Some Agencies Don’t Want New Clients

Posted on May 18, 2018February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

As agency search consultants always on the lookout for those hidden gems of an agency, it seems that many don’t want to be found.

Their websites may be well-designed and easy to navigate, conveying both their unique talents and internal culture. But the contact page is often lacking or the agency doesn’t always keep its contact list up to date with business intell service bureaus – even the free ones!

We realize small to mid sized agencies don’t always have a dedicated new business person. But no agency can survive without continually gaining new clients. So why make it so difficult for anyone to connect with you?

So, here are a few of our pet peeves – which if we have them, then it’s fairly likely so do other consultants, marketers and procurement – which you should consider and think about how your agency can avoid these pitfalls:

Don’t Contact Us, We’ll Contact You – Time is always of the essence for the new business inquirer. So while you may not have a dedicated new business person, or for whatever reason you’re not providing a dedicated contact on your website, too many agencies commit these potentially fatal errors:
- Unmonitored Email Box – Asking potential clients and agency search consultants to complete your general inquiry form is fine, but not if no one is reading the emails on a daily basis. If you use this method, it shouldn’t become a black hole where inquiries go to die.
- No Phone Number – Really? If no one responds to our email, we may make one last ditch effort. Just one. Maybe.
Whenever – We sent an email to the right person. And maybe we also left a VM. But getting back to us weeks later makes you SOL.
Auto Attendant Void – We get it. You’re small but modern and no one really answers your main number. And, after a VM promising a prompt return call, you want us to leave a message – that’s never returned. Or it’s returned a few weeks later. Once we start contacting agencies, the search moves quickly and if you don’t respond within 24-48 business hours you’re just too late.
We Don’t Do New Business – This must be our all-time favorite response from the person answering the main number. We realize you’ve got cheap and often inexperienced labor at the front desk, but you need to invest in a little training here!

Wake up and re-evaluate your new business efforts. Everyone at your agency should know what to do if a call or email lands on their radar.

It’s never been a better time for smaller and independent agencies to gain business from those well-known brands. Marketers are looking beyond holding company agencies, and many are indeed interested in finding that up-and-comer for either ongoing project work or AOR status (which is definitely not dead despite what you read).

So remove any roadblocks to your agency’s new business success and make it easier, not harder, for us to connect and connect quickly!

Bajkowski + Partners LLC is a leading consultancy providing services to marketing and procurement teams in the areas of agency relationship management, agency search, process audits, contract and SOW development and audits, and a number of other marketing resource and marketing operations related areas. For more information, please visit our website.

What Inquiring MarTech Minds Learned at MarTech San Francisco 2017

Posted on May 18, 2017February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

Graphic Source: martechtoday.com

MarTech San Francisco 2017 just wrapped up and from what we're reading, the presentations and conversations were centered around the abundance of martech solutions and myriad of ways to configure a stack (aka M-architecture).

+5,000 MarTech Solutions and Counting

The marketing technology landscape has burgeoned by roughly 40% since 2016 to a total of 5,381 solutions, and of course a quantum leap since 2011 when only 150 or so solutions existed.

You can download an infographic of the 2017 MarTech Landscape at chiefmartec.com – while it doesn't rank the players, it just shows how overwhelmingly difficult identifying the right solution can be. Hence this has led to the growth of consultants out there offering services to manage martech rfps, whether for single solutions or stack creation.

Bespoke Stacking Rules

Reports from MarTech San Francisco also revealed that no two stacks – or marchitectures – are alike. The good news is marketing tech teams can customize their stacks, but like building an agency roster, we foresee challenges in determining the right stack mix.

Ideally, you want to build an efficient and highly scalable marketing to sales automation platform that accommodates multiple user types with a seamless and responsive user experience. And of course it should be accessible and simple to use.

When building the stack, consider the following:

Solves – what needs are you trying solve, what are the priorities, and what belongs in the stack
User Mix – who needs to access or leverage the enterprise stack or a particular component
UX – like anything, if it's cumbersome or not meeting a user's unique needs, people will go around it
KISS – keep it simply simple (no need for name calling!),
Training – it should require minimal training across the user-types and be very intuitive
Hire an Expert – there a lots of claims out there from solution providers to consultants, but vet your consultant and make sure they have a proven track record. And don't forget to check their references and case studies!

