Marshall B. Rosenberg is an excellent reference to avoid conflict, solve conflict or solve problems by changing the tone of voice. It also helps to understand and look from very different perspectives at a problem.

The first four minutes are a bit tough to get through but it is immensely valuable to debating skills and defending yours and understanding others’ point of view; watch some videos here:

 

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Stand out of the crowd.

When dealing with clients, it can happen that the client is deeply convinced to advertise in a way everyone else is advertising their products. A good way of making the client understand and acknowledge the point that standing out of the crowed is to put i.e. all of competitor’s print ads on a wall and let him chose which one stands out. Most of the time this will reselut in resignation, helplessness and finally in understanding how important it may be to appear in a different way to the consumer.

When dealing with clients it is important to give them the chance to learn something and understand better, rather then simply telling them. Analogies can be hugely helpful in clarifying the benefit of a chosen communication strategy.

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Results.

Most clients love to play with numbers, they usually run a business to make money so they want to see results. For results and convincing numbers social media is a fantastic tool to convince a client about the effectiveness of a campaign, an ad or even a whole agency. However, there are other media platforms which are not as easy to measure as they don’t offer a high level of engagement. Online and digital content offers a way to measure the level of engagement. You can read here why this is important. The article also talks about the future of social media engagement. Future predictions can help a client understand in which direction the business might go and where the advertising might take the business.