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Drew and Susan discuss their findings from the eighth annual Agency Edge Research Series, using input from approximately 1,200 clients in the U.S. spanning multiple industries. This study explores how clients feel about their organization’s ability to endure the recession, the actions they’ve already taken, and how likely they are to make changes that could either positively or negatively affect their agencies.

Guests:

Susan Baier is the CEO of Audience Audit and has been a marketing strategist and researcher for more than 30 years. She crafts custom attitudinal segmentation research for agencies and marketers for B2C, B2B, and higher-ed organizations including Gap, AT&T, Jayco, Tufts University, and more.

Drew McLellan is the CEO of Agency Management Institute and has been in the advertising industry for more than 30 years. He advises hundreds of small- to mid-sized agencies on how to grow and become more profitable.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. The three segments of agency clients: the committed (25%), the concerned (42%), and the close (33%)
2. How to determine which segment a client falls in to best serve them as an agency
3. The challenges and opportunities created by clients with a strong preference for in-person agency relationships
4. Why brands are choosing to work with more than one agency
5. How the Great Resignation affected agencies and brands

Quotables

• “We've seen a consistent trend where folks are working with more than one agency. Drew talks about this a lot where it's really not sort of a one-agency world anymore, and agencies need to work with each other on behalf of a client that they're collaborating with.” — @SusanBaier
• “When an agency says, "We're a full-service integrated agency," clients scratch their heads and say, "How could you possibly be good at everything?" And so, I think the agencies that have specialized, like you have, Jason, give themselves and their clients both an advantage and a relief that you're not trying to be everything to everybody.” — @DrewMcLellan
• “It's very difficult to see clearly the label on the outside of a bottle when you're inside the bottle. And so, part of what an agency always brings to their clients is an informed outside perspective.” — @DrewMcLellan

Guests’ contact info and resources:

• Susan's Twitter 
• Susan's LinkedIn
• Drew's Twitter
• Drew's LinkedIn
• Audience Audit
• Agency Management Institute

Additional Resources:

•  Agency Edge Research Series 

Episode recorded: Dec. 1, 2021

Sponsored by:

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.