From Picas to Pixels: Ad Agency Guide to “Going Digital” (Part 1)

Let’s start your journey with some thoughts that will help set your bearings:

Reality Check
So, are you sure you want to make the leap to go digital? Yes, you may have done a project here or there that you outsourced to a freelancer, but what I mean by “going digital” is committing to making it an on-going profit center. It’s important to understand that delivering interactive solutions goes way beyond putting links on a print communication piece. It’s a constantly evolving challenge where new fountains of specialties rise from the ground like geysers. The interactive space is both new and old, creative and technical, deceivingly simple and amazingly complex. Be aware that there’s no definitive RIGHT way to do anything digital; but there are definite ways to do it wrong. It will be your role to navigate these mine fields and to articulate the inarticulable to drive business goals that have the potential to generate millions and millions of directly attributable revenue for your clients.

You’re not in Kansas Anymore
If you are going to go digital, you must first forget everything you’ve learned about the organizational structure of a traditional agency. YOU WILL FAIL if you try to departmentalize the Interactive studio as a production resource. Interactive MUST be structured in a way the it interfaces with every single department of your agency- PR, HR, Media, Creative, Research, Client Services, you name it, it must be at the table. There is no right way to structure this because it greatly depends on your agency’s internal talent pool, access to trusted and valued partners and your willingness to go head-strong into an organizational paradigm shift.  The definite WRONG thing to do, is do what you’ve always done.

Anesthetize your Clients
What flies in the traditional space may crash in the digital. For example, a client may ask you to “move that image over a bit” on a web site after it’s developed. It may be innocuous or it may be as complex as asking the offset printer to move the image on a brochure that just came off of the press. Setting client expectations is critical. Educate them that Interactive is a process-driven, milestone-dependent and time consuming endeavor. Make it clear to the client that milestones are absolute and change orders will be eminent and budget and timelines will be directly affected by their actions. For example, early in my career I had a client on a big project who was constantly having us make really simple changes. It wasn’t until we were nearly completed the project that I realized the cumulative effect was over 50 hours in changes. So when I pushed back on the 51st hour of changes, it was really difficult to justify my position. Think of it as anesthesia-a little pinch in the beginning will eliminate a lot of suffering in the future.

Who Moved My Client?
If you lost a direct mail piece project to a competitor because they were doing the email flight, you should be “go digital” and fast. Each time a competitor has an opportunity to show of their skills to a client, it weakens your position with them. Why take the chance?

I’m Sorry…What Did you Say Our Budget Was?
When budgets are being threatened we all know advertising is the first to go. Demonstrating ROI on your deliverables is a great tactic to, at least, keep your share of the budget and at best–grow it. An inexpensive way to get data is using web analytics. Find a a brilliant digital strategist who is well versed in the available solutions, build a digital measurement plan and then have a team implement plan that will attribute your efforts and to the clients bottom line. Remember, arming your client that is jockeying for budget dollars within their organization with quantifiable data will not only defend your revenue share but also build loyalty to your agency.

Yes, We do Windows
The digital space is here to stay and more and more clients are looking for help with delivery. You have the home field advantage with your existing clients because you own the creative and/or strategy. Client’s are smart enough to know that they need to partner with an agency with demonstrated expertise so at first, building your portfolio will hinge on leveraging your relationship. Without this, you not only miss out on the revenue opportunity but also on landing a new client or expand your footprint in an account.

Never Count your Money When You’re Sitting at the Table
Let me be clear – profitable interactive work is NOT easy to accomplish. If done incorrectly, it could be very, very costly from not only a profitability perspective, but more importantly, it could kill a client relationship. But, if done right, it can be very profitable. The key to profitability is project management. Build processes, systems, routines and documentation crafted around your organizational strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to budget time for quality assurance and never forget that each change, regardless of how seemingly insignificant, impacts hours (re-read “Anesthetize your Clients”).

Never Color within the Lines
I don’t know about you, but I got in to this industry to exercise my creativity not to be the poster child for mediocrity. When you go digital, two things will happen: your least creative clients will start pushing out of their comfort zones and secondly, you’ll attract clients that value innovation and creativity. “What about this Twitter thing?”, clients will start to ask. Then all of the sudden your working on a new campaign integrating social media with their CRM platform that triggers 1:1 email campaigns to email address captured from the $2million dollar TV buy who’s CTA was to visit the $100,000 microsite you created. Did you see just what happened?! Yeah…you wanna “Go Digital”

Part 2: Who Owns Interactive ? >>