Do you want to show up more creatively for your clients and your colleagues, your family, and your friends?
Do you want to default to thinking about opportunity versus focusing just on problems?
Discovering Hope is full of proactive steps you can take right now, to achieve a more positive mindset or to help maintain the positivity you already have
Getting Positive reveals that more optimism is close at hand
Standout by Getting Your Employer Working For You Copy
Whilst working at your current agency you should consciously pursue experience, education and connections that enhance your distinctiveness as a business problem solver. You should do what you are paid to do (help optimize the agency of which you are part) but also remember that not also leveraging the agency to build your own value, is a wasted opportunity.
Don’t Regret What Was
It’s only once you cease to work for an agency that you appreciate the many things that provides, some obvious and some less so:
A job;A Team; Resources, (financial/creative); Access; Training; Experience; Exposure.
Your working in an agency can be great for the agency’s and its clients business. It should also be a positive step for your career growth.
The Connection between Great Work and Your Success
Does a happy client and grateful agency means you will have an optimized fast tracked career?                                                                                                                           Perhaps.
If you have are known for being an active team player, a proactive individual that helps to resolve client challenges and optimize opportunities, does this mean you will have a fast-tracked career.                                                                                                                Perhaps
Is your reputation for effectiveness and are the career opportunities afforded you directly linked. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Perhaps
Why a great contribution Doesn’t Always Mean That You Benefit
For instance. If the agency loves the way you keep one client happy they may well be reluctant to move you to other accounts. Or, put another way, an agency whose priorities and timeline that differ to yours may prioritize training, work, performance and metrics that do not fairly reconcile your contribution, strengths or priorities; Or, you deliver but others claim the credit.
Delivering Consistently Means (In the absence of conscious career management)
If you do deliver consistently and others notice, you should survive (but don’t always).
If you are noticed you might not necessarily be rewarded at all or proportionately or in the way you might want to be.
Delivering tangible metrics yet without a career advocate, throws the recognition and aligned progression you deserve in to question.
Putting Your Employer to Work for You – How?
Accept responsibility for your career progression.
Always have an idea how you want to grow next even if you don’t know what you want your next challenge to be.
Have your own ‘purpose’ and pursue it, even if you don’t believe in the purpose of your employer, or its clients.
Ideally, anticipate what your next career step will be. The clearer you are about this the better able you will be to start harnessing the experience, knowledge and connections you will need to make you a shoe-in for the next role.
Standout by Getting Your Employer Working For You
Whilst working at your current agency you should consciously pursue experience, education and connections that enhance your distinctiveness as a business problem solver. You should do what you are paid to do (help optimize the agency of which you are part) but also remember that not also leveraging the agency to build your own value, is a wasted opportunity.
Don’t Regret What Was
It’s only once you cease to work for an agency that you appreciate the many things that provides, some obvious and some less so:
A job;A Team; Resources, (financial/creative); Access; Training; Experience; Exposure.
Your working in an agency can be great for the agency’s and its clients business. It should also be a positive step for your career growth.
The Connection between Great Work and Your Success
Does a happy client and grateful agency means you will have an optimized fast tracked career?                                                                                                                           Perhaps.
If you have are known for being an active team player, a proactive individual that helps to resolve client challenges and optimize opportunities, does this mean you will have a fast-tracked career.                                                                                                                Perhaps
Is your reputation for effectiveness and are the career opportunities afforded you directly linked. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Perhaps
Why a great contribution Doesn’t Always Mean That You Benefit
For instance. If the agency loves the way you keep one client happy they may well be reluctant to move you to other accounts. Or, put another way, an agency whose priorities and timeline that differ to yours may prioritize training, work, performance and metrics that do not fairly reconcile your contribution, strengths or priorities; Or, you deliver but others claim the credit.
Delivering Consistently Means (In the absence of conscious career management)
If you do deliver consistently and others notice, you should survive (but don’t always).
If you are noticed you might not necessarily be rewarded at all or proportionately or in the way you might want to be.
Delivering tangible metrics yet without a career advocate, throws the recognition and aligned progression you deserve in to question.
Putting Your Employer to Work for You – How?
Accept responsibility for your career progression.
Always have an idea how you want to grow next even if you don’t know what you want your next challenge to be.
Have your own ‘purpose’ and pursue it, even if you don’t believe in the purpose of your employer, or its clients.
Ideally, anticipate what your next career step will be. The clearer you are about this the better able you will be to start harnessing the experience, knowledge and connections you will need to make you a shoe-in for the next role.
