This series of articles looks at the world of the account manager.
This time we talk to Tara Calder, Business Manager, DDB Group – Smith St.
How did you end up in account management? Was it by design or a cosmic accident?
I blame it on my mum! In some ways I feel advertising runs in my blood and as much as I tried to avoid it, I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. With my mum being a suit, I spent quite a few school holidays running around in adland, plus the constant commentary at home on ads, questioning ‘do you think that’s good, what is it saying’.
After graduating from an Arts and International Relations degree I always knew I’d end up somewhere in the industry, but I thought my calling was in Crisis Management PR. Next moment I landed an internship in an ad agency where I got to rotate across all disciplines and I found a natural place in account management. Before I knew it I was moving to Melbourne for an entry-level role.
Balancing clients’ objectives and creative vision can be challenging. How do you deal with that?
Any challenge is best met with a plan. You have a team to call upon. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, you’re not alone plus you’re not going to know everything! Accept support, ask questions from those around you to help you through challenges - then you’ll be ready to meet them head on.
You got this! Face the challenge head on and be prepared to take risks at times.
What strategies do you employ to clearly convey creative ideas to clients and address client feedback?
Present! Present! Present! Ideas aren’t meant to be read in a 20-page deck.
It’s so hard conveying a creative idea through an email.
Get face to face with your client when presenting, once again, you’re not alone, you have an experienced and talented team supporting you and the client’s business.
Then when it comes to feedback… chat through it! I can’t express the importance of picking up the phone and getting on a call to chat through the feedback with your client. This will help you to understand the appropriate next steps and provide clarity to your team.
How to build strong relationships with clients?
Know your sh** and you will earn trust, both internally and externally with clients.
You’re in agency land because you love it, you love the process, the clients’ challenges, the insights, the development of ideas - bring this home when you’re working on your client’s business and they’ll love you for it.
Once you’ve proven yourself you can really start to build that relationship – these are a couple of things I employ:
- Learn your clients’ ways of working – some prefer to be updated regularly, others just want a weekly update and to know things are on track. Mold to them when needed and in turn you’ll develop a strong working rhythm.
- Build a genuine relationship as you would with friends. Give them a call when it's quiet and there’s time to catch up. You’ll learn so much about their day-to-day and goals in the quieter periods.
Do you have any go-to tips for navigating challenging conversations with clients? And effectively selling an idea.
Don’t be afraid of difficult conversations. A big part of account management is solving issues every day.
Call it exposure therapy, but the more you experience it, the more easily you will navigate the challenges. Be a good listener when it comes to client problems and work through them logically to solve issues for the client and agency.
Selling an idea doesn’t just start with the creative presentation, it starts from when you receive the brief, the insights, the strategy that supports the creative brief and so on.
I always manage client expectations in advance by telling them you’re pushing the boat, or that it’s an evolution of existing. And don’t forget the power of options, clients like numerous ways to approach a brief and then you can work collaboratively to bring the idea to life.
Are there any emerging trends or challenges in the industry that account management teams should be prepared for?
The media landscape is becoming more diverse. As custodians of clients’ brands, that’s the challenge. Living in this digital age, the longer format brand ads are few and far between. Hyper-targeted advertising is now the norm and will only continue to grow with small format ads taking priority, but big brands need a powerful voice within all media. As the custodians of a client’s brand the challenge is understanding how you can build and position brands using smaller budgets and smaller content pieces.
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