Wow, did you really just say that?
Put effort in understanding your client's business or someone else will
As creatives, if there is one thing that will benefit you more than anything, it is the skill of understanding what makes your client’s business valuable for its potential customers.
But, let’s be realistic; it takes time. With the advent of digital, timelines have become even more aggressive with massive expectations of delivering work that moves the needle.
Clients expect their creative partners to be up to pace the day they are onboarded.
Sure, experience working in the industry helps specialist agencies start on a better foot, but no two businesses are identical and should be treated individually.
If you’re someone who thinks you put a lot of effort into understanding your client’s business, think again.
Ideally, every client expects their partners to have a sound understanding of their industry without wanting to give ample time to teams to build a solid foundation to deliver the desired results.
Hypocritical, but that’s just how it works. (Of course, some clients prioritize this support and ensure teams have all the information before they start suggesting solutions to problems they don’t fully understand yet, and they are the real winners.)
We can only control so many things, but if you’re lazy in doing this homework, you may luck into a successful campaign. Still, you will always run the risk of what David Ogilvy’s brother Francis calls the slippery surface of irrelevant brilliance.
Doesn’t matter how fast the world is moving. As creative professionals, we must first understand the problem instead of going ahead and blurting solutions in hopes that something just might work out.
Bill Bernbach said, “The magic is in the product. You’ve got to live with your product. You’ve got to get steeped in it, and you’ve got to get saturated with it.”
Do that factory tour.
Ask customers and clients a million questions.
Read every review you see about them. Get in touch with the people who wrote bad ones and ask them what went right. Do the same with the good ones.
Read every brochure or information template the client or your account team gives you.
Immerse yourself in the sales process.
And, when you’re done reading everything there is to read, you’ll find yourself with a plethora of insights you never could’ve got if you just sat in front of a blank paper figuring out what you should write about.
In short, learn your client’s business because the client will trust you more if you can talk to them about their industry in their terms.
Know the client. Know the product. Know the market.
And when you’ve done all this, always remember that there is value in staying stupid.
Sometimes it’s okay to resist that factory tour, so it doesn’t make you think like the client.
Resist so that you don’t start coming up with the same rational answers your client does.
When you’re getting deep into your client’s business, you’re far from the customers’ expectations. Customers don’t care what you do; they care about what you can do for them.
Get to know the client’s customers better than you know the client, and it will pay off in the long term.
And while you do this, “Stay hungry, Stay Foolish.” - Steve Jobs
Listen to this Spotify Playlist I made that goes well with everything you read here at Adamant 👇🏼