We are currently in the middle of a huge evolution in the way that clients work with their creative partners and agencies. The biggest challenge of all? Engagement. How do you engage people (e.g. your clients, current and new) in this hybrid business environment? In a world where they, seemingly, have much of the power and control?

Agency new business has always been the thing that separates the good from the great. Great agencies understand that new business comes before all else, and that without it, there is no agency or indeed creativity. The merely good agencies, often pay lip service to new business and it usually plays a secondary role. Today, amidst this evolutionary period, things are no different. The great creative agencies are finding smarter, new ways to adapt in the digital, post pandemic realm.

What are the best ways you can thrive and develop meaningful relationships with new clients, that quickly convert and lead to direct business, for your agency?

Relevance: Before you even think about approaching clients (new or current) have you considered whether you are truly relevant to them? Everything you write, or deliver in any meeting, should be aligned with their needs. That takes time to consider, craft and prepare. Client meetings are immensely difficult to secure and yet many agencies always under prepare for them. Spend time thinking about your clients businesses and their needs. When you genuinely align them in the right way you will soon be pushing on an open door.

Cut through: Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of all right now. Many clients are not in the office, e.g. no phones, and therefore contacting them, getting access or any kind of ‘facetime’ (these days, digital facetime) is harder than ever. That tips the balance massively in their favour, not the agency. The Client Key are using new technology to get you access to clients and land those highly relevant messages that start the all-important first conversations. Find a way to cut through the noise and get in front of clients. If this is a challenge, ask us to help you!

A structured process: Don’t get stressed, get a plan! New business & sales really doesn’t need to be hugely difficult or challenging. Most agencies are standing on a mountain of value – they just need someone to help them unlock it. In order to do this effectively devise a clear strategy and campaign plan for growth. We can help unlock your assets and value so that clients are quickly ready to buy from you.

Client Clarity: Ask any agency who they want to work with and the answer will usually be one of the ‘FAANG’ companies. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix or Google. Sound familiar? Clearly we’d all like to be working with these companies, perhaps you already are? But how about going after the ones under the radar? The global behemoths that most people have never heard of. These are the kinds of clients that we love – and there are lots of them out there! Know who you want to work with and, more importantly, why. If you start with a direct relevance to the client from the outset your first engagements will be far more effective.

Rainmakers – To bring all of this together you need people who intuitively know how to do all of this! The points we’ve shared are second nature to them and this is how they operate all day long. If you don’t have natural born rainmakers in your team, find some externally!

The old agency model for growth has changed. Previously, companies looked to the Sales Director or Client Services Director and largely, left them to it. That is a risky and ineffective plan for agencies not to grow. Why try to deliver such a critical function in-house when you don’t have the skills or team to do it?

There is a new way, for new business. A service that brings in expert specialist knowledge with the proven skills to grow your agency. The game has changed and it’s now time to embrace new and innovative ways of growing your creative business.

If you have any questions or want to discuss any of the points covered, get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Rob King, Founder

The Client Key – A new way, for new business.

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The programme is overseen and delivered by London & Partners which is the Mayor of London’s official promotional agency. It exists to support the Mayor’s priorities by promoting London internationally as a leading world city in which to invest, work, study and visit.

The Business Growth Programme is designed to give guidance, skills development and tailored support to individual business to facilitate growth, ambition and potential. It provides strategic solutions to growth barriers and a team of expert mentors will work to support and develop a range of start-ups and existing businesses.

The Business Growth Programme offers impartial advice and support to businesses based in London with fewer than 250 employees and turnover of less than £40m looking to grow across London and the outer boroughs.

The Client Key will be providing strategic, commercial and new business expertise to a range of businesses. We’ll be running events, accelerator workshops and in depth consultancy sessions to help facilitate growth and sales success for a diverse group of creative and tech businesses.

We’ve already started to work with the first cohort of companies and entrepreneurs. More updates to follow on The Client Key delivery programmes will be live here very soon!

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You might not know it yet (or be willing to face the reality?) but there is only one thing that is going to keep your business moving forward and that is Growth. In simple terms change or die. Or rather, in today’s hyper competitive landscape, grow or die.

So, just how do you grow creative businesses in the most efficient way? How do you really move the needle? And, crucially, how do you do it in the most efficient way and over what time frame?

There are many different ways to answer these questions but in my view there are only 5 main ways to grow creative agencies. So let’s have a look at them and evaluate each in a bit more detail:

1) Organically: Short to medium term

Organic growth. Has there ever been a nicer way of saying we’re lazy and haven’t bothered to do much? “Organic growth” sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Yet, when I hear people talk about organic growth I think lack of a plan, and disinterest in a clear new business strategy. I’m usually right! Yes you may attract new clients and pick up pieces of business but it is not going to deliver you long term sustainable growth.

2) Business Development campaigns: long term thinking

A well planned and strategic new business campaign can transform your business. Agencies who run effective sales and new business strategies, aligned with a clear and unique proposition, are the ones that really thrive. Taking in marketing and product strategies they are able to clearly connect with their client base, have higher pitch wins and as a result grow quickly, outperforming the competition. Now it’s getting interesting!

3) New Products & New Services: innovation

Launching a new product to steal a slice of the market is a brilliant way to grow. If you’ve spotted something that no one else has, congrats! But how fast can you move? How quickly can you get it out there to maintain first mover advantage? (hint, see number 2 for an effective plan!)

4) Major Investment: team & resources

With major investment comes the luxury of resource. The luxury to be able to spend your way to growth, should you so desire. But how best to spend such privileges? Use your riches wisely – do you have a plan and moreover can you implement it? Buyer beware!

