2023 was a big year for marketers. Some lost their jobs, while many lost budgets and were expected to do more with less. With less resources, growth goals (and all of the pressures that come along with growth) did not subside. Marketers needed to know that they had the right agency partners and support in place to be successful.

About half of the RFPs Tenx4 ran in 2023 were because the marketing team was not confident that their current agency partner was capable of helping them achieve their growth goals. They had either outgrown their current partner or could not rely on their current partner to get them to the next level in their evolution.

When looking for a new agency partnership, there were some noticeable consistencies:

• Right Partnerships over Profits. Agencies need to be honest and clear about what they do and do not do. They don’t need to be everything to everyone. They should be cautious about going after business that is not a fit for their core services. Clients do not have the bandwidth to do proper research about each agency – the responsibility falls on the agency. Our hope for 2024 is that agencies will say no more often and let potential new business pass them by when it is not a fit for their agency.
• Chemistry is King. “Who” the agency team is matters more than ever. Clients don’t want pitch teams and to only hear from executives, they want to get to know the potential agency team. Our hope for 2024 is that agency executives will trust their teams more and empower them to share their thinking and ideas.
• Strategic Partnerships, not Order-Takers. Clients want to be able to have strategic conversations with their agency team. They want the agency to make them better, stronger and smarter, and to help them grow and evolve. They do not want an order-taker. Our hope for 2024 is that agencies will staff teams with more senior talent, further educate their teams and enable their teams to grow.
• Asking the Right Questions Matter. Remember that the potential clients are experts about their brand, industry and target audiences. They are a great resource to bounce ideas off of and ask insightful questions. Questions are a perfect way to create engagement and learn from each other. Our hope for 2024 is that agencies will be challenged to go deeper than superficial questions and are more comfortable with "off script" pitch meeting conversations.
• SOW Transparency Creates Healthy Relationships. Ambiguous contracts lead to clients asking the worst possible question, “What am I paying my agency for?”. It also leads to agencies telling their clients, “This is not in-scope and will require another SOW” for services the client most definitely thought were in scope. Both are moments that crush relationships. Our hope for 2024 is that clients and agencies will spend more time sorting through the tedious (and necessary) contract details and process to create full SOW transparency.

Demands on marketers are not slowing down for 2024! They need to know that they have the right partnerships in place to be successful. Agencies should focus on being the partner to their clients that they would want for themselves.

Let’s get back to basics and stick to honesty and transparency. Client and agency partnerships should align across these core fundamentals: Services, Operations and Budgets. From this established core fundamental alignment, both the agency and client can then assess if this is the right partnership in other important ways (chemistry, team, ways of working, etc.).

Our hope for a new approach to new business in 2024 is that more agency and client relationships are forged with the primary focus being partnership fit and hygiene. Stay true to yourselves, clear about your intentions and lead with integrity. From this place, strong and long-lasting partnerships can be built.