I attended the Council for Public Relations’ Critical Issues Forum today. The clients and PR firms in the room were mostly in the business of selling consumer products. In fact, the keynote speaker was Mark Pritchard, the head of marketing for Procter and Gamble, who oversees, ahem, a $2 billion (yes, billion) annual marketing budget. The predominant topic was how best to integrate the two-way dialogue created by social media into traditional advertising and public relations efforts. The words “transparency”, “truthfulness”, “authenticity”, “candor” and “courage” were what the experts were saying was required in the new normal. Ignore Trip Advisor at your own risk. Have the courage to do what Domino’s Pizza has done and say our product sucks, but we are going to fix it.
I love how deeply these marketing and PR experts get that the success of a brand and product now depends on building relationships and creating an emotional, lasting connection. The days of one-way communication are gone forever.
So ironic when I compare it to the world of creative business. Up until recently, creative business was all about developing and nurturing a bond with clients, colleagues and vendors. The vision was to create great work to fuel the “word of mouth” that would lead to the next assignment and the one after that. However, in today’s world order, with massive competition and a shrinking pie, most creative business owners feel pressured to focus less on the connection and more on the sale. There are “packages” everywhere, low-priced offerings, extreme discounts and many other less than scrupulous goings on. The feeling is that you have to do everything you can to nail the sale lest the competition swoop in.
At the Denver Creative Business Symposium I hosted on Monday, one attendee commented that he just wished he could have a Paypal/Pay Now button on his site so that if a client saw what they liked they could just sign up right then and there. The other attendees generally agreed, with “wouldn’t that be nice” nodding and wistful stares. The argument goes: if someone wants to give us money, shouldn’t we be making it easier, not harder, for them to give it to us?
To which I would say, you are not in the product business, you are in the trust business. If you rush to close the sale before you have cemented your client’s trust in you, your art and your creative business, you are risking everything. You might get lucky and everything will go swimmingly. Or it won’t. Relationships take time to nurture and demand honesty, integrity and faith in your own value. Your goal has to be to stretch, not shrink the time for romance. The rush to expediency is more a crisis of confidence than anything else. There are no shortcuts. A great site, blog and social media presence is only a conversation starter. The rest is up to you.
{ 4 comments }
Sean, I am just “amen-ing” out loud at my desk. I am enjoying the fruit of old-school creative business thinking: build trust, build relationships, offer a fantastic product as well as an unbeatable experience. I do business with good old fashioned Southern charm, face to face, voice to voice – with no packages or “buy now” buttons. And I’m thankful to say that my small business has grown and grown and has beautifully graced right through the recession without a hitch. I believe it all comes down to what you’re saying. My goodness, you hit the nail on the head as usual! Thanks, again!
I agree with your thinking Sean. In the photography world right now there are just so many photogs that it is ompetitive enough as it is finding work. Let alone trying to compete with people whose sole goal is to make money with their camera. It may take longer to build relationships and trust but the payoff, I believe, is larger in many respects. For the person who values the relationships, the creativity and the pushing of their own limits the doing of what we love remains something we love to do. Those whose only goal is to stuff a quick buck in their pocket will, sooner or later, drop to the wayside in my opinion.
Sean. I think I may have told you this already, but an wise (and very rich) old boss of mine used to say, “We are in the relationship business and what we create with our clients is a byproduct of trust.” Trust is critical in the creative business, especially when you are asking clients to take bold leaps. But it is also true in the public leadership and speaking arenas, and something I teach when I conduct my Leadership Through Storytelling classes. People aren’t going to follow you unless they first trust you, whether those people are clients, partners or employees. In truth, this is the topic of my next blog post, so watch for it (billbakerandco.com/blog). In the meantime, thanks for sharing your perspective. As always, it resonates.
Being a photographer in London, UK, it is extremely difficult surviving with so many photographers. With so many choices, what is a bride looking for in a photographer and what weighting do they put on their criteria? Trust and professionalism, I think, seems to come from their experience with the onsite portfolios AND then a cementing of their trust from the initial meeting/conversation. By the time they have made a decision and contacted the photographer, they are checking if the “price is right” and that the photographer is reasonable and pleasant enough to get on with. I have rarely met a bride who is more concerned about the personality type and trust they have in their photographer, than they are on the price and products. I know why that is, for me, but I do hope to move on from where I have started and start attracting the brides that care more about the relationship/professionalism, than the price.