Winning a new business assignment starts with understanding and responding to your prospect's needs. Clients are dealing with a laundry list of challenges – a struggling economy, new competition from all sides, a continued drive for lower costs, and a growing realization of the power that a connected consumer has over their business strategy and success. And many clients are simply overwhelmed by the new digital media options and how to use them to their advantage.
This creates a significant opportunity to redefine and expand the role agencies can play with their clients. Clients want new ideas to grow their business, but clients are not just saying to their agencies "how can you help us make ads or design a new web site?" They are also saying "how much do you understand about our business in order to help us build a bridge between our brand and our customers?"
Building bridges means understanding the category, the target audience and the company, but it also means understanding how to evaluate and use some of the new marketing tools that are available today. A key role that agencies can play is not only how to use these tools, but, more importantly, how they will impact a prospect's business.
For example, social media marketing is the number one topic in today's marketing press. But agencies should caution clients and prospects to think carefully before they jump in just because everyone else is doing it. Social media is a process, not an event. Agencies can help clients by focusing on how it can impact their business, not just on how to start a conversation using Facebook or Twitter.
The shift from traditional media to online and other new media alternatives is accelerating. But many marketers presume that the rise in on-demand media consumption and lower entry costs make it s better option. Agencies can help clients by looking for new and better ways to analyze their ROI.
E-mail marketing continues to grow in importance, but many experts predict that consumer fatigue from mailboxes overloaded with too many unsolicited and irrelevant offers will force consumer shutdown and rejection. Agencies can help clients by showing how to take advantage of behavioral targeting and other analytic tools to deliver e-mail that is triggered by consumer actions, not their own promotion activity.
Word-of-mouth marketing has become more intentional as a primary marketing tool rather than just as a happenstance event. Agencies should be looking for recommended efforts to generate beneficial consumer conversations through viral marketing and other buzz marketing tactics. At the same time, agencies must caution marketers to be transparent and honest in their efforts, or they will face the wrath of a growing blogosphere.
There is no question that clients need help in understanding how their business can take advantage of new media alternatives. But the ultimate need is not just how to effectively use email, blogs, podcasts, mobile marketing, viral marketing, pay-per-click, user-generated content, Twitter, etc., but how to mix them with traditional media to create the most impact.
Clients need help in understanding how their target audience attitudes, needs and motivations are changing as they adapt to new economic and social conditions. The Internet doesn't just change how we communicate with each other. It is having a profound impact on our shopping and buying habits, as well as our understanding of the world around us and how we relate to each other. The more real insight and information you can provide the prospect for his unique business situation and needs, the better your chances to secure a new client assignment.
There are many other new marketing tools, but when all is said and done, you can't win new business on a regular basis without really smart strategic thinking. Agencies are in the business of selling ideas, first and foremost. And that's how you win new business.
