More Good Media Ideas

A client asked me a very refreshing question recently: "How can we be a better client for you?" I had never been asked that before, but was happy to provide an answer. Don't get me wrong - we understand that we are in the service business, and making our clients happy is always our goal. We are always looking to improve our service. And there are tons of articles out there on this subject, including this excellent one from HighTail. But there's not much on what makes a good client. It's a relationship that must be built on respect and trust. I think the internet could stand a bit more advice on this vendor/client relationship, whether in the advertising realm or others. So here goes:

1. Be Open. The best client-agency relationships we have are those that understand it is a partnership. They are forthcoming with sales data, traffic reports, customer research - any and all information that can help us develop effective media plans that will achieve their goals.  "Help us, help you" as the saying goes. We're on your side, and the more data you can share, the better. 

We start every client relationship with a thorough discovery process where we play 20+ questions, get all advertising history, seasonality and any other pertinent info. Our best client relationships begin here with a comprehensive download; then armed with as much information as possible, we move forward to create a custom media strategy for them.

2. Be Responsive. You're busy - we get it. You have loads of meetings and are drowning in email. That's why you hired us, after all - to offload some of this work and provide some strategic perspective. But if we're asking for information or a decision, we need it to be able to move forward with your marketing strategy.  Otherwise, we're stuck in a holding pattern and not executing your campaigns... and you could be missing out on sales.

3. Be Decisive. This goes hand-in-hand with the above, but you've done a thorough search and selected us as your agency because of our expertise. At McCulloch+Company, we pride ourselves in providing recommendations to our clients that are vetted, simple to understand and on strategy. We try to make it easy for you to make a quick decision, but are always available if further explanation is needed. And of course, we're open to adjusting our recommendations based on your feedback - no one knows your business as well as you do. Our best clients make quick decisions so we can execute their media strategy effectively.

4. Trust Us. We're working for you, negotiating on your behalf with media vendors to get the most value and make your advertising budget work harder. Your success is our success, so trust us when we provide feedback or have a different recommendation for your media campaign. Simply put, you are paying us to give you good media ideas and you can trust that we will do that. 

That's enough for now, but you can read here some other tips on how to be a good client. I especially like the 5th point - one point of contact does make it easier for us to serve you. What other advice do you have on being a good client?

McCulloch+Company is an advertising media services company that integrates the innovation of digital media with the strengths of traditional paths. Founded in 1984 and located in historic Roswell, Georgia, McCulloch+Company is regarded as one of the Southeast's preeminent media agencies. The agency is skilled at managing B2B and B2C clients in a multitude of industry categories. Click here to contact us for a free media plan evaluation. 

Goal: Communicate Autotrader’s new website experience to top customers in an environment that can’t be ignored.

Good marketers tell good stories - concise, compelling, and engaging stories. They have done the hard work of distilling down their mission and value proposition into a simple story that can be easily understood by prospects. When told well, the story engages customers on an emotional level (yes, even B2B brands) and eliminates all the guesswork for them in understanding "What's in it for me?" Strong brands also have alignment company-wide on this story. From the C-Suite to sales, from PR to HR - all are bought in. This belief company-wide doesn't just impact marketing and creative, but customer service, product packaging, operations and more. This is why we--strategists at a media-only agency--care about our clients' stories. Our media plans can either help enhance that story, or detract from it.

Has your mailman seemed bored lately? It might be due to lower direct mail volume. According to the Direct & Marketing Association (DMA), direct mail usage is projected to experience a 19% decline over the next year as marketers continue to migrate to digital. However, with digital Click Through Rates (CTR) deteriorating, click fraud making headlines and most consumers blurry-eyed from screen fatigue, direct mail could be a good media idea for some brands. In the same DMA report, direct mail response rates are on the rise and it’s currently ranked third in ROI (27%) behind email (122%) and social media (28%).

Monday was Memorial Day, the official kick-off to summer. You likely consumed a frothy beverage or two, spent some time on a lake and/or grilled out with family and friends. This month's good media idea features a brand that is hoping to be imbibed greatly during those summer gatherings, especially by millennials - Mike's Hard Lemonade. To do that, they launched a new brand positioning, "Drink on the Bright Side." The creative is a playful, comedic approach to appeal to millennials and combat the negativity the brand says is currently on the internet. Below is one of the 15 second videos - Jackpot - in which a tanked dude wins a Mike's and a trip to a water park.

It's that time of year again when productivity in offices all around the country falls apart; at least on Thursday and Friday. Why the drop? It is March Madness! The 3 weeks every year when everyone decides to start watching college basketball. 

My entire career has been searching for the one job that I look forward to going to everyday and it has taken me 3 states and 20 years to find it. The quest is finally over and as the saying goes, good things, better yet, Good Media Ideas, come to those who wait.

Lately I've been deemed the "webinar guru" here at McCulloch+Company. In fact, I've helped coordinate 3 with different clients just this month.  There's a very good reason I am such a huge proponent of these online seminars and recommend them often to our B2B clients. For your money in the B2B marketing space, there's very little else a company can do that's as successful in generating leads. And they are qualified leads, too - having submitted their information to register, and then invested an hour of their time. There are several more residual benefits that come along with participating in this type of content marketing - including thought-leadership within your industry.