In the early days of building this agency, I was fully immersed on the front lines of our business. I engaged with clients on a weekly, sometimes even daily, basis. I delved deep into their industries, staying up to date with how they were being covered in the news. I had a keen awareness of our performance against our contracts and a genuine understanding of what kept my clients awake at night.

Over time, with growth, these responsibilities gradually shifted to our Account Directors.

It dawned on me that outside of high-level strategic discussions, it had been a while since I sat down and just talked with our clients.  

So, a few weeks ago my Managing Director and I made a decision that isn’t overly groundbreaking, but it had a lasting impact on me as a leader. We reached out to each-and-every one of our clients with no purpose, other than to hear what’s on their minds.

I have to tell you, as agency leaders, I believe it's essential for us to do this more. Having these conversations allows me to share best practices across accounts, bring new ideas to the team and has already helped us improve process to provide an even better client experience. 

Here are a few things on the minds of our clients right now.

Crisis Preparedness in this Economy

From mass layoffs to cutting back on investments, the current economic conditions have quickly changed the risk profiles of businesses. We are working with clients to identify which parts of their business face the most pressure, given the current landscape, and adjusting response plans accordantly. Many company leaders roll the dice and avoid thinking about crisis when revenue is crunched, but investing in preparedness could make the difference between survival and failure.

Revenue Generating Strategies

When business is down, oftentimes marketing leaders are the first to be faced with budget cuts. I can argue all day for this being a mistake, but I also know the realities of meeting profit targets. One solution we offer clients is to pivot from brand awareness investments to strategies that are easy to link to driving revenue. From lead generation campaigns to influencer engagement, paid social to digital marketing, communications professionals have a lot of tools in our toolkit that can show ROI and be fully trackable. 

Strategic Planning 

On a similar note, many of our clients have been holding off on making investments, trying to ride out this economic cycle. We’re now halfway through the year and we are (finally!) starting to see folks greenlight spending. Strategic planning conversations are getting underway for 2024 and there is still plenty of time to make an impact in 2023. Having outside counsel that can bring the right strategies to the table in this tough environment is key to making worthy investments. 

Getting Media in a Tough Environment 

The truth is, in today’s environment media relations is a tough game. With fewer full-time journalists, a growing number of freelance contributors, less media outlets and not to mention the breakneck news cycle, today’s complex media landscape is proving harder when it comes to securing the ideal earned placement. PR teams need to be working with clients to create an integrated strategy consisting of earned, paid, influencer and original brand content. As agency partners, we should be helping our clients pull together the right mix and educate internal stakeholders on the current media environment.  

I love learning what’s on my peers’ minds, but to get these insights, we have to ask! Simple conversations have sparked new ideas for the agency, led to shifts in existing scopes and given me trends and insights that make me a more informed leader and client counselor.

You better believe I will be challenging myself and my leadership team to make these a regular practice again.