The end of the year is just round the corner and last-minute shopping will pick up steam every day. Clients and agencies will often treat their partners to year end gifts large and small. It’s a lovely idea.
But what do clients and agencies really need and want from each other?
Here’s a list of gifts that clients and agencies can give that will really make their partners happy!
Gifts Clients Can Give Agencies
Most agencies would LOVE any of the following gifts from their clients:
- Be more patient
- Brief better
- Provide more time to do great work
- Train the client marketing team how to evaluate creative, media & PR plans
- Train the client marketing team to deliver more effective feedback
- Compensate the agency fairly
- Involve the agency in key discussions
- Spend more time together away from the office and meet more in person
- Lionize great work and share successes
- Assume best intent
Gifts Agencies Can Give Clients
Most clients would LOVE any of the following gifts from their agency:
- Be more proactive
- Be more agile
- Go the extra mile without being asked
- Dig deeper to uncover customer, competitor and brand insights
- Train your people better
- Share knowledge of new technologies and approaches
- Share learning from other clients
- Identify ways to deliver more impact for the same budget
- Appreciate the client’s role in the agency’s success
- Assume best intent
Giving nick-nacks is fine, but the above is what clients and agencies really want.
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.
