Megan Pritchard: Chief Operating Director
I recall a conversation with a client on this topic, her words were “if it doesn’t add any value to the business, it’s not added value. Read that again.
Here’s the thing about what this often-misunderstood word ‘value’ means; adding value is a crucial aspect key to any successful business partnership. It is the increase in value that a business creates by undertaking the production process to a client. A business leader has to ask themselves “what can I do for my client today that will make them happy and improve the relationship, with what we have?”
This model of thinking has worked for us over the years at Ogilvy and here is how we make brands matter by adding value to our client portfolio.
The Faster the better. We strongly believe in good turnaround time – essentially this was the driving force behind Ogilvy being the first agency in Namibia to change its entire business model to a decentralized freelance system for all creative work. We increase value by increasing the speed at which we deliver work to clients (we ensure this is the kind of value clients are willing to pay for).
Experience and a vast network. Ogilvy has over 25 years of experience in the Namibian market. Along with this comes great relationships fostered with suppliers over time. At the end of the day, the client benefits greatly by earning “planned discounts”.
Make it count. Come big or small, good or not so good, we are really invested in all the happenings of our clients. We celebrate birthdays & year-end coffee dates, just got engaged? We are there. We have started the process of embarking on celebrating special days in the year. Why do we do this? Face it, we all love the attention.
Transparency is key to trust. Trusted partnerships take time to develop, but the more transparent you are with your processes, the quicker you will be able to build a client’s trust. Our goal is to make it as simple as possible for our clients, enabling us to meet expectations.
Stay in touch. Communication communication communication. A client service employee can either make or break the future of any agency – make sure you hire the right ones. Communication is the key driver in any successful partnership. Too often promises are made to clients, and whilst these are made in good faith, failure to deliver on these can cause problems. Under-promising and over-delivering help you to avoid imposing unrealistic deadlines on you and your team, whilst helping to create a positive impression in your clients’ minds and ultimately strengthening your relationship.
Offer strategic partnerships. Because we have such a vast diverse client portfolio, we always strive to enforce strategic partnerships between the different brands. Not only do we reach out to our clients with ideas on how to improve on their business objectives, but we are also surrounded by knowledge in a variety of brands and this information is always beneficial in some or other ways.
Digital or not so digital yet? We make it our business to harness technology to improve effectiveness and drive transformation with all clients. Not so digital yet? You better do something about that. This is the future.
Thank you to all our valuable clients, reliable suppliers and the amazing Team Red for this year, it’s been fun!
We are because of you!
Until 2020.