Client Happiness… Happy Business

Suffice to say that in any business, client happiness amounts to a happy business– your business. In the advertising world where business marketing meets conceptual communications …objectives, strategies and creative all need to be integrated to provide the one strong solution … it’s important to keep the following in mind to earn client happiness!

This should be your mantra: KNOW THEIR BUSINESS. It’s the equivalent of being prepared when you go to an interview. You must do your homework. Research their market, the industry, the competitive landscape and the product offerings. Remember trust must be earned, so if you’re not prepared and you don’t offer up a knowledge base of their playground…clients will get nervous about entrusting their product, service or brand to you.

Be a partner and not a supplier.  Be accessible and make yourself a constant resource. In today’s speed of business,  marketing teams, brand managers and marketing directors feel the need to rely on external resources to get the job done…and done well. Be that external resource. How? Ask to be part of the strategic process. Keep current on industry news or competitive information. Send them articles of interest or highlight key opportunities that may be pertinent to their company’s or brand’s success. Watch their back… and they’ll only be too happy to invite you in their inner circle to get the value of your insight!

Don’t tell them what they can’t do, tell them what can be done. As an advertising or brand agency  it’s your job to sensitize them to the issues at hand, the potential problems of a certain initiative or concept…but if you leave it at that, that’s one more thing that they need to solve.  If you want to keep your clients happy, provide solutions. You not only need to highlight the potential risks, you need to provide solutions to deter that risk. That’ll make them happy!

We all know it, we all think it. Everyone is a marketer, everyone is an art director, everyone thinks their creative. Often I have been directionally briefed. I get asked to deliver on a pre-decided tactic… “We want a direct mail” or  “we need an advertising campaign”. Clients often know what they want, and they should. Afterall, they are the keeper of the brand. However, it’s our job to push the envelope and to ask the questions that may provide a hidden nugget, a new perspective, a different tactic. Our role as a brand advertising agency is to know about the next best thing about…well advertising and creative. So the rule of thumb…give clients what they need to see. Only then will they be receptive to a different approach and evaluate what you can bring to the table… making you again a partner in their business.

Prepare to WOW. It’s good enough is never enough. Go in with concepts and solutions that will WOW them. When presenting creative campaigns it’s important to go that extra mile. Understand the potential and limitations of each of your creative solutions and speak to them. Wow them, not only in what they see before them, exciting concepts, but in your thought process and preparedness to answer questions and provide insight.

One word. CARE. Ultimately that’s really the one word that wraps up all previous points. Care enough to matter. It’s about client service. There you have it. The secret on how to be a successful business.  What is client management if it isn’t about keeping the client happy. And what makes clients happy, what keeps them that way is pretty straight forward.

No matter what client services you offer, ultimately there is one factor that will keep them coming back, delivering on your promise, promptly, effectively and consistently. Client Happiness is guaranteed to make your Business Happy. It’s a perfect marriage.

The Retail Challenge: Getting Shoppers’ Attention!

When we go shopping for anything from food, clothes or cars, we have a lot of choices, at times too many choices. Do we choose a brand that’s familiar to us or do we take a chance with a new one? How do we choose from all these different brands on the retail shelf… and what do they do to set themselves a part from the rest?

With the many choices we have as consumers it’s easy to be overwhelmed –  throw in the towel on our decision making process and buy the already known rather than trying something new! But even if we want to try a new product, there are so many out there, we often don’t even know where to begin. Too many of POP materials and communications at the retail level put out by brand makers talk about the feature of their product and totally forget to talk to the  benefits – in short, what’s in it for the consumer. Benefit-driven communications is the best way to speak to consumers. Is the brand more efficient?  Provide time-saving or cost-saving?

In-store retail merchandising and retail point-of-sale (POS) mechanisms are crucial to make a connection with the consumer to drive both impulse and trial sales. To capture the consumer’s wandering eye, brands and retailers need to constant create new and innovative point-of-purchase (POP) to grab attention where and when in counts the most:  in-store. Without these attention-getting on-shelf or in-store communication pieces, many consumers often overlook new products or specials and consequently buy familiar and already trusted brands.

