The marketing industry is a business of service. We provide skills and expertise in order to achieve a goal presented to us by our clients. Should be easy right? Find out what the client wants, create it and bill. But it’s actually not that simple if you have ethics, accountability and – most of all – years of expertise.

What I’m getting at is that those of us in the advertising industry should hold ourselves, our clients and the finished work to a higher standard. Sometimes we need to put the brakes on projects that seem to be headed in a direction that will likely harm the client’s outcome rather than help it. Why can’t we just avoid a bad direction all together? Often as their agency, we’re not completely in the driver’s seat and there might be a number of decision makers in the mix. Or we might have a situation where – with all due respect – our client knows just enough to be dangerous.

Listening to a client’s needs, goals and fears is a very important first step in creating a relationship and getting to know the client and the project. We meet and we talk about these areas with the client to determine the best course of action. What we as your agency need to remember is we have a duty to use our experience, talents and expertise to advise our clients about what needs to be done. You are depending on us to have informed answers.

For example, let’s say you decide you want to build your own house, so you hire a contractor and meet with them to specify location, blueprints, materials, etc. After the contractor has the house’s frame complete, you decide to add a dormer window on the garage, but the structure has not been built to hold up this feature, and the contractor explains it would take a lot of money and materials to restructure the garage’s frame –  an aspect you had not considered. You would want to know about this in the moment, so you can decide what the best option for you is – to restructure and add the dormer window or to proceed as originally planned?

In the same way, when a client comes to us, they’re coming to us for guidance even if they are not conscious of that. Yes, ultimately the client is in charge, but I feel we owe it to them to avoid complacency and regroup with the client as soon as problems arise because projects can go poorly when a client begins feeling too responsible for the outcome or maybe doesn’t end up liking what they thought they wanted. If we as your agency don’t know when to halt construction, in short, you the client will have a house that won’t stand the test of time.

This is why when we are concerned that your work isn’t going in the right direction and push comes to shove, it is incumbent upon us to let you know. It may feel like push back in the moment, but really we have to be ethical, accountable and experienced enough to know when it’s time to regroup to ensure the success of your projects and campaigns because, in the end, all parties involved have the same goal: to ensure the success of the client’s business.

If your business needs help deciding which marketing direction is in your best interest, give us a call at 701-478-1111 and ask to speak with a Marketing Advisor or visit absolutemg.com/contact. We’d be happy to help.