5) Acquisitions & Strategic partnerships: fast track growth

Spending your way to growth can be a fast track way to add turnover (and hopefully profit), client base and capacity in a relatively short space of time. If you can find the right company at the right price (and have the required means) then this can be a very effective way to grow your agency. Acquisitions of course come with their own challenges but that’s down to your skill as an entrepreneur to effectively integrate and align the newly joined businesses. Partnerships and alliances can also work well but are rarely the golden ticket they’re often made out to be.

So, in conclusion you can try and shortcut your way to growth. You may have some been told about some new biz “hacks” that promise to deliver the client dollars. Perhaps you believe the ‘win without pitching’ hype which is, largely, something of a fallacy. Or maybe you’re just happy to wait for the phone to ring?

In reality new business has to be at the very core of your agency, the life blood from which it feeds. There needs to be a holistic approach to client engagement that understands how you succeed, add value through your work and grow alongside your clients. If there is not then you have a major problem.

Too many creatives make the mistake of only focussing on their product and creative output. The truly great agencies understand that clients (aka new business) and creative output go hand in hand. These are the ones that really thrive and excel. They focus on prioritising both things equally and don’t just focus on delivering great creative work.

This is the key to long term agency success and sustainable growth of your business.

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I attended the event this week which brought together entrepreneurs, intraprenuers, technology experts and creative leaders to discuss and share their vision in the Createtech space. But first things first, what is Createtech?

Createtech is the umbrella term used to cover the emerging genre of activities in which technology enables creativity to produce new value-added products, services or experiences – and vice versa. Developing Createch fields include augmented reality, VR, programmatic branding, creative robotics, AI, immersive technologies and the application to performance and experiential markets. Createch is a wide-ranging term that describes an eclectic array of projects combining technology and creativity. Musicians and artists using blockchain to protect and exploit their IP. Brands creating blending virtual reality and live experience to launch new products. Craftspeople teaching new techniques to surgeons and scientists.

The UK is already leading the way and one conference speaker Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, who acclaimed London “the Createtech capital of the world.” A combination of the world’s leading creative industry and a tech sector which is growing exponentially have already cemented the UK’s authority as the leading global Createch economy. There were numerous themes on the blurring of technology into every part of our lives presents to global companies and gain insights into how the sector can help shape our collective future.

There were examples throughout the day of how technology was being used in the creative sector to solve business challenges, specifically sales challenges. I was particularly interested in TRX a new platform aimed at the international TV distribution market. Founder and CEO Matthew Frank described the challenges of slow and inefficient deals which can often take more than 9months for a single rights acquisition deal. The TRX platform is a digital marketplace – a kind of stock market for the TV industry – that aims to bring streamlined deal making and far more efficiency to an area ripe for disruption. They have secured investment and VC from Channel 4 and Sky TV.

The potential for change is huge and the UK is leading the way. How can creative agencies and technologists innovate to drive growth and revenues? The answer according to Iain Tait, Executive Creative Director at Wieden & Kennedy, is to “invite everyone in”. Many big clients are “programmed to protect” and inherently stick to traditional methods of campaign management and delivery. The ones that thrive are the clients who are not afraid to embrace such rapid change, for everyone, across the board. Easier said than done for global behemoths! Invite everyone in – embrace change. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

http://www.createch2018.com – http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk

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So, what does it actually mean for your business to win an award? Do they gain you more business or are they simply a welcome boost to the ego and validation of your project success? Rather more importantly, are they really worth the entry fees? Let’s not forget that most awards entries come with big ticket entry costs or sponsorship “invitations”.

As ever, some awards brands are better than others. Many exist purely as a money making exercise and are very aggressive in their commercial and sponsorship approach. However, more established organisations such as The New York Festivals, Evcom, The Event Awards and others are more professional in their approach. They have dedicated, independent, judging panels so each project is assessed on creative merit and therefore viewed in an objective business context.

Winning an award for a client project or campaign is a positive endorsement of the work your agency is likely to have delivered. However, at this point virtually all of the hard work will have been done. The understanding of the brief, creative delivery and so on has all been executed (hopefully) to the best of your ability. Therefore you could argue that awards are not needed to prove what should have happened already, e.g. delivery of a successful and effective client project. Therefore winning an award simply validates this and gives further ‘credibility’ (or at least perceived credibility!) for you and your clients. We’ve won awards! So we must be good, right? The key is to effectively market and communicate that validation to build your credibility and reputation with clients new and old. How do you use the award to leverage your value and impact as a creative company?

Many companies and agencies have built their brand purely on awards wins. When done in the right way it can be a very powerful and effective way to position yourself as a leader in a crowded marketplace.

We believe that awards can be great for business, great for clients and great for team morale. However, without effectively leveraging your award wins, they can also be just another drain on resources and a (very expensive) ego boost. There are far cheaper, much more fun, ways to boost morale – or your ego!

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There is no shortage of creativity in London and the UK, we are known for it around the world. The UK creative sector is booming, making an £85billion annual contribution to the UK economy. However, despite all of this, sales has long been a challenge for many creatives, particularly SME’s in the sector. It doesn’t have to be this way! The Client Key will help you understand how you can deliver great creativity alongside effective sales strategies. These two things combined can literally transform your business.

We’ll be developing the website and platform over the coming months to give you more resources and tools to facilitate this goal. The best way to keep up to date is subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on the various social channels below.

Let us know what you think to the website, we’d love to hear your comments, thoughts and feedback.

We look forward to talking soon use@theclientkey.com

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