I recently attended the AdAge Small Agency Conference and was wowed by all the shared wisdom. As a boutique agency, Base Beauty is part of a distinctive group in terms of creativity, agility, and innovation, and it was inspiring to be among businesses of a similar size with similar goals and challenges. While much of what was shared is standard operating procedures at Base Beauty—how we work with our clients day in and day out, I learned so much about the challenges we small agencies share and how others approach their client interactions. It’s always productive to hear others’ thoughts, especially as they relate to the specialized, small-agency community and AdAge did us all a great service with this conference.
There were dozens of takeaways that agencies and clients can leverage to create holistic growth together, but here are my top eight, all themes that reflect Base Beauty’s approach to forging strong, productive, lasting client relationships:
- WE SHOW OUR CULTURAL CHOPS: We tell our clients’ stories through a lens that illustrates our breadth and depth of knowledge of the broader cultural landscape.
- WE PRICE OUR WORK WITH CONFIDENCE: We know the value that our expertise brings, and we stand up for it. We’re flexible in making every dollar work hard, but we don’t take hits in pricing to get a contract that won’t ultimately drive growth.
- PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE: Any agency is really about its people. We staff with beauty and wellness experts to guarantee we are bringing stars to our client’s team.
- WE HELP OUR CLIENTS SAY YES: In our RFPs, we offer multiple ways for prospective clients to say yes, letting them know there is more than one road to their goals and that we are flexible and eager to work with them.
- WE MANAGE EXPECTATIONS UP FRONT: We always clarify communication preferences and turnaround timing from the start. This saves us from future angst and allows us to exist in harmony.
- WE EMPATHIZE WITH OUR CLIENTS: We always remember their position, their internal challenges, and what they need to accomplish for their business.
- WE CHAMPION OUR SMALL-AGENCY ADVANTAGE: As a boutique agency, we are nimble, scrappy, focused, and efficient, and we know how to keep projects moving. We show our clients how these qualities can benefit them.
- WE GO TOP-TO-TOP: Every month, I have a one-on-one call with each client’s senior leadership, using the time together to check in on the work, brainstorm about future initiatives, and make sure all their needs are met.
As Base Beauty’s founder and CEO Jodi Katz and I digested the conference content, we were gratified—but frankly not surprised—to see how many experts in the advertising industry were talking about these themes that are just a natural part of doing business for us. While we might be navigating the same winding road as other small agencies, our agency has been built on sensitively executing these eight approaches that continue to result in productive and harmonious client/agency collaborations. Yet there is always more to learn. Thank you, AdAge!