Marketing Agency relationships. Clint Eastwood and the Competitive Edge ...

Tips: What sort of relationship should you have with a marketing agency?

In one of his famous westerns, Clint Eastwood got the edge over the opposition by approaching the massed bad guys with the sun behind him, and so in their eyes. 

Young people achieve an edge with their looks, sparkiness, raw talent, sporting ability, the latest fashion accessory, and by the mere fact of their youth and thousands of easily acquired Twitter followers, which guarantees an irritating superiority. To keep half a step ahead, mature folk fall back on cars, lifestyle, money, and a vast catalogue of jokes.

If we are lucky, the need to maintain an edge in our personal lives kindly diminishes with the years. The pain of the fact that the latest hairstyle always looked better on your classmates slowly fades. But something else kicks in, which is the nagging question of how to maintain an edge in business.

How do you select the right marketing agency

This is where the Clint Eastwood reference is relevant. Directors contemplating how to allocate their sales and marketing budgets are rightly concerned about being ambushed by the competition or being outgunned by the dodgy-eyed, slick-haired ranch owner’s son who’s just been given the office next door. How do you keep ahead of the game? That agency down by the creek; are they quick on the draw? Are they in town to trash the saloon or defend the local farmers when the chips are down? 

Your marketing agency or BD partner should have its ear to the ground, be able to recognise trends and buying patterns, and create winning ideas by making the most of all available resources to outsmart the bootleggers. Perhaps the number one thing to look for in your supplier, beyond protection, is can they get you across that tricky creek? Can they help you form relationships with other good guys to grow your business? New partners, new channels, different territories, more customers?

Is your marketing agency proactive?

To extend the western analogy, a customer/agency relationship should be akin to that between Sheriff and posse. The agency must be able to ride shotgun for you.

It should also know how to get the wagons in a circle quickly to prevent the arrows getting through. And there’s often a need to achieve more with less, so having a few magic bullets and someone in the band able to pick off a target at an unfeasible distance is darn useful.

Also essential is the ability to communicate unfolding events with mirrors or convincing animal calls. We’d call that a mix of Internet strategy and PR. And it’s a bonus if somewhere around there is a sly old dog who seems just to sit around, somewhat taciturn, but who, crucially, gives everyone the nod at just the right moment. Timing is everything!

That’s the benefit of experience and informed strategy. You should maybe check whether the suppliers you’re dealing with have the scars of battle to prove they’ve been in and survived this type of fight before. (Clint’s scars are usually on show early on in his films.)

Are you the marketing hero or the agency?

Finally, the sheriff-customer should expect to be chaired back into town a hero, to loud acclaim from the locals that fuels a growing reputation around the county. The posse should disband quietly, go back to shooting at tin cans, hone their skills and stay alert to the next threat.

How to choose your seat in a meeting ... will you remember?

The next time you enter one of those meeting rooms with the long table laid out with writing tablets and promotional pens, check the place names and, if need be, move yours so the louvered blinds are directly behind you. When the sun’s at its zenith, just nudge them open a fraction. The ultimate edge!

(How often do you accidentally choose the seat that faces the glare?!)

From a series of 6 articles on marketing agency life, Thames Valley Business Magazine.

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