Today’s podcast guest Melody Roberts, Owner | Chief Creative Officer, of Out of Home Creative talks about how to give out of home clients a great creative experience.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:24 — 25.3MB)
Here are the highlights.
How did COVID impact your business?
Probably like most, I had a downturn through June. And then, in July, I started seeing an uptick in requests and reaching out to clients and billboard companies to work with them on how we could use digital billboards to target businesses, whether it was in-kind or paid. By the end of the year, things started picking up. Because my clients are all over the country, it was a very different outlook than being in one specific market, and so with that, we were all sharing that we were seeing an increase in business. And now, since the new year has started, it’s completely different. I’ve been very busy with work.
How do we give our out of home clients a better creative experience?
By talking directly to clients about creative. A recurring issue across my desk is that I’m being contacted by a business after they have hired a designer or the outdoor company offered to do the creative, and the client is not happy with the outcome. You’d be surprised to know that most of the client’s frustration is because they couldn’t talk to a designer. By this time, they’ve gone through several revisions, they’re frustrated going back and forth and running up against the posting date, and now they are contacting me to start the process all over again. So for me, it’s engaging and talking with your client.
What is the optimum role for the sales rep?
Including the salesperson on the project and the call helps the overall process. The salesperson knows where you are as far as proofs, revisions, approvals. I think it also helps sales learn how the designer asks their questions to focus on what the advertisement should portray. I’ve worked with really creative salespeople who want to be involved, and I’ve worked with some who don’t. Either way, listening in on calls can provide helpful tips when talking to another client. I’ve been in meetings where the client has appreciated that the designer, salesperson, and sales manager were all present. It speaks volumes when everyone is working as a team. It also minimizes revisions because everyone is not going back and forth because something wasn’t communicated properly. Once I get one or two emails on something, I’ll schedule a call at that point.
When clients don’t like an Ad:
A lot of times, clients can kneejerk a reaction and say, “I don’t like this.” But when you talk to them and say, “what didn’t you like,” they say, “I didn’t like that color,” or “I don’t like that font.” It isn’t that they don’t like the concept. But they don’t know how to put it in words in an email. It comes back to communication.
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