Brand Marketers want to make sure that their brand doesn’t get lost in all the in-store option available to consumers. Here’s a quick check list to do just that:

  1. Packaging: This is the most important brand POP. It is the piece that will keep on working where ever it is: on-shelf, in-store, in the pantry, in the home. It is all about originality! The brand package needs to carry the brand character, personality and voice and more importantly speak to its benefits.
  2. POP: Using unique visual elements and colours that speak to the brand in order to draw attention  to the product provides at the retail level the necessary impact. Creating effective POP on-shelf that speaks to consumers will entice them to make the change. Using mobiles, shelf-talkers, on-shelf coupon generators, on-shelf digital messaging are only a few tactics that are available.
  3. End Aisle Displays/ Check Out Displays: Using these in-store tactics are an effective way of making brands stand out. While consumers wait in line or turn the aisle, the “one brand” shelving strategy definitely gets the desired effect. Couple this impact with the right benefit-driven message and brands will be sure to generate the much sought after  impulse purchase.
  4. Floor  Graphics and Floor Stands: An effective and creative way to drive consumers right to products on-shelf is using floor graphics leading the way! Of course colourful floor stands filled with products are also effective and provide a solid “real-estate” space, often away from the competitive products.

Effective POP helps snap consumers out of their routine. It engages them  at the most critical purchasing moment and affects behavior to drive sales. All brand marketers must be sure to get this part right. It doesn’t matter how great an advertising campaign is… if consumers don’t find the brand on the shelf, the sale is lost. After all isn’t that what it’s all about?

Building Business Relationships… One Birthday at a Time

I will start this post by saying that this is not a jab at technology nor is it a rant on how business is being conducted today. Promise! Over the last 5 years the way business is being conducted has changed significantly, placing a strain on business relationships. Technology has made business accelerate at warp speed… resulting in many of us being strapped for time,  overwhelmed and at wit’s end on how to meet expectations.  We now have less time available for face-to-face meetings with clients and our vendor/partners.  As emails have become the preferred way of business communications, phone calls are a thing of the past!  I’m sure you’ll agree that calling anyone that actually picks up the phone, let alone a prospective client is like winning the lottery!

However, regardless of how the day-to-day business is being managed, ultimately relationships and the building of them is the key to any successful business. Through the years we at 3H, have noticed that quality time spent with clients is at a premium; it has increasingly become more difficult to get our clients  and potential clients out for lunch, coffee or even a drink after work.  That left  us with the challenge of  how to nurture and cultivate our relationships with our clients and even some potential clients.

Our approach was really a simply one, and one that was very natural – at least for me. You see I love birthdays. Actually, I love celebrating birthdays (I must admit I love celebrating my birthday most of all!).  So every year for the last few years, an annual mandate for the 3H creative and design team is to develop, create and design a birthday card theme that would be carried throughout the year. These cards never go unnoticed. In fact, many who are on the receiving end of our birthday cards are quite touched by the thoughtfulness and are surprised that we remembered them on their birthday.

The irony doesn’t escape me either! A birthday card sent by mail is really a very traditional and low tech approach in business relationship building…. but I must say, it has garnered strong relationships for us. It has been the perfect blend of marketing, design and sales! The cards are all created and designed by the 3H creative team, allowing us to showcase our design and conceptual services. Our  cards, of course, are very branded –  all are purple and titanium. This not only builds the recognition of the 3H brand… it also illustrates to clients that we are effective brand builders.

Some of the concepts we’ve tackled were: Colorology, Destiny Number, Name Letter Profile, Birth Date numerology.   Last year the 3H birthday card featured the Celtic Leaf Profile. The cards we send out are all created and designed by the 3H creative team. Each card is personalized. You can see these on our Pinterest Birthday Board. Feel free to download them and read about your Celtic Leaf Profile. It’s really quite accurate!

I’ll like to end this post by another heartfelt, low-tech message: Happy Holidays to one and all!