EP 243: How agencies and brands are approaching budgets and new projects for 2020 and beyond with Lee McKnight

There are two questions plaguing agencies in the spring of 2020. The first is how are brands going to respond to covid when it comes to budgets, tackling new projects and their relationships with agencies. The second is how can the agency sensitively and successfully mine for new business while the world is trying to get back on its axis. Fortunately, RSW/US recently released a new study that answers both of these questions and is filled with more good news than you might expect.

The first piece of RSW/US’ research was conducted in March 2020 just as the pandemic was hitting the US. They went back into the field in mid-May to track how things had changed over the previous 45 days and as the US was beginning to re-open for business.

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, RSW/US’ Lee McKnight walks us through some of the key findings. He also shares how some of the responses have shifted over the two months in between the studies. There’s plenty of encouraging news in the data and there are also some danger signs. Listen so you can learn what the agencies and brands are thinking, feeling, and saying as the curve flattens out and business begins to pick up again.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

• The findings from RSW/US’ research in both March and May of 2020
• Why small to mid-sized agencies have a better shot at being “too small to fail”
• Why most brands believe that their spending will be unchanged or increased as business gets going again
• The surprisingly good news from RSW/US agency research project
• What surprised Lee the most on the agency side of the data
• How agencies can change their messaging to position themselves as leaders in the crisis
• What we should be thinking about as we take a new approach to case studies
• What agencies are doing right now to get conversations/meetings with prospects