Buyer Beware

Lots of martech vendors claim to be platforms but not all are – a real platform is both capable of allowing other software to run on it and has a track record of third-party software solutions already utilizing the platform as its foundation. According to martechtoday.com contributor Sheldon Monteiro, slightly more than 1,000 of the martech providers have a true platform solution. The last thing you want is to have to build a lot of API's to integrate your software with your platform. It should be plug and play.

A Segment of One

Marketers have talked for years about establishing a 1:1 dialog with a customer and martech, when implemented properly, makes this possible. With all the noise out there vying for a consumer's attention, segmenting to a customer of one requires a simplified stack that delivers a unique message that is relevant to that customer's position within the purchase funnel. Building unique conversations tailored to each of your potential customers will break through your competitive messaging clutter. That's when they'll start talking about your product or service among their social community – and in a positive way if you've made a strong connection.

If you need daily coverage on the evolving world of marketing technology, we highly recommend signing up for MarTech Today. It's free and delivered right to your inbox. Visit martechtoday.com to subscribe.

Agency Searches For Project Work On The Rise

Posted on April 4, 2017February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

Over the past 18-months, we’ve seen a definite increase in the number of clients asking us to facilitate agency searches for project work.

Some clients are looking to expand their agency roster brain trust, while others want to test-drive a relationship before committing to further involvement.

While the reasons are varied, there are best practices as to how these types of searches should be implemented and here are some helpful tips:

Clarity – The project scope, agency selection criteria, and search plan need to be clear, in written format and vetted internally. And have the proposed master services agreement, which clearly defines the relationship and terms, ready and available to share with participating agencies.
Brevity – The search should have a short completion cycle, no more than 4-6 weeks, and limit the number of agencies under consideration to 6 when developing the agency slate.
Sans RFI – Proper pre-vetting should make a full blown RFI unnecessary and for a project…good luck finding an agency wanting to complete your 30+ questions!
Be Social – Select 3-4 agencies from your initial roster and meet with them – in person, not by phone! Go to their offices. Chemistry and cultural alignment is key to success.
Spec Work?! – Remember that this is a project, not an AOR search. Spec work is time-consuming and expensive for participating agencies, so unless you plan to pay them for it, don’t ask for it.
Ban FOMO – People always find an excuse as to why they need to be involved, but this is like taking your friends and family to your dates…and it actually doesn’t end well in the long run. Keep the agency selection team as small as you can make it, keeping it to those responsible for the project strategy and relationship management. If you’re an experienced and successful marketer, then you know how to make resourcing decisions. Still getting pressured? Use a RACI Matrix to manage your internal constituents’ involvement.

If you have questions or insights on conducting a project agency search, we’d love to hear from you.

Top 10 Trends for Marketers + Agencies in 2017

Posted on January 1, 2017February 19, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

Trends and predictions abound, but if we’ve learned anything from the 2016 US presidential election it’s that the unexpected should be expected. So, how should marketers and their agencies plan for 2017? To provide some insights, we’ve collected top trends in reaching consumers as well as client-agency relationships here.

