Outcomes are all the rage.
And they should be. C-Suites, boards and owners demand them. And marketers are expected to deliver them. Marketing investments are precious and strong results are necessary.
Agencies everywhere have gotten the message! Many are reacting by talking about outcomes and making a wide range of claims. That is a very good thing, as marketers and their agencies need to be accountable to create impact from their investments.
But there seems to be a catch.
Many marketers don’t seem to buy the agency talk of outcomes. We hear this often in our agency search work. And recently Digiday ran a simple LinkedIn poll asking an important question:
“How valid is the talk of delivering ‘outcomes’ for clients by agency leaders?”
The poll question was posed August 30, following Digiday senior editor Michael Bürgi’s Aug. 17 briefing on how “outcomes” became the latest overused term. The results?
49% call it agency speak or outright BS.
Specifically, 37% called it agency speak and 12% chose BS. Another 23% chose “Ok if doable”. That leaves only 28% choosing “strategic north star”.
The majority of marketers seem to believe that agency “outcomes” claims are overstated.
Before the pitchforks and torches come out, let me acknowledge a few things:
- Many agencies are committed to their clients’ outcomes and work tirelessly to build capabilities and expertise that can deliver positive outcomes.
- “Outcomes” is a pretty big and general term, and the respondents interpreted the word as they saw fit.
- The survey was clearly not scientific and not projectable. It was a small sample LinkedIn survey.
Having reported all of those caveats, I can also report from my own experience that marketers truly need agencies that can deliver outcomes and yet are generally suspicious of such claims.
This survey suggests that where “outcomes” claims are made, there is still work to be done by agencies.
It’s important work. Instead of claims, develop expertise and capabilities to routinely deliver important client outcomes, measure them and prove your consistent success. Do that in a third party measured, peer reviewed manner versus control and publish the results. Show that there is steak beyond the claimed sizzle. And then let’s see what happens when Digiday re-runs the poll!
Steve Boehler, founder, and partner at Mercer Island Group has led consulting teams on behalf of clients as diverse as Ulta Beauty, Microsoft, UScellular, Nintendo, Kaiser Permanente, Holland America Line, Stop & Shop, Qualcomm, Brooks Running, and numerous others. He founded MIG after serving as a division president in a Fortune 100 when he was only 32. Earlier in his career, Steve Boehler cut his teeth with a decade in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, leading brands like Tide, Pringles, and Jif.
Mercer Island Group helps marketers and agencies succeed. Company leadership is as much at home with marketers and their C-Suites as in an agency’s boardroom. With marketers, Mercer Island Group is a top 5 agency search consultancy covering all types of agency relationships (creative, media, web, PR, experiential) and assists marketers with marketing organization structure, workflow and critical skill development (briefing, creative evaluation & feedback, etc.). The company also supports leading and aspiring agencies with positioning, pitch and strategy training and pitch support.