Getting CMO Attention as a Digital Agency

When you are a digital agency, there could be a CMO attention you have been aspiring to achieve. If you can’t quite get there, then this episode is for you.

In this episode I sit down with Evan Kramer, Chief Marketing Officer at The Neat Company. We cover the following:

1. Understanding a CMO’s Decision-Making
2. How to Get Their Attention
3. What To Do When a New CMO Comes In

How to get the CMO attention you want most

Evan, like a lot of CMOs, is very data driven. If an agency can really assess performance in a holistic way, it’s a big bonus. Agencies need to be comprehensive in respect to their integrative portfolio, as well as individual campaign performance.

The second attention-grabber is showing that you really understand the client’s business and their capabilities. Each client has a different type of infrastructure, each with its own good and bad points. Your agency needs to know that infrastructure and how the client works within it.

How does a CMO find an agency?

It’s not always by general RFP. Evan’s company just went through the process of finding a new agency because they were shifting their business model. Because of the shift, they wanted to find an agency who had clients like them, and already understood their unique position.

Evan looked at a small, a medium, and a large agency, in addition to their incumbent. Each was engaged in a due diligence process and given a month to learn about his company. They were given the opportunity to look at everything from capabilities to product roadmaps. In the end, it was the mid-sized agency that won because they were most familiar with the challenges the company would be facing.

What to do when the CMO leaves.

Every new CMO is brought in for a reason. It means something is happening within the company. Either it needs to grow to the next level, it’s shifting its business model, or it needs to perform better. Regardless, don’t take the relationship for granted. You need to get in there and understand why the new CMO is there and what they’ve been asked to do.

Remember: landing the client isn’t the end of the work.

Agencies are doing one thing right.

Agencies are being more holistic in their work and taking more thematic and portfolio approaches when it comes to media. Looking at everything from multi-touch to multi-screen to how SEM works with SEO, and how it all works together is something that agencies are doing right. If that describes your agency, keep up the good work!

The #1 thing you can do right now.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Make sure that you are managing expectations by understanding the client’s business. ” quote=”Make sure that you are managing expectations by understanding the client’s business. “]

Make sure that you are managing expectations by understanding the client’s business. Be realistic and give measurable improvements. Realistic expectations make the relationships work better.

Evan says, “iterate to be great.”

Become a Better Agency Owner

When you gain the CMO attention you’ve been aiming for, it can bring potential and possibilities but if you haven’t a solid foundation, it can create issues.

By looking at the bigger picture of your agency, you can focus on areas you haven’t explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on to improve your business and then check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles.

I have a bank of advice to share with you from my own experiences. This can be how to increase conversions on your website, ways to implement Facebook in your marketing strategy, why building authority to improve your agency is important and the best way to pitch to big brand clients.

If growth is your focus, I’ve discussed the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell your services to more customers.

You can learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

If videos are more your thing, did you know I have a Youtube channel?

Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.