3 Trends and Top Ten Reasons to Work with a Smart Agency

Three major trends are affecting the way we think and talk about social media and conversation. That leads me to ask 3 main questions:

1. Are blogs useful? Gerald Baron at Crisisblogger asked himself the same question not long ago in a slightly different format -- is this the beginning of the end of blogging?

Despite more people having joined Twitter and being somewhat satisfied with micro blogging and others being immersed in the multiple stimuli that Facebook affords as a platform, I agree with Gerald -- "Ain't no going back" blogs or a similar form are here to stay. Having said that, how do we take the conversation to the next level? How do we break out of the echo chamber into main stream business?

2. Is the conversation taking place in the networks outside the walls of your organization going to change the way you work? You bet. It already has in many instances, whether you realize it or not. And it requires more of your brand than you ever orchestrated yourself -- all the touch points will need to be aligned, part of the same experience, or different according to a specific plan and niche strategy. No more winging it (not that anyone ever did).

That is good news and bad news. The bad news is that you have less resources/budgets; the good news is that you can learn to make them work more efficiently. Take for example the news release -- how about a refresher? As Brian Solis and Todd Defren say, the future of the media release is in your hands. Share your examples with Brian and Todd or here, if you have any.

3. What skills does the marketer on the inside need? I was having a conversation about this with a colleague the other day. He maintained that marketing 101 has not changed -- there are things you do and you get certain results, like clockwork.

Maybe; or maybe there is a lot more you need to know. The change is in how everything needs to work in the same direction, consistently. Some called this integrated marketing, I'd like to call it right size marketing -- market-driven, measurable, honest and real in language and representation, and effective for the business client. The promise of social media after all is that when the focus is in creating the connection with the right people, you need to be relevant to them where they are and not shouting at them in a crowded space everywhere else.

Given these forces and questions, I put together a list of top ten reasons to work with a smart agency, one that can help you navigate "where do we go reach the kids?" Isn't there a child in all of us?

1. Flexibility -- they can work with others already working with you. There are increasingly less boundaries between providers.
2. Ability to handle the truth -- it's really not about the logo or the shiny objects. It's about the business case and a strategy that will get the company visibility in front of the right audience.
3. Accountability -- let's put skin in the game and tie success to results. This clearly is a two way street and conversation. It will keep everyone honest.
4. Research-based approach -- I love opinions like the next person. And with social media we have plenty. How about some solid qualitative and quantitative proof?
5. Ability to think and do -- good strategic thinkers with great execution. Increasingly this may also become can do interactively and in traditional forms of marketing.
6. Adaptability and observation -- can adjust and scale with the business model while learning and observing.
7. Customer-centric process -- it's not about them, it's about you. There's no taking the client for granted; there's no driving the client to do this or that. It's a conversation.
8. Customer-service attitude -- there's no going over your head and talking to your boss instead of talking with you.
9. Resources allocated -- whatever makes the most sense for the business, not the A-team to start and then another team during implementation. In fact, I'd bank on execution being as if not more important as strategy.
10. Knowledge of social media -- and this is the reality vs. myth that I'm talking about.

If your agency has recommendations on social media for you, check them out. Do they have a community behind their gated walls asking people to register or do they participate in the greater community in the blogosphere freely? Do team members blog or do they hire interns to write their stories?

[tip of the hat to Pier Luca Santoro for the image]

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Cam Beck]

Valeria - I don't have time right now to give a really deep answer to this... but I just wanted to let you know that it is excellent work. I'm Digging it for future study and reflection.

[Geoff Livingston]

Well done. Of course, breaking into outside business requires them to be interested in us. We haven't created the right compelling argument... yet. But with more Dells (Sony is launching a blog) we should be in great shape.

[Carolyn Ann]

And in our adult ways, we betray the child we became...

Or, more adroitly, and certainly more elegantly:
Thou speakest wiser than thou art ware of.

(Rosalind, as Ganymede; As You Like It).

Blogs are useful; they are the first place I turn for accurate information. A careful read, with an eye for the paid-for endorsement (which can prevent me from ever entertaining business with that company), and a plethora of views: yes, blogs are useful.

Unfortunately, a corporate blog that is as honest as it should be is as rare as finding the dentiles of a hen. (Can I fit any more allegory into this?) With corporate politics, and mortgages, being what they are: deflecting the problem (calling it a "challenge", maybe?) is more par for the course. "Oops, we screwed up" is not likely to be heard in the hallowed halls of contemporary business. Okay, okay: cubicle farms.

