15 Tips For A Great Ad – Finding The Time

Hello and welcome to Number 7 in my series of 15 tips. Today I want to talk about Finding The Time

Nearly every client you deal with is busy and while you may simply adore marketing they don’t always have the same love for it, often rushing through it or letting themselves be influenced by a 100 different voices. Hopefully this series of tips will help you help them and therefore build mutual trust in your relationship.

Finding The Time

Forget the big client with their own marketing director – I suspect often when you call or visit someone to chat about their advertising, many will have just finished interviewing someone or been emptying the dishwasher. Marketing is just another thing they have to do that week and many don’t give it the time it deserves. That can be really frustrating because their brief is not well thought out or rushed and when it doesn’t work, guess who wears the blame? You.

As a young writer, ringing for this month’s specials, I would hurry the call so as not to disturb the client too much and then often kind of fudge my way through the ad.

Funny enough it wasn’t till I started working at a radio station in Liverpool, UK that things changed dramatically. For the first time in my life clients were actually paying for their creative and that made a huge difference to their focus. But that’s another argument for another day.

Here are three tips to make that brief better.

1. Create a regular time with the client – the routine will make it easier for both of you.
2. Be flexible. If they are busy or distracted – offer to ring or call back at a time that suits them better. The brief will be better.
3. Always have your media briefing document with you – it will keep both of you focused.

Here’s an example of a radio ad where the client gave me some time – a good solid two hours and you know it was in the very last 5 minutes that an idea popped out.

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See you next time.

PHOTO CREDIT – caucus’