Every marketer wants their agency to live and breathe their business.
Why not? The more your agency understands your business, brand, product or service offering, the more likely they will create impactful strategies and tactics. The results should be better. And good work should be easier to get to.
How can marketers help their agencies immerse themselves deeper into the business?
The starting point of course is in information sharing. For example, making sure the agency understands business, brand, marketing and campaign objectives. Sharing the key business strategies and the analysis that led to those strategies. Making sure the agency has access to research results and business trends. Those are all great starting points.
And there is another, more personal approach that solidifies the agency team’s depth of understanding. And leads to a deeper connection to the business.
Create opportunities for the agency team to experience, firsthand, the brand and product and company!
Many companies have created traditions or processes that ensure that their associates really appreciate the product or service they are providing and the customer they are providing it to. When I was in brand management at P&G, all young brand team members had to spend some time working in the sales organization before they could become brand managers. The Starbucks folks have their executives spend time working in the stores. And there are many other examples.
With that in mind, some quick ideas could include:
- If you want the agency to appreciate your service culture, have them spend time with the fulfillment team or ride in the delivery trucks.
- Is customer service critical to your operation? Have your agency team spend time taking customer service calls.
- If you want the agency to understand your product better, get them ample samples to experience.
- If you want the agency to understand your restaurant chain, put them to work in the kitchen or waiting on tables.
You get the idea! If you want the agency to walk in your shoes, get them into your shoes. Or your factory. Or store. Or whatever helps them to personally connect with the real brand experience.
Steve Boehler, founder, and partner at Mercer Island Group has led consulting teams on behalf of clients as diverse as Zillow Group, Microsoft, UScellular, Nintendo, Ulta Beauty, 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.