Handling the truth, as so wisely put it, is not something corporations are good at. They'll tell you they are, but when the boss is itching for that next promotion, truth will lose - every time - to what's convenient. Even if the facts, as stated, don't match what the consumer sees!

I will neglect the tenuous link between product recalls, dangerous products and the supposed protection of the Feds. Even to give it the status of "tenuous" is to elevate it to an undeserved status.

Implementation is important, as you point out. It's all well and good having a grand strategy, but it's meaningless if it's not implemented.

I'm still having problems with the concept of corporate honesty. It's just too, well, surreal. Sorry to be so cynical! (Apologetic smiley...)

Carolyn Ann

[Pier Luca Santoro]

Dear Valeria,
As you pointed out the reason number ten is "THE reason".
In my experience many firms tend not to chenge their communication/advertising agency because of the loss of time it takes to aknowledge the new one. Of course the question is how much does it cost to work with the "wrong one".
Furthermore, i notice [at least in Italy, don't know so well the States] very little attention to internal communication and still less in paying attentio to coherence between external and internal communication.
Some months ago I undertook an attempt to define the roi of internal corporate blogs [http://www.slideshare.net/pedroelrey/internal-corporate-blog-roi]. I'll send you the complete work published on Ticonzero the Bocconi University on line mag.
Big hug.
Pier Luca Santoro

PS: Thanks for the tip of the hat :-)

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Cam -- I look forward to further thoughts from you.

@Geoff -- what concerns me is that there are still too many organizations out there who insist that message control is king, that you should write what *they* say vs. what you think.

@Carolyn Ann -- I hear you on honesty and corporations. People may choose to be honest; entities are still in the protecting itself mode. Employees are starting to feel uncomfortable about it... and I think that's where the change is going to come from. More later.

@Pier Luca -- employee communication is key. For the reasons I mentioned in my response to Carolyn Ann, as employees we are starting to feel uncomfortable with the duplicity, if any. And we want to be in the loop. I got the report, thank you!

[Geoff Livingston]

I totally agree with that. The Command and Control mindset is frightening. I actually refuse to work with cos that approach social media this way.

And to be frank, PR is the primary villain in this situation. They propogate the message control myth (it never existed), and then refuse to adapt social media. Nice. Makes me ashamed to be considered a PR pro.

[Richard Becker]

Valeria,

You have several great points here. Do be careful though in creating a recipe that allows the medium to dictate the message.

Best,
Rich

[NW Guy]

Another good post but I'll avoid commenting on specific content.

My comment is on the pic; a great throwback to a much-missed blogger, Kathy Sierra, and all of her work on usability.

Thanks for the memories.

And now I'll refocus on the conversation :)

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Rich -- yes, caution is in order in making any sweeping statements of any kind. Thank you!

@Bruce -- I think I wrote the post around the picture ;-)

[Richard Becker]

More specifically...

1. Yes.
2. I'm not convinced most social media practitioners can handle the truth either. Also, the identity, message, and practice are all equally important.
3. Yes, and there are ongoing mixed messages of what results to measure.
4. Yes, assuming the people putting together the surveys understand them. Most of them do not and sometimes they make crazy assumptions over what the numbers mean.
5. Possibly, but good strategy places purpose ahead of practice.
6. Sure, and any business that hopes to survive will do this anyway.
7. Yes, but often social media practitioners are so busy trying to prove social media that they forget to listen.
8. I agree. However, part of that responsibility belongs to the client. The boss is also responsible for empowering the person you report too. And the person you report too would be wise not to use the the agency as a scapegoat.
9. Equal, but not more important than. The good execution of a bad strategy will still lead to disaster.
10. Yes, but I'm not convinced that all social media experts really understand or value business objectives or strategic communication.

Also, I think "message control" is not used by too many agencies. I think message management, on the other hand, is critical to success. They are very different terms.

Best,
Rich

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Geoff -- your comment must have come in as I was responding to the others. I think there's something with telling a story, a compelling story that will engage.

@Rich -- honored that you would come back to it point by point. #2 intrigues me and for all the good reasons -- we're people/human after all. If you follow the Twitter stream, much of it is still look at what I just did ;-) There's a whole conversation we should have one of these days on rushing strategy to meet deadlines. And to your #10, we need to have both. Great food for thought, thank you!