I’ve been in the business of marketing for 30 years, and I’ve seen it all. From the heady days of full commissions and wild budgets to the stop-all-spending overreaction to financial crises. I was there on Madison Avenue when my coworkers and I at Chiat/Day convinced our client that there was only one director in the world capable of shooting their new TV spot, and he happened to be directing a feature film in England. And so we all packed up and went overseas for a week, blowing the client’s money on lots of warm beer with reckless abandon.
20 years later, I was the one who answered the phone calls at my own agency from panicked clients suspending all ad budgets in the face of the latest crash.
I know how marketing firms make money, and I know how clients spend it. Lately, as we have been taking on more and more strategic planning work from other agencies, we are uncovering a big fat scam that is costing advertisers thousand and thousands of dollars from their interactive budgets every month – it’s the hourly invoice from their web marketing “partner”.
That word “partner” is key here. For any relationship between a marketing firm (be that an ad agency, PR firm, or web services provider) and its clients to be considered a true “partnership”, there needs to be an honest and straightforward give and take from both parties.
Because when it comes to marketing, there is a vested interest on the part of the marketing firm in the long-term success of their client. By its very definition, a partner in a business relationship is: “A person who takes part in an undertaking with another or others, esp. in a business or company with shared risks and profits” (thank you dictionary.com). If you are sharing in the risks and potential profits (okay, not directly, but indirectly sharing in profits by continuing to be retained and by benefiting from increased budgets), you have to have skin in the game.
When we uncover contracts that allow web companies to bill their clients on an hourly basis, it destroys the notion of a partnership. They never give up any skin, because they never have any risk. Every second that they spend on behalf of their client is billed – down to the one-twelfth of the hour!
It’s particularly bad in the interactive space. I have bills in my hand for things like:
0:15 small tweaks to copy and positioning
0:05 edited menu to add the word “the”
0:10 internal discussion
0:05 nose picking
(Okay, I added the last one to see if you were paying attention).
If you are a client caught in a contract that allows your web or PR firm to bill you this way, find a way to break the contract. You are doing business with a vendor, not a partner, and you are spending way more than you need to for the services that you are getting. Your vendor can’t wait for you to call with thoughts, suggestions, ideas and concepts, so that they can start that billing clock spinning around for you.
We have been on a crusade to uncover this practice and to help our clients to end the madness.
In the words of Cher as Loretta Castorini in Moonstruck: “Snap out of it!”
Negotiate a retainer agreement and then work together for your success. Pay them fairly and expect outstanding service and support. Treat them like you would treat a life partner – with respect and appreciation. And expect them to treat you the same way. Demand outstanding service, and get your money’s worth.