“We want something that goes viral.”
Most marketing agencies will have heard some version of this request, usually after a competitor’s video has done the rounds on LinkedIn or a team member has come back from a conference convinced the business is falling behind.
We understand the impulse. Nobody enjoys watching a rival get the attention they feel they’ve earned. However the first thing we’ll do is ask what the business hopes will happen once all those people have seen the post.
We’d much rather spend twenty minutes on that question than three months producing content that racks up views but does nothing for the bottom line and, in our experience, most clients feel the same once the conversation gets going. It’s also where you start to see the difference between an agency that simply takes orders and one that works as a strategic partner.
Following the herd rarely works well
Imagine a precision engineering business that wants a series of short, trend-led videos for TikTok because a rival’s clip picked up thousands of views:
If the aim is winning contracts with aerospace procurement teams, those videos are unlikely to help much, especially when the people signing off on contracts are reading trade press, attending the major international air shows, and developing joint venture innovation programmes long before they pick up the phone for procurement purposes.
Or, if the real worry is that the firm can’t attract apprentices, the output needs to change again. A series of videos showing what a working day on the shop floor looks like or jumping on the latest trending content for 15-16 year olds could be a more effective option than simply mimicking a rivals social media output.
Before we talk about channels or formats, we want to understand who you need to reach and what you’d like them to do once they’ve seen your content. We also discuss how we’ll both know in a year’s time whether the work has paid off.
Saying no is part of the job
An agency that agrees to everything is great to work with right up until the first proper review of results, when it becomes clear that activity hasn’t shifted anything the business cares about.
Marketing is a discipline where you can always do more: more social media, more podcasts, more blogs, more exhibitions, more earned media. The value lies in identifying which tactics are most likely to change behaviour in the way you want, and focusing budgets there.
We’d much rather have the slightly awkward conversation at the beginning and, if we think something you’re keen on won’t help, we’ll challenge it. Politely! Quite often that means focusing resources on fewer channels done well rather than chasing after a thin presence everywhere, or holding a news announcement back until there’s enough content to make the story truly compelling.
If we push back when needed, it’s because we want the work to succeed. To that, we have to truly understand the wider business aims, how this campaign sits within the wider in-house landscape, as well as how it will play in your wider marketplace. That challenge goes two ways, of course, but simply nodding along to protect fee income rarely delivers real value.
AI has made this conversation more important
The recent arrival of GenAI has added a new perspective, with many businesses now asking whether a tool could write their content for them or whether they ought to be posting every day now that it ‘costs’ so little to produce content.
We use AI where it creates efficiencies but, as any regular LinkedIn user will testify, it has also filled news feeds with posts that read as though they came off the same production line. When anybody can publish something in half a minute, posting more often stops giving you any kind of edge. Instead, the content that is noticed is that which shares a clear opinion or observation, based on real-world experience – and that comes from real, human input and positioning.
The way customers find suppliers is also shifting, with more people asking AI assistants for recommendations rather than starting with google search. Those assistants lean heavily on sources they treat as credible, such as coverage in well-regarded trade titles and a consistent, expert presence from a company’s senior people on LinkedIn. That’s earned reputation, which is what PR has always been about, and we’d argue it carries more weight now than it did five years ago.
It’s also worth remembering that AI tools will very rarely tell you your idea is a poor one. Ask it for a viral video strategy and it will write you one without hesitation; what it won’t do is ask whether a viral video is actually what you need or how you can actually deliver that key ‘viral’ element.
Choosing a strategic partner
It may sound counter-intuitive at the pitch stage but the agencies worth hiring care more about your results than about delivering precisely what was on the brief. In practice this means asking a lot of questions before anything is developed and being able to explain how every piece of activity links back to a business goal. Once in post, it also means not being afraid to acknowledge when something isn’t working and changing course before the client has to ask.
What a business wants and what it needs won’t always be the same thing. And when they aren’t, you deserve an agency that’s prepared to tell you so.
If there’s an idea you’d like a second opinion on, let’s talk
