Creating Client Clarity

There's a lot of discussion and hand-wringing right now about the change we—the creative services industry at large—are experiencing. About the constantly moving goalposts of client demands and expectations, how agencies and creative services (of all stripes) need to come to terms with different budgets, different operating models, different ways of working. How we need to change because our clients are changing: they want to work more efficiently, they want results, etc.

All of this is true. Yes, we all need to figure out how to stay more nimble, more agile, more adaptive.

But I have a slightly different take. I don't think it's what clients *want* that's changed. Haven't they *always* wanted to "work efficiently," to "focus on results"?

What they want hasn't changed, necessarily. It's how they're able to get there that's changed.

Clients and brands have WAY more options now than ever before, WAY more opportunities to slice and dice the work between, in no particular order: small shops, big shops, small shops *inside* big shops, indie designers, international designers, in-house designers, and of course, the robots. Because technology has upended not only HOW the work gets done, but WHO does the work.

Which means much of this comes down to a decision-making issue, and the paradox of choice.

So before we contort ourselves and our business models to "better adapt to the market," we need to also ask the question, how do we position ourselves as THE most obvious best decision? What are our clients' actual priorities, what's their decision-making criteria, and how do we speak directly to that?

We should 100% be evaluating + evolving our internal mechanics, yes, but in this crowded landscape, don't forget about the external messaging.

Our clients' brains are just as cluttered and overwhelmed as ours. Take out the guesswork. Connect the dots for them. Set up the decision-making map so that all roads lead to you. 🎯 🧭 📍