A Revelation

Earlier this week, I sat in on a set of focus groups for one of the agency’s clients, and I left with an insight into my own work.

When you spend day in and day out working for your clients, whether your goal is to get someone quoted in a top-tier media pub (or keep them out of it!), plan an event, manage their social media campaign, whatever – there’s one thing that’s easy to forget. Not everyone knows who the heck your client is.

As I was monitoring this particular focus group, the moderate asked, “Now who here has heard of [insert client’s name]?” I waited as one or two hands – out of 10 – were hesitantly raised in the air.

WHAT? You’ve never heard of [insert client’s name]??

So here’s my moment of truth. I’m so immersed in my clients’ worlds that it’s easy for me to forget there are people out there who don’t have a clue who they are or what they do.

So next time you think you don’t need to pitch the big picture – what your client’s products are, what their mission is, what type of services they provide – just remember that someone out there is hearing it for the first time.

Weird.