Taking on someone your own size

There’s something to be said for working for small clients. Sure, they don’t have the big bucks, but they do have something than money can’t buy – a passion for their product or service.

Remember, their business is their baby. They know it inside out and want to evangelise an indifferent target market. So they can - and do - get as excited by a great idea as we do.

Small businesses and small marketing consultancies mirror each other’s virtues. We both have short decision making chains, so when a client needs something produced in a hurry, we can produce the work quickly and they can give you the green light in next to no time.

Keeping the relationship on an even keel is easier too: the issue about what gets said about you when you’re not in the room isn’t an issue when your point of contact is the company. And for clients, meeting the people who do the work means that they really do feel that they’re involved in shaping the work that comes out,

Parity in size makes the relationship more of a partnership. Who would you give your money to if you were a client: the agency that left you in no doubt as to where you stood in the food chain, or the one that stood to gain as much from your successes as you?

Of course, small organisations count every penny. So they prefer it when they can see their budget up on the poster, in the mail pack or on the website and not in their car park every time the agency comes for a meeting.

Does this mean the big agency is doomed? Of course not. It’s just that for certain sizes and types of business, when it comes to appointing an agency, thinking smaller could be the way to go.