You didn’t think it would all be awards bashes, cash for creativity and wacky offices did you? Take yourself back to when you first decided a career in marketing was for you, and cast your mind back to the reasons why.
I bet it wasn’t to work on really safe briefs for really safe clients on brands that would fly off the shelves regardless of the tosh your agency turned out.
No most people go into marketing because they’re spurred on by the challenge of closing the gap between brand and consumer. They’re excited by finding that big idea that can make a brand exciting, memorable and valuable. It’s all about the thrill of the chase. You wanted problems, briefs, hurdles. You were hungry for them.
But what now? Your clients aren’t quite so forthcoming with the blue-sky budgets, if you want them to go out on a limb you have to drag them there and everyone around you is tightening the purse strings.
Well, this is where the fun starts. You wanted to be a marketing consultant. Get out there and consult. Your clients need you now more than ever. When the light appears at the end of the economic tunnel, do you want to be the agency that withered and died because they were scared, or do you want to be reaping the benefits because you worked with clients to nail their challenges?
By challenges, I don’t mean ‘drive store footfall by 50%’. I mean ‘make my boss so chuffed with my newest campaign that I become indispensable’, ‘find a way to produce a £3m campaign for £600,000’, and even ‘Please, god, just give me the answer so I can report it at the next board meeting’.
Of course it will be tough. But that’s what you’re there for – to solve problems. Get out there. Consult. Be the agency that grabbed the bull by the horns whilst everyone else was moaning about stroppy clients, long hours and the lack of biscuits in meeting rooms. Live to tell the tale.
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Scott Knox
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Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 23 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 10
