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April 23, 2021
Every now and then PunchDrunk Digital receives an email from a college student working their way through an advertising or marketing degree. These emails usually contain a list of questions their professor has assigned them with the intention of reaching out to advertising agencies for answers. We always enjoy getting these questions. They typically get us thinking internally about the whats, whens, and most importantly whys of being in the digital agency game.
We thought it would be interesting to share these so below is the back and forth communication between our most recent student and our Managing Partner, Steve Blanshan.
Hello, my name is Lisa Johnston (names have been changed to protect the innocent). I am an aspiring graphic designer currently going to school at Jacksonville State University (in Alabama).
One of my graphic design classes requires us to ask different design studios a list of questions that I believe could help me to be more knowledgeable of work in the field of Graphic Design (for our final exam grade on May 3rd).
I especially wanted to know how life is like for people either joining a studio or starting their own studio. Do you have the time to answer these questions? I know that you are probably very busy.
Thank you!
Hi Lisa,
Thank you so much for reaching out and we would love to help. At PunchDrunk our core specialty is digital marketing strategy and fulfillment and though we do some design work in-house the majority of our clients are brands or advertising agencies that already have the imagery/graphics created and don’t need us for those services, so I’m not sure we would be very helpful. With that said, if you get in a jam and others won’t respond, please let me know and we will do our best to help you.
Thanks and good luck,
Steve
Thank you for getting back to me! I’m sorry that mistook your company for being on the graphic side of work. Even so, it would be helpful to know about your type of business to get a more rounded perspective.
My questions for you are listed below! I feel like some of them should still be applicable to you!
What is the hardest part about dealing with clients for you?
What is your thought process to determine what digital solutions will achieve the most success for your clients?
How do you decide which clients to work with?
Could you describe the process you usually go through when working with a client?
What do you do to balance your work life with your family life?
What caused you to want to work in this field?
What online or physical communities do you connect to in order to gain ideas and learn from others?
What is the least favorite part of your job?
What is the hardest part about dealing with clients for you?
The most difficult part of working with clients is that they are very busy. These are business owners and other advertising agencies that have a tremendous amount of things coming at them and we have to be able to adapt to their ever-changing schedules and needs. Getting their attention to sit and work through marketing plans, strategy, creative and content approval, as difficult as catching a fly with chopsticks.
What is your thought process to determine what digital solutions will achieve the most success for your clients?
It begins with a clear understanding of the campaign goal and the desired result of the advertising campaign. From there we dive into research, from consumer trends and behaviors centered around the client’s service/product, to previous campaign success and failures, what traditional media are we utilizing and how can we support that digitally, and more. Once we know the goal and we have the research we are ready to dig into strategy and tactics that will pave the way for success.
How do you decide which clients to work with?
I think this is one of the things a lot of startup agencies struggle with. They want to take any client that calls or knocks on the door. The hunger to keep your doors open can easily get you to try some food that upsets your stomach. We are extremely purposeful in who we work with and who we help find a better partner. For us it begins with understanding who we are and not letting a new project or customer change us. I think a good analogy is dating, if you go on dates and find yourself changing who you are to better match the person on the date, down the road you are going to have conflict because you weren’t being real. I think it’s wise to start any company with some discovering who you are right now, who you want to be in the future, and being honest to that from day one. It’s always important to remember that there are more fish in the sea, so if the client is a bad fit or being rude to you or your team, parting ways isn’t bad. It’s helping them find their right partner and you moving forward to finding yours.
Could you describe the process you usually go through when working with a client?
It varies so dramatically with every client/project that I’m not sure there is a good answer to this.
What do you do to balance your work life with your family life?
For me, my wife is the co-founder of PunchDrunk so my family is always sitting right beside me so family life is always within hands reach. But that isn’t true of the majority of our team so we work diligently as an organization to keep balance at the forefront of everyone. I think it’s vital to remember that all good organizations are organisms and that means there is always going to be change occurring. We are going to be evolving, reshaping, and as those changes occur what was great for balance today may not be for tomorrow. So I think the best way to answer the question on work-life balance is to give yourself time to evaluate your balance on a regular basis and to have open discussions with your work family and your home family to ensure that you aren’t tipping the scales one way of the other at any given moment.
What caused you to want to work in this field?
I have no clue 😊. It feels like it picked me and before I knew it I had spent a tremendous amount of time in marketing. I think it’s probably easier to answer “why do I still work in this field”. That answer is much easier for me. I love what I do, it’s fun, it’s challenging. Each day is slightly different than the one before. I feel rewarded in knowing I made an impact in someone’s life through marketing efforts. One thing I love to share, that I think we forget sometimes, is how vital marketing success can be to a business owner, especially SMB owners. For these people they were extremely courageous in setting out to start a company. They risked everything to open those doors and when our campaigns are successful, we didn’t just help them sell a product, we helped them send their kids to college, to buy a home, to hire more people, it’s a tremendous responsibility laying in your hands when you on a marketing project and when it works, you create an impact in people’s lives that you will never be able to fully quantify.
What online or physical communities do you connect to in order to gain ideas and learn from others?
There are a tremendous amount of resources out there in the digital marketing arena. Right now, I’m enjoying Clubhouse which makes it very easy to find people in your space that you never would have connected with, but my favorite way to gain ideas and continuee learning is by working my own network. My partners, my friends in the industry, we are all very open to jumping in with ideas for each other and always down for an evening drink to discuss the latest project or trend.
What is the least favorite part of your job?
Answering emails from college students – TOTALLY JOKING! 😊. My least favorite part of the job is big tech. The Googles and Facebooks of the world that have such large platforms and are in a constant battle to take your client’s money while giving you less control. It is becoming increasingly difficult to manage campaign success with these large entities who have gotten so big they struggle to see the sidewalk and as a result, they often step on the very people that helped them monetize their businesses to begin with.
Thank you so much for putting time aside to help me! Your answers were very helpful to me and were very inspirational. They broadened my mindset.
