Monday, December 21, 2009

Fostering a good client and agency relationship is just like fostering any other relationship: it takes work. And the kind of work you put in will affect the kind of work you get out. The most important thing to remember is that both parties are bringing their expertise to the table. You know your restaurant. They know the restaurant marketing business. After all, that’s why you hired them.

Here are some things great clients always keep in mind:

• Be a champion of creativity: Your job is not to write the press releases or create your restaurant’s logo. Your job is to give your agency the room and resources to create these things for you. That’s what they do best.
• Make the difficult choices. Things move quickly in the restaurant industry. If reservations are down, you can’t wait two months for an ad. However, they say in marketing you can get something great, fast and cheap, but only two of those at a time. As the client, you need to make and understand that choice. Your agency creatives are not magicians, and they’ll appreciate it if you don’t expect them to be.
• Be honest and realistic about your expectations. Maybe you want to be the top steakhouse in your city. That’s a great goal, and you need to communicate that to your agency. They can develop a roadmap, but only if they know the destination.
• Understand the limitations of your resources. Restaurants rarely have large budgets for marketing. Your agency will do their best to maximize every dollar, and they’ll let you know what you can and cannot afford. But don’t expect to get great creative for a bargain price. Why would they sell themselves and their ideas short?
• Set clear ground rules. Be upfront with any creative mandates. If some rules can be broken, state that. If some rules cannot be broken, state that, too. Your agency needs to know what they have to work with before they explore creative solutions.
• Simplify the problem. Your restaurant may be tackling various issues at once, but whittling down the situation to a clear and simple statement will do wonders for finding a solution.
• Be open to creativity. Once the problem is simplified, avoid solving it yourself. This will foster preconceived notions that’ll interfere with your ability to accept and appreciate your agency’s work.
• Make changes at the beginning. The initial rounds are for brainstorming and revising. If you constantly insist on making changes in the final rounds (sometimes this is necessary and that’s understandable), expect delays and additional costs, not to mention the ire of your agency.
• Forget you like the color blue. Your personal stylistic tastes are irrelevant. This is about the brand and the brand’s personality.
• Champion the creativity, again. Run interference in meetings when less enlightened colleagues trash the work. You need to stand up for what you helped create. Otherwise all inspiration will go out the window.
• Hire the right agency. You want someone who knows the restaurant industry as well as you do. All marketing isn’t the same, get a relevant expert with proven results.
• Say thank you. If you show your appreciation for the hard work, your agency will walk on water for you.

All in all, a successful marketing campaign is almost always the result of a successful client and agency relationship. Be a great client. It’s in your best interest.