5 things agencies want from their clients (besides more money)

Now that "digital has arrived" it's important that agencies and clients reconsider the ways that we interact with one another. Just a few years ago, digital didn't get much respect from either the full service agency world or most client companies. It was akin to cheap champagne -- something you served up when you cared, but not very much.

But now things are different, and clients and agencies are becoming increasingly dependent on the results that are achievable through digital platforms. And yet, in my "grandmother" research of about two dozen folks in full service and digital agencies, it appears that the ways in which agencies and clients interact haven't changed to reflect the increased importance of digital media. For far too many companies, digital platforms have become primary media delivered with also-ran development and communications processes.

The issues are not at all insurmountable. In fact, in many ways, they are dead simple. The focus of this piece is on things that digital agency teams want from clients. But they aren't intended to sound like sanctimonious demands; rather they are intended as five ways that we can quickly improve the impact of digital marketing efforts just by making small changes in the way that we work together. While the focus here is on what agencies want from their clients in order to forge these new ways of interacting, it'll be just as important to hear from brand marketers what they need from their digital agency teams.

Here, then, are five things agencies want from their clients to help improve digital marketing effectiveness.

1) A seat (and a voice) at the table

In its early years, digital was a tack-on, something you thought about after the campaign was developed and virtually all the media money was spent. Then you'd call in the digital folks -- whether on the client or the agency side -- and give them five days to slap together some banners and a schedule. In today's environment, in which many target audiences are spending a heckuvalot more time on Facebook than they are with Fox or Family Circle, it's clear that this approach needs to be revised.

Digital can play such a pivotal role for brands that its experts need to be sitting at the big people's table from the outset of planning. Why? Because we really should be involved in campaign development. Different campaign ideas can have very different relevance in an interactive environment. Digital can now be the starting point for a campaign, or the ending point, or the thread linking it all together. But truly taking advantage of the medium requires time to think and execute along with a concurrent development process.

2) A strategic mindset

Both agencies and clients often have highly strategic analog efforts, and then they assemble a potpourri of digital platforms and executions without considering what is best – strategically -- to reach and connect with a target. The fault here is absolutely on both sides. I'll be the first to note that we digital agency people have a habit of going straight to execution, in part because that is usually what has been demanded of us, and because time demands make people sloppy over time.

But when a client insists that there be as strategic an approach to digital efforts as for all other marketing efforts, we will all get far more out of our efforts and our careers. Clients need to demand a real examination of what target audiences are doing online, the likely times and places consumers will be open to brand messages, and whether deeper interaction with those banners might take a week longer to execute but deliver far stronger results.

I'm sure I will hear from both agencies and clients about this: "How dare you say we aren't strategic?" To which I can only respond: "Perhaps the point isn't about you." But just take one look at the blinky-blinky-click-now detritus that passes for creative online and you'll realize how many brand plans are fad-platform driven. See the point?

3) More open mindedness about quality and efficiency

Years ago, marketers typically fell into the quality bucket or the tonnage bucket. You and your company either believed in the power of high-rated, expensive programming to drive brand results, or you believed in barges full of the cheapest GRPs obtainable.

I make no comment on which is the correct way of thinking about broadcast, (other than I am certain that tonnage is the way to go ;-).

But in digital, both high-quality edit- and efficiency-oriented inventory have a critical role to play. This is because in digital, it's challenging to have both broad reach AND depth of interaction from a single set of executions. Brands need to be open to a mix of tools that collectively offer both, rather than simply demanding billions of the cheapest possible 728s, or approving only big, splashy deep integrations on elite publications.

Such a mix drives brand reach while also allowing deep brand experiences aimed at our best customers because the internet can be an incredibly powerful way to capitalize on the 20/80 rule insight. You can cover the waterfront to reach ordinary consumers while pinpointing the heavy users for deeper marketing efforts.

Many media companies offer solutions in both buckets -- portals, leading publications, and the best ad networks, just to name a few examples. All we need to do is capitalize on these dual opportunities more often.

4) A genuine interest in digital CAMPAIGN ideas

For me, one of the toughest adjustments I had to make as I moved from the analog world to digital was succumbing to the disparity in the meaning of the word "campaign." In offline, a campaign was built around a selling idea and was designed to live for years. Choosy mothers choosing Jif; Rolls Royce owners sharing Grey Poupon through driver-side windows; a lot riding on your Michelins; baking someone happy. That sort of thing.

In digital, "campaign" means some common element in a couple of pieces of creative that will be replaced in three weeks with another set of banners that have something different in common. A campaign in digital is essentially akin to what offliners call a flight, only it's even less than that.

Blue is not a campaign. Ditto Helvetica. Nor is a snake made of tiles labeled with state names. I am not saying that the snake doesn't get clicks, but for most of the readers of iMedia, there are goals other than immediate conversions to consider.

Identifying real campaign ideas is even more important today than back when Mr. Whipple was squeezing toilet rolls. As consumers are barraged with more and more marketing messages, the need for more integrated and enduring messages and imagery is even more pronounced.

I wish more brands were interested in identifying what works and sticking with it. Many of the same people who develop TV campaigns to last two years want entirely different banner looks every month. This is nothing short of marketing insanity.

Ideas and executional elements are just as much a part of building a brand online as they are in building one through 30-second spots. We all need to be more open to enduring digital advertising ideas.

5) Passion for data

Why are so few clients (and agencies) capitalizing on the tremendous resources and information available through digital reporting and analytics? Yes, yes, some are, especially giant brands and agencies. But many, many brands and agencies aren't.

Let's start with the basics. There is more to life than the CTR. Not every campaign objective can or should be measured by clicks. CTR is, of course, an easy metric to understand, and it's an easy one to measure, but a click does not adequately reflect the results of an awareness campaign, or a program designed to drive genuine brand interaction.

More to the point: It's time that all of us demonstrate real respect for data experts. So often, these information and analytical professionals have deep insights that could make a huge difference to businesses -- if only they were heard.

I want to emphasize that often clients have more respect for data than some agency people. But by demanding better reporting and analytics from us -- and by valuing it in both contract negotiations and with your time and attention -- you'll help unlock tremendous brand value and improve the actionable insights available from your agencies. Because ultimately, we care about what you care about.

Closing thoughts

Many of us are weary of quibbling with our client or agency side counterparts over process. And let's not even get started on the squabbling over fees -- that's a far bigger fish than I can fry here.

As I write this piece, it is apparent to me that we need to get past this he said/she said -- "You guys over there need to do…" -- thinking and figure out how to address all of these issues, and the myriad others we face, together.

There is a flip side to every issue, and while clients may need to give agencies a seat at the table, the agencies must provide value and insights that make their presence at the table valuable. And we must have the courage of our convictions, rather than be quick to acquiesce. Agencies need to demand strategic ideas from all of their teams, so that clients get strategic ideas to buy. And so on.

But clients do have a role in addressing all of these issues, because ultimately, agencies morph and recalibrate to reflect client priorities. We need to push you, and in turn, you need to push us.

My fear is that in a world of tightening budgets and limited people resources, we are all pushing each other the wrong way -- toward the illusion of an easier softer way, and that somehow we can standardize what we do to reduce time and effort.

Don't get me wrong, standardization has value -- just ask any buyer who used to have to buy "standard banners" in 92 sizes for a modest campaign. Just ask the designers that had to wrist all those versions of the same execution a couple of years back.

But standardization can only deliver so much benefit in our dynamic media environment. We need more and bigger ideas so that we can focus limited time and money on something better. Let's start coming up with them…together.