I picked up this survey of brand managers run by Sapient , the business consulting firm, and was intrigued by some of the answers. The survey was about 'what brand managers want' from their marketing agencies. Great subject area.
Here are their top 10 findings.
1. Greater knowledge of the digital space.
2. More use of “pull interactions.
3. Leverage virtual communities.
4. Agency executives using the technology they are recommending.
5. Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing.
6. Web 2.0 and social media savvy.
7. Agencies that understand consumer behavior.
8. Demonstrate strategic thinking.
9. Branding and creative capabilities.
10. Ability to measure success.
Here is the survey summary written up including percentage respondents; apparently you can write to them asking for a full survey.
Now the bits that interested me are:
1 – Greater knowledge of the digital space. Clients and prospects are crying out for 'leaders' and 'teachers' to show them the way. How does this translate into Biz Dev? Run courses, seminars and one on one tutorials to show off your knowledge of the web; the tools that can be used by brands.
4 – Agency executives using the technology they are recommending. So true, my friends. Agency websites are rarely inspirational destinations. Rather than just having a show reel or campaign case histories on your site, why not set up a public 'sandbox' demonstrating the new things you are researching this week and then linking them to clients brands that actually use the tools. This will have implications for your own marketing campaigns and recruitment. Be careful to recruit your colleagues into using the tools themselves. Agencies can't afford dinosaurs on staff.
5 – Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing. A very US-centric job title, but something that 'cosmetically' any agency can do right away. Give the job title to the person most deserving of the position. Someone who really knows their way around the web and regularly finds and shares new ideas, tools and neat solutions with colleagues. Then advertise their presence to your clients and prospects – put them on a pedestal and 'show off' their skills. This doesn't have to be face to face – just share links to their social media feeds
Thanks to Jason Baer for the original link.
Related posts:
- US survey of clients and agencies
- How are Agencies using Web 2.0?
- Enterprise 2.0 for agencies
- Web 2.0 adoption rates for business
- Opensource for Creative Agencies – manifesto?
Tags: , brand manager survey, jason baer, sapient
Good points. Re: no. 4, some agencies I have used moan about their clients not always wanting to say which tools they are using. I know it sounds odd (many would be promotional activities, and you’d think they’d love to shout about them), but you’d be amazed… Are you finding that too?
I find that very interesting Mireia, I agree I’d see it as an opportunity to show off your skills at using different tools.
Mostly I find agencies too busy to do their own marketing and business development. The ‘cobblers shoes’ syndrome. And I guess that’s why I get jobs from agencies who know they need to do it but find it hard to make the time and commitment to invest in themselves as well as their paying clients.
My old colleague, Mark Adams, was famous for being the first PR agency to hire a PR agency to PR themselves. It worked!
Great post! I have forwarded through to my twitter.com/atomicjackie account. The “cobblers shoes” syndrome is very prevalent around our office. We are indeed to busy to work on our own stuff. We encourage our team here in Dallas to engage in social media and believe that can be part of what sets us apart – not only our design/development capabilities but our ‘network’.
It is tough to get out of the hoarding mentality of keeping all the ‘secrets’ that one is working on but there truly is enough business out there for everyone and only helps to share ideas and learn from each other!
Keep up the great posts and thanks for sharing!
Hey, Jackie thanks for linking. Breaking habits is sometimes the hardest thing in business development. Doing client work first is ingrained in many company cultures.
I am interested by your comment on the ‘hoarding’ mentality. It is hard to prove definitively that sharing is better than hoarding. Compare the “Buy American” clauses voted in by Congress this week to free trade. The latter proven to be best for the world economy but you can’t get every Congressman and Senator to agree that this is the best course of action for USA Inc at this time.
Will we meet at SXSW?
Rebecca
Great post! I have forwarded through to my twitter.com/atomicjackie account. The “cobblers shoes” syndrome is very prevalent around our office. We are indeed to busy to work on our own stuff. We encourage our team here in Dallas to engage in social media and believe that can be part of what sets us apart – not only our design/development capabilities but our 'network'.
It is tough to get out of the hoarding mentality of keeping all the 'secrets' that one is working on but there truly is enough business out there for everyone and only helps to share ideas and learn from each other!
Keep up the great posts and thanks for sharing!