Some clients are worried about changing their digital agency or video producer because they feel their current supplier knows them so well.
I recently attended a really enjoyable judging session for the 2015 EVCOM Awards in London. There was a great mix of client-side and agency people there, and it created a great level of conversation. It was quite an unusual situation to be in a room with competitors and potential clients, watching the latest and greatest video content from around the world.
One of the many interesting subjects we discussed was choosing a video production agency. Being agency-side it’s obviously intriguing for me to hear what influences large clients, and what they feel are the most important parts of the selection process. It was clear that larger clients want to avoid selecting suppliers too often (that’s pretty obvious), but they also feared changing supplier when the incumbent “knows us so well”.
I’ve been in the industry for over 15 years and won hundreds of new clients over that time, many of whom already had a current supplier. Did those new clients treat the first project as a ‘test’ or a ‘warm up’? Maybe a chance to get to know each other? Certainly not. Every one of our new clients is expecting us to understand their brand and their audience before we release the first project. That content needs to work and demonstrate a return on investment right from the get go.
Of course, relationships blossom as more projects are produced, but a good video production agency should be expert in getting under the skin of the brand and your audience rapidly. Ask for testimonials and look at their existing work, invite them for a chat, see if the personal relationships work; that’s the bit that’s hard to learn.
The judging session was fantastic. As well as agreeing (mostly) on the best of the films we were shown, we all got on really well. Those relationships don’t take long to build. So if you think that your current supplier is getting a little complacent, or you think your latest content isn’t demonstrating ROI, maybe it’s time you tried someone new?
Simon Crofts
Creative Director