Attaining Trusted Advisor Status
Each year, unfortunately around Thanksgiving and as the end of the financial year approaches, many agencies prune their ranks. One way to bolster your job security? Pursue trusted advisor status. But what does it take to attain it?
IPA Effective work? Cannes awarded creativity? Making your client a success story? Some argue that you give the client what they want. Or is it what they don’t know they want? Either way, they have to trust you. They need to believe that what you recommend has their best interests at heart and not simply your agency’s bottom line. Who is best able to deliver on this promise?
The brilliant communicators? The great listeners? The connectors of the disparate? Of course, all the above but as with a great meal, great ingredients are not enough. How and in what order you combine them is key.
The attached links provide some expert views on how to bolster your position at this vulnerable time of the year.
Enjoy!
Stuart
So What Makes a ‘trusted advisor?’
- Trusted Advisor Marketing: Why You’re Asking the Wrong Questions?
- Scaling Trust: Marketing on a New Key
- Selling Strategies: How to Become a Trusted Advisor to the C Suite
- Trusted authority or Trusted Advisor – What and Why?
- 9 Traits of a Trusted Advisor
- Virtues of a Trusted Advisor
- Five Tips For Creating Relationships That Drive Sales
Agency Vs. Client-Side Planning
Companies that no longer work with outside marketing agencies continue to rise, reaching 27%, up from 13% a few years ago.
Do agencies really fail to provide sufficient value? Look closer and significant trends are at play. Certainly, some of the larger agencies are too slow and seemingly entrenched with traditional media. Clients that want to be faster moving can sometimes find speed by keeping/bringing things in-house.
More telling, the type of work being conducted client-side is changing, with a preference for strategy being pulled back in-house. Clients certainly seem to be hiring more strategic problem solvers from the consulting side of the business. There appears to be a recognition, in large part because of the importance of data, that the strategic conversation is something they really should stop outsourcing and better still, actively develop in-house. This in turn requires a re-tooling of talent.
From your perspective, agency or client, big brand picture or activation focus, how do you see things playing out? Hoping some of the attached reading clarifies things for you.
Enjoy!
Stuart
Articles and commentary that might be of interest…
- 6 Reasons Marketing is Moving In-House
- How Agencies Are Wooing Ex-staffers To Return
- Agency Versus Client-side. Is The Grass Greener?
- Working For A Marketing Agency Vs. Client-side Marketer
- Agency-side Vs. Client-side. Should You Make The Switch?
- Chapter 1 How To Choose The Launch Pad For Your Career In Marketing
- Shifting From The Client-side To The Agency-side –Is It Really ‘The Dark Side’?
- Three Top Marketers With Agency Backgrounds Reveal Why They Switched Roles
- Client-side Vs. Agency-side
- Living On The Other Side Of Moving From Client To Agency
- How To Retain Top Agency Talent
How to positively manage the effects of sudden changes in a new job
I regularly receive calls that talk to an individual having started a new job and a few months in, it is unrecognizable from expectations, not simply because of a changed challenge but in terms of what was promised about people, the value of their expertise in the agency/company, the culture, resources, leadership and clients. The boss that hired you leaves, the client it turns out is completely unreasonable and/or not embracing the value your expertise can bring and/or, the function you represent period, for example strategic planning.  And, the department of which you are a part, doesn’t seem to have any practical leadership. These are just a few examples of challenges I’ve heard someone newly employed describe to me as they asked what they should do.
Now, it’s true, situations in the agency and business world can and do change very quickly. The role you were hired for can become manifestly different. Where you confront such a situation in a new role (1-3 months) you should ask yourself the following three questions:
Is the change significant enough that you believe you cannot be effective in the new role?
Can you through discussion alter the changed circumstances so that you can be effective?
Is there an opportunity for professional progression/a chance to develop your expertise even with the changed circumstances?
If the answer to all the above questions is “no,’ you should leave the role. If you take no action you are very likely going to go around in circles as you fail to direct your career. A better approach, whether you leave depends on rationalizing a course of action based in my opinion, on three factors: Your sanity; Your reputation; Your resume.
Sanity
More important than your reputation or resume is your state of mental health. Being in a situation for which you are unprepared, unsuited or simply don’t desire can adversely affect your mental state of mind. Extreme stress arises due to a complete lack of support or from a role or circumstances significantly different from those you believed you were being hired for. In such a situation if you cannot, even after talking with someone you trust, get clarity or assurance that the job you are being asked to perform will, in some timeframe align with that that you were hired for, then you should seriously consider leaving the agency.
