5 Things Every Marketing Professional Should Know

by Jordan-Ann Powell | Mar 21, 2017

Service.

It might be one of the most important words for us here at Syrup, and as an account lead, it’s a big part of my job every day. Service is the action of helping or doing work for someone. We believe small companies are underserved, which is why we strive to serve them through our work.

I recently read the book The Art of Client Service by Robert Solomon. Solomon digs into 58 things every advertising and marketing professional should know, with a focus on how you serve clients. He focuses on the account management role, but no matter what seat you are in within your company (design, content, account lead, etc.), you have the ability to serve a client. We are one team with individual experts across many areas. Each of us uses our knowledge to contribute to a project, serving the client through our work. I’ve taken Solomon’s 58 things and narrowed them down to the 5 most important.

5 things you should know as a marketing professional as you strive to better serve your clients:

1. Define Success. You need to set expectations. We all know that if expectations aren’t set from the beginning, then clients will create their own. (And they aren’t always on track or realistic.) Unrealistic expectations can lead to a client thinking a campaign failed, when you may know that it was a success for them. Defining this up front gets everyone on the same page.
2. The So what? Test. Whether you are brainstorming, creating or reviewing work, always ask yourself the question, “So what?”. Why are you doing this work? We have a litmus test before completing work in which we ask ourselves:

• Is this my best work?
• Am I proud of it?
• Is it valuable for the client?
• Is it valuable for the end user?

Before presenting anything to a client you should be able to answer yes to those questions and know the meaning of the work. You aren’t serving them well if it doesn’t pass the ‘so what?’ test.

3. Good work is the enemy of great work. It’s easy to get caught up in the tasks, day-to-day work, and just checking off the boxes. Sure your work may be good, but is it great? Clients deserve great work. You can serve them through good work, but you can serve them better by taking the time to make it great.
4. Respect what it takes to do great work. It takes a lot of time and effort to produce great work in every seat. When providing feedback, do so with respect. When presenting to a client, do so with respect and make sure it’s evident through your presentation that you also respect every single person that worked on the campaign you’re presenting.
5. Support what you say. When you work in marketing, it’s easy to just feel like something will work. It’s important when serving your clients that you support what you’re saying. What makes you so sure that this is the right answer? What facts do you know to be true or what have you seen with past work that ensures this is the right way to go?

No matter what seat or position you’re in, these are all important. We ALL matter when it comes to giving great service to our clients. Even if you don’t interact with clients, you are serving them. Define success. Respect each other. Do great work.