Articles
CCC White Paper - More Marketing with Less Money
“I need you to fire my agency! Fire them and find me a good one, a cheaper one!” “Okay. Why?” I asked the marketing VP sitting in front of me.
He launched into a monologue of pain. “They’re late. They’re wildly expensive. I don’t mind paying premium fees but I want premium service for it and I’m not getting anything even close to what I expect. They screwed up the copy on the last campaign and fumbled the ball on the colors; they used the wrong pantone chip. It took six creative rounds just to get the idea right! They have too many people on the project and I don’t think any of them are the right people. They need to go. Now!”
“Wow…” I sympathized. “No wonder you’re frustrated. You have a right to be with that kind of performance!” I could tell he was glad to have an advocate, relieved that I was feeling his frustration. But I just wanted to check before going further. I went on. “So, let me get this straight. You negotiated decent rates and then wrote a clear brief, set clear goals, were timely and decisive on our project approvals, and we’ve been giving the agency constant feedback – and this is what you get?” The silence could not have been more awkward. “Well…” he began.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this kind of agency-directed frustration from Brand Managers, Marketing Directors, VP’s and CMO’s. The truth is that in most of these situations the problem was not the agency, but the way the marketer worked with the agency. It was not about talent or capability or attitude. Rather, it was a relationship issue – an issue of how the parties work together and how they got work done (or didn’t).
Fundamentals are fundamentals because they work. Though they are often simple, they are never easy. Score yourself. How many of these are you doing? Here are five proven ways to get more from your marketing budget:
- Negotiate the right deal with your agency. Too often advertisers just go along with the agency proposal without penetrating the numbers to validate that they are appropriate. This hurts in two ways. Sometimes the deals are simply one-sided arrangements that favor the agency and guarantee comfortable margins. At other times, even though the deal may be fair, the client’s suspicions to the contrary get in the way of true collaboration – and the work suffers. Do your homework on billing rates, overheads, margins, compensation models, and build a clear Statement of Work with concise business outcomes and metrics. Get outside help if you need it.
- Consider online project management tools. A little operating discipline goes a long way here. A simple online tool helps hold both parties accountable and facilitates collaboration rather than the blame game. Before we crucify the agency, have we written a clear brief? Have we defined concise goals and metrics? Have we followed the process to give timely approvals? A basic project management tool holds us accountable for these things and provides similar accountably for the agency’s deliverables.
- Assign and empower an agency relationship manager. No external relationship is more strategic, more critical, and represents as much potential as the client’s relationship with its agency. It should be a no-brainer then, that these relationships deserve deliberate attention and ongoing care and feeding. Whether you make a product or a service, I can almost guarantee that your company has several external relationships that are deliberately managed – and none are more important than this one. Deliberate and intentional managing of the relationship will deliver big dividends.
- Develop an agency scorecard and review it regularly. The first step in managing a strategic, external relationship is to articulate the goals and measure progress. Easy to say; harder to do. Yet this is precisely where trust gets built (we develop track records of doing what we say we’ll do) and this is exactly where we tackle the tough, systemic issues that sometimes get in our collective way. Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be. The magic is in the operating discipline of setting goals and measuring, and we can reap big benefits by keeping things simple and simply doing it.
- Build and use a good marketing procurement team. Procurement can bring a lot to the table in all these areas, and has proven to be an enormous asset for many advertisers. But too often procurement tries to apply “standard” techniques in the marketing space and fails to recognize that marketing is profoundly different. To succeed in this space, procurement needs the right skills (relational and tough but collaborative), the right metrics (creating value, not just savings), and the right approach to staffing (long term roles that capitalize on knowledge and relationships). If you get these three things right, procurement has the power and the skill set to literally transform client-agency relationships.
How many are you doing?
5 Great! You’re managing the relationship and making things work.
3-4 You’re on the way, but not getting the most from your agency.
0-2 Maybe it’s time to jump start your efforts with some outside help.
Yes, you can do more with less marketing budget. It’s not rocket science but it does require the discipline to follow these time-tested fundamentals. If you need help, get it. If not, stick to these basics and watch things improve. They’ll work wonders – I guarantee it.
The author, Gerry Preece, is a 22-year former Procter & Gamble Purchases veteran; Gerry made his mark leading the significant expansion of Purchases into P&G’s marketing spend pools. He built purchases/ procurement organizations around the globe in areas such as media, advertising agencies, promotions, commercial production, digital marketing, and public affairs.
Contact Information
Contact either Judd Weis, President & CEO, CCC, Ltd. at jweis@cincconsult.com or 513-516-0539, or Gerry Preece, at gpreece@cincconsult.com or 513-516-0539
