Do agencies approach client relationships all wrong? For a PR firm, or anyone in professional services for that matter, looking for ways to increase your value to clients beyond what they hired you for is key to a successful partnership. And as we know, a client-agency relationship based on a partnership offers far more value than a corporate supplier one ever will.
When I look at our longest standing clients, some of whom have been with us for almost a decade, there are defi
nitely some commonalities. We have a deep understanding of their business and goals; we look for strategies beyond the standard PR approach; we engage the right team members and look for the best partners when the solution falls outside our expertise.
Basically we are successful when we challenge the norm, continuously raise the bar, look for creative solutions that may be outside our comfort level, and we ask clients, “What’s going on in your world today?”
One client came to us to raise her profile through media coverage. While media relations made sense for her at first blush, we dug deeper realizing there was a niche audience that was particularly interested in her offering. Why not focus the budget and spend time speaking to that market instead? Why bother with the mass media at all? Specific LinkedIn groups, speaking opportunities targeting particular associations and networking events – basically opportunities for her to interact directly with her customer – was a far more effective strategy than coverage in a mainstream newspaper.
Seek understanding. Ask lots of questions. And always offer new ideas, no matter how out-of-the box or budget-prohibitive they may sound. Don’t let anything harness your creativity. You just never know where the conversation will take you.
