Over the last year we have been noticing a trend in why people approach us at Punch.
Of course many new clients have never worked with a design agency before and contact us to ask how to begin. But, many get in touch looking for change, and that is where we have seen a new trend emerging…
In the past we would be asked to speak with potential new clients because they had grown tired of their design agency. Often they would question the costs, turnaround or application of their agency and simply wanted a change.
The big trend in terms of people approach us now is plain and simple, it is focused on results. Since we started in 2008 most people were focused on cutting costs, as the country was plunged into recession that was understandable. But now (we are told) there is a little bit of blue sky ahead and as confidence returns to many markets it seems that many companies are evaluating their marketing spend – but want assurances about where they choose to spend their budget whether they are looking at print, web or digital marketing.
Now results for a design agency like Punch might be a number of things. Understandably many people are concerned with their SEO, they may have a great (looking) new website but it might not be getting found by their core market. Another common gripe is agencies who under deliver on output, they might have initially delivered a big ticket project such as a website or brand then quickly become bored of the day to day running of an account. Also results might concern factual feedback about a campaign – digital or print – that has been sent out without a mechanic to track subsequent data then analyse, report and refine an approach based on a set of results.
Everything we do can be tracked for the client, from analytic analysis of a website to tracking user journeys from an email campaign or building specific mechanics into a piece of direct mail that is targeted at a specific mailing list. From this we can gauge the ROI on any marketing activity we direct for our clients.
As a design agency not everything you do will work first time. However, what we can do is analyse the effectiveness of a campaign or overall strategy then refine it and adapt our approach – if required.
Part of our ongoing business strategy at Punch is to meet new clients, then work hard to keep them by clearly communicating our actions and documenting the results for them to see. This is hardly a ground breaking plan but it is surprising how often it seems to be overlooked in agency land. It seems like there is an assumption that clients are habitually transient. However, we are proud of the fact we have worked with many of our clients for a number of years – and make sure we give them the same level of attention that our new clients receive.