Reputation
Whenever you are delivering a product or service you have been paid to deliver, the consistency and quality of that delivery is what your reputation is in large part based. Clearly other people’s perception of you are based on other factors too significantly, being seen to be easy to work with/cultural fit. A positive/can do attitude is the ally of a great reputation but even that is not enough if the quality and consistency of your work is not up to par. So whenever there are persistent factors that are out of your control and you cannot resolve, that will materially affect the consistent quality of your work, that would also be a reason either to change your current role with your current employer or to leave. Your reputation takes time to build but it can be damaged very quickly. You cannot afford to persist with anything that damages your ability to be the best you can be.
Resume
I’m often asked, even when an individual is unhappy and is struggling in their new role, ‘Should I stay another six months?’ I’m being asked this question even though there are no obvious concerns about mental health or loss of reputation that is, they can do the job but they are not happy or motivated by it. They are considering leaving their job but hesitating because of how this might look on their resume, their leaving a job after a short period of time. Clearly, if you have left your last two jobs within six months it becomes more important to prove you can commit. The question also arises whether the individual is simply ‘unlucky’ in their job selection or failing to properly qualify the jobs they are subsequently accepting. Irrespective, if what’s at stake is your state of mental health or reputation for delivering great work, these are compelling reasons for change, irrespective of how your resume looks.
Developing Trends – Final Third, 2016
Through daily conversations with senior management in agencies and candidates looking to build their careers I’ve seen some important emerging trends:
Marketing agencies versus Advertising/Media/Digital Agencies – While all agencies specialize with a core competency that provides the bulk of income; big data is driving a need for integrated solutions – with meta services covering TV, website, public relations, outdoor stitching communication into a seamless whole.
User Experience Focus – From brand consultancies to digital and analog agencies, ‘user experience’, is now key. Clients want slick, streamlined processes with simple calls to action that are fun for users. Easy to say; enormously difficult to do.
Client-Side – Many of your peers see increasing possibility with their career options and an increasing number of strategists seek the ability to broaden their ability to impact overall brand evolution and user experience. This client/startup move also has much to do with perceived ‘relative’ stability away from the agency world.
Consultancy Smultancy – The big consultants are no longer the emerging competition but active ‘players’ in a landscape that seeks to harness big data and smart technology with creativity. This is manifesting with the big consultants’ acquisition of talent or through agency acquisition. Creative agencies are increasingly going the other way, investing in data and technology specialists. The challenge for agencies is that it’s the big consultants that are more often perceived to be trustworthy with data/numbers.
In-House Marketing – The movement of ever more strategic talent client-side is making the movement of such talent to clients more the ‘norm’ and with it, the idea of clients developing in-house agency resources in part or total. This trend will continue as long as clients believe agencies cannot deliver or will not deliver at the price-point they believe fair.
Big Data/Programmatic – It’s all about the customer stupid! Ever more sophisticated large-scale data collection and synthesis aids both understanding in targeting and in measurement of campaigns. The trend to understand all
Career Options – More than ever, strategic planners have options to work in a range of non-advertising environments. Clients are increasingly recognizing the benefits the rigor/approach/thinking/toolbox, strategists can deliver. PR and media agencies have become fertile sources of employment for account planners in recent years. That said, digital, design, brand, innovation and technology consultancies have all become real options as of course have client-side and start-up client-side opportunities, particularly in the Bay area.
Homogenous Hiring – I work with agencies working across the spectrum of communication, (TV, digital, activation, media, PR and multicultural) product, brand, design and innovation consultancies. The briefs for desired strategic hires are looking ever more similar as agencies increasingly see a convergence of offering. Digital/UX, data, technology and research backgrounds are key. This homogenous hiring is often about agency turf wars/budgets (even within the same holding companies) and perceived expertise with clients versus (at least as a primary driving force) genuinely trying to offer strategic clarity and the best one-stop integrated solutions.
Titles! – Everyone today is a planner/strategist of some description. Everyone is also a master of brand building. Really? Well of course not. These are just titles! The truth is that there are more digital (SEM/SEO/ETC) channel experts (used to be called Media Planners, than ever. They are important; They play their part and that part needs to be understood by them and those hiring them.
Making a Difference – Perhaps there really is a social awakening. More individuals I talk with want to make a real difference. This desire is transcending age groups. The agencies targeted, consumer social responsibility (CSR) and purpose driven. The opportunity for big brands to tap in to, (for purely short term financial consideration) or better still truly embrace this cultural awakening, (with even bigger potential financial upside) are enormous.