Customer experience 2.0. Developing a more effective strategy will come from improved insights, not necessarily more data – this requires people who are visionary, not just analytical. Experimentation and calculated risk should be part of your marketing mix. Given the complexities of reaching today’s consumers, marketers need to consider so much more. Reaching influencers and facilitating brand experiences without commitment are growing in importance. Expect to see experiential and event marketing play a more important role in the mix over the next few years.
Content marketing takeover. With more people than ever getting their news and information about brands online, smart marketers will shift their messaging to driving value beyond the standard products and services offerings. Despite the rampant “fake news” during the recent US election cycle, consumers still believe what they view on digital far and away over more traditional media (who knows how long this will last!) They get that native advertising is sponsored content, but so far they don’t seem to care much. As Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi recently tweeted, “Native advertising is the ‘gateway drug’ to #contentmarketing (in a good way)”. And social media is where more people each year are getting their news and brand information.
Mobile is more than a smartphone. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), 4 out of 5 Americans always have their smartphones with them wherever they roam. But more and more people are also carrying their iPads®, Kindles®, laptops and wearable devices too. That means your content and messaging needs to work across a multitude of mobile platforms, and you’ll need to serve the right content format at the right time.
TV has nine lives. Every time we read about the death knell of TV, it seems to come from someone who benefits from non-traditional media growth. In viewing trending data – viewership, ad spend, and the like – TV is still king. The younger generation is still watching TV programming – just not necessarily on the big plasma TV. As all generations look to cut the cord, TV will continue to reinvent itself to remain relevant to viewers. However, advertisers also need to reinvent their TV spots to be more engaging if they want to be viewed and not skipped.
Influencers are the new celebrities. While we have yet to see influencers take over the pitch role on traditional media, the likelihood of this changing is quite strong. Influencers are gaining traction when it comes to pitching brands on new media channels, particularly social media. According to a recent report by Celebrity Intelligence, social media influencers were among the top celebrity brand endorsers in 2016. Those with strong social media followings have talent managers, such as Gleam Futures, and they foresee marketers shifting the celebrity / influencer mix even further in 2017.
Speed to market is everything. With CMO shelf-life at 2-3 years, increasing pressure to deliver immediate and short term results is critical. Long term planning and lead times seem all but dead. Agencies must be nimble and innovative – however, this is often challenging as marketers typically have too many chefs in the approval process.
Analytics and Insights 2.0. Data is a great thing, but not if you’ve got faulty data. Marketers need to leverage new tools and methodologies to collect, mine and scrub their customer data. Otherwise garbage in – garbage out. But analytics that rely on simple math, 1+1=2, can turn out faulty insights because it assumes that people behave consistently. People are not math equations. We’re messy and can be inconsistent in how we think and behave at times. Just look at how all those 2016 presidential campaign predictions turned out! What people say is not necessarily what they’ll actually do. So your analytics team needs to include behavioral scientists, not just number crunchers. Real insights will tell you whether 1+1=2, 15, 5 million or a negative integer.
More integrated agencies and blurred swim lanes. Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen the agency marketplace dramatically morph, with the biggest game-changer being advancements in technology. New media and technology created an explosion of specialty shops while the big agencies decoupled their digital departments into standalone agencies. But that pendulum is swinging back a bit as more agencies offer full service once again, bringing big digital capabilities back inhouse or occupying the same building as a sister digital agency so they can claim one-stop-shop and easy integration. However, these swim lanes continue to blur and new competition has disrupted the agency landscape. Technology companies are adding digital creatives to their teams. Consulting companies, having expanded their practice offerings from technology advisors to forming full service digital marketing agencies (we’ll address the huge conflicts of interest in another post), are now in the top ten largest billing agencies in 2016 according to AdAge. Now marketers are feeling overwhelmed as they realize it’s not so easy to manage and integrate a huge agency roster, nor is it easy to determine what that agency roster should look like. Hence trend #9.
Agency rosters will continue to morph. While the ANA recently reported that more than half of marketers foresee a review of their lead agencies in 2017, and others report the demise of the AOR, there’s a greater complexity at work than these statements would have you believe. First, the AOR model is not dead. Like anything, it’s a pendulum – some marketers are trying a pool of “lead agencies” while others are moving back to an AOR model with narrower scopes. What we see with our agency searches are clients looking to smartly curate their agency rosters. This varies from clients expanding the agency brain trust while also reducing their spend on agency compensation, to cutting the roster to an AOR or two with a handful of pre-approved project agencies. In fact, we’re seeing more project agency searches as well as the addition of specialty agencies such as those focused on experiential or millennial marketing for example. So if you’re on the roster, you need to realize that building a client relationship means not taking the relationship for granted. And for those looking to get on the roster, focus on what your agency does best and seize opportunities to start out on a project basis. Plenty of agencies that started as a project or Tier 2 agency grew the business because they delivered beyond the marketer’s expectations – in terms of the work, the results and the speed to market.
Greater transparency and oversight. The recent ANA and Ebiquity report on media agencies revealed there are still flaws in agency contracts and the overall relationship. Marketers need to not only modernize their agency contracts, particularly media, but should be reviewing terms every 2-3 years rather than just updating the annual SOW. The media landscape and technology are changing too rapidly to leave agency contracts in park. Expect to see updates to key contract terms as clients strive for greater transparency and cost controls while agencies expand their business offering to include intellectual property rights (IP), business consulting services, and proprietary technology. Note to marketing and procurement: create your own agency contract forms that have uniform basics and then channel / discipline-specific terms.

While this list is certainly not exhaustive, it should factor into your planning for the upcoming year. And of course, having a contingency budget. If we’ve learned anything over the past ten years it’s that marketers and their agencies need to be prepared for the unpredictable, and take greater risks in setting those trends rather than clinging to a “wait and see” approach.