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The Client is Not Always Right

Share the goods.

The Client is Not Always Right Kim, Alayna, and Maddie converse at a table

As marketers, our goal is to help companies grow their business. That means using our expertise and kickass tactics to get you where you need to be. Sometimes, though, that means saying no. Remember, we’re brought on for a reason, and we won’t let ideas that hinder your business’s growth fly–just because you want them.

Kind, Not Nice

This is a phrase we live by at 8THIRTYFOUR. Being kind means letting someone know they have food in their teeth, rather than letting them walk around with spinach–mouth all day. It might be uncomfortable to bring up, but it’s the kind thing to do. Being nice is skirting around it and letting them wonder why people keep giving them funny looks.

Sometimes, you will bring ideas we know will not benefit your business. Kind is letting you know, offering an explanation, and a solution. We can get so caught up with being nice and trying everything we are asked for that we forget why we were hired in the first place: for expertise, advice, and to improve. If we know something won’t help, it’s our job to say so, even if it means saying no.

Recognizing Our Relationship

You’re the expert in your industry, and we’re experts in ours. As much as we’d like to be, we can’t be total experts in every industry that we market for. You hired us because you can’t do everything and become a marketing wizard on top of it all. Let us do what you pay us to do. We always establish collaborative relationships with our clients so that we can leverage our amazing marketing skills using their expertise. See how that works? Not so hard.

Fresh Perspective

When you’re too close to a situation, you tend to lose sight of the big picture. It’s our job to bring a new perspective in and never take our eyes off it. That unique perspective allows us to sift out opportunities, uncover blind spots, and think beyond what you thought was possible in your industry. When we challenge you, it’s because we genuinely know our idea will work(or that yours won’t).

We Know Our Shit

The marketing landscape constantly evolves and changes quickly. You may not be aware of the latest trends or strategies that could benefit your business. We make it a big part of our job to proactively introduce innovative ideas and challenge outdated practices to stay ahead of the competition.

In an agency environment, it’s essential to question the notion that the client is always right. By fostering a collaborative partnership rather than a customer dynamic and challenging clients, we deliver kickass marketing outcomes that are better than the rest. It’s our responsibility to guide you, not the other way around.

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Every WOSB deserves support, access, guidance, and a network, because when they have it, they’re unstoppable.

Just because you be small, does not mean you are not mighty. The Women’s Owners Network will accept its first cohort this November. Applications are due October 1.

Thank you to @lakemichigan_cu for partnering with us to provide this program. Their support means we can offer this at a significantly lower cost to business owners.

Go apply at the link in bio.
Introducing our second speaker for Uncomfortable Conversations | The Pause, happening this Thursday. 

Meet Cheryl Bergman, Executive Director of the @miwomenscomm.

Cheryl is a statewide policy leader driving economic opportunity and better health outcomes for women across Michigan. Appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2019, she brings together employers, healthcare experts, advocates, and policymakers to tackle the issues that actually move the needle - economic security, affordable childcare, and midlife women's health.

Before this role, Cheryl helped elect Michigan's first woman U.S. Senator and first woman Governor, and served as Senior Advisor on Governor Whitmer's 2018 campaign.

She's exactly the voice this conversation needs.

Join Cheryl and our powerhouse lineup of industry experts at The Pause on September 24th. 

Link in bio to register - spaces are going fast.
We love this trend, so we thought we’d jump on it and ask the team some “hard-hitting questions” to end the week. 

We’re a team made up of Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. Find out who knows the most about the classics. Any guesses?
We've received so many questions from new grads about breaking into a competitive market as a young professional. It starts with one thing according to @bodespeaks: being the salesperson of YOU. Emulate the leaders in your industry and show up where they show up.

It's not who you know, it's who knows you
Use the playbook of people you admire
Show up consistently and be seen
A handwritten note beats 100 LinkedIn messages, always.

See more Bode wisdom at her YouTube channel linked in our bio.
Meet our first speaker spotlight: Dr. Karen May, DC, CCSP, CCIP.

Dr. May owns and operates @mhneuropathycenter, and she's joining us for Uncomfortable Community Conversations: The Pause on September 24th to talk about something we don't talk about enough. 

Her career has spanned from elite sports medicine, including a stint as team physician for USA Bobsled and Skeleton as well as caring for pregnant moms and newborns and helping women navigate life’s transitions, always grounded in a belief in food as medicine and the body’s own capacity to heal. In 2017, that expertise was tested when a rare surgical complication left her fighting nerve damage in her own body. 

Drawing on decades of clinical practice and training, she rebuilt her health from the ground up — and has since helped thousands of people do the same. With over 20 years in holistic health care, she speaks today as both physician and peer.

Join us for The Pause on September 24th. Link in bio.
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