State of the Industry: 4 Ways to Change the Client/Agency Dynamic

Everyone’s facing major change right now. But where does client and agency change intersect and, post-pandemic, how can we use that to create a better way of working?

1. Finding the value

When BIMA’s Leaders’ Network asked clients and agencies about their recent experiences, clients revealed their response to the pandemic: change.

Almost 90% said they planned to change the way they worked. Almost 44% are planning a shift in marketing strategy. 38.5% have new products or services in the pipeline.

Some of this change – particularly CRM and employee engagement – will be implemented by in-house teams. But much will require the help of external partners, the highest ranked of which were as follows:

• Digital marketing (e.g. content, display ads, paid social, influencers)
• Digital innovation and transformation (e.g. consultancy, new products and services)
• Performance marketing (e.g. SEO, CRO)
• Design and build (e.g. websites and apps)

As almost twice as many clients as agencies told us they expected to make redundancies, that need for external partnership looks greater than ever.

Now, it seems, is the ideal time to renegotiate the relationship. But what do agencies and clients need to do to engineer a new dynamic that leaves everyone feeling happier?

2. What do agencies need to deliver?

ROI, unsurprisingly, is the key factor for clients. It’s what mattered most to 57% of clients in the Leaders’ Network survey, with 44% choosing partners purely on proven ROI and a further 13% deciding on a balance of ROI and cost.

Agencies might reasonably say that’s hardly new. ROI has been at the very top of expectations for years. So what specifically do clients want agencies to do differently to bolster that ROI?

According to our survey, clients most want agencies to:

• Be more flexible about the commercial relationship, accepting more project-based work rather than expecting longer term retainers.
• Be more results driven, helping clients build business cases for work
  Be more proactive
• Provide support and solutions to solve the cultural challenges clients and agencies now face

3. What do clients need to deliver?

From the agency perspective, uncertainty was the greatest challenge. The client able to help alleviate some of that uncertainty would be a welcome partner.

According to our survey, agencies most want clients to:

• Share more on future plans (where possible)
• Offer new problems to solve
• Show support and commitment to continuing the relationship
• Give as much notice as possible about changes to commercial arrangements

4. Pressing reset

Agencies and clients might look at much of the above and feel we’ve been here before. But then, we weren’t in a pandemic before. The experiences of the past few months have changed things. They’ve battered confidence. They’ve highlighted just how precarious business can be. And they’ve shown the true value of partnership.

The Leaders’ Network report shows us that the things that could enable us to work better together haven’t really changed. But the need to work better together has.

After years of wishing that the agency/client dynamic could be more of a genuine partnership, where both parties appreciate the value in the other, perhaps the current climate will be the catalyst we need to finally make it happen.

Download the full report