Listen to Your Enemy
What you can learn from the other media agency.
What you can learn from the other media agency.
My father always told me that everyone is worth listening to — even if it’s only to learn what not to say. As I grew older and more experienced, especially in the advertising field, I came to truly see the simple wisdom in that piece of advice.
People whom you think are great can clearly show you the best way to do something. And those whom you think aren’t as good as you, can show you how not to do something. (Of course, it could be the opposite: people you thought were great really don’t know what they’re doing, while those with a lesser reputation are the true luminaries.)
What does this have to do with online media? This week, something happened that really blew my mind. We recently lost the online display portion of an account (c’mon, it happens to the best of us), and we learned the new firm isn’t delivering the value to the client that we did. In fact, the firm is delivering exactly 66 percent less value. How do we know this? Because some media invoices were accidentally delivered to us. Turns out, the new agency is paying three times the rates we were paying for the same placements!
Many agencies are so sure of themselves and their superiority over the incumbent, they never really take a deep look — right down to the tactical level — at what their predecessors did. So here are some practical things to look at and research that can help you learn from the successes and failures of the poor souls whose account you bushwhacked:
Your clients should have all this data and, unless they are bound by a confidentiality clause about agency rates, should be able to share it with you. In fact, if they read this column they’ll learn how errant you are in not asking about it.
Even the most inept online media company will provide its clients with tracking reports. Learn from them. You are never so smart that you can’t learn form someone else, especially when it comes to learning what not to do. If you don’t pick up at least part of the optimization process where the other agency left off, you’re doomed to repeat at least some of its mistakes!