Jimmy Gilmore

Some peo­ple who get divorced from or break up with a lover often talk about how they for­got why they ever got involved with their spe­cial some­one in the first place. Or they just won­der what hap­pened to the love. As if it was a mag­i­cal thing that came and went with the wind.

These kinds of emo­tions are often felt in the client agency rela­tion­ships too. The old story goes – peo­ple change, grow and become dis­con­nected.  They  begin to take each other for granted. Sooner or later they just don’t under­stand each other any more.

What’s a mar­keter to do? You’re land­scape is chang­ing on you daily. Money is tighter. Stress has never been higher. Doesn’t my “part­ner” under­stand what I’m going through? Maybe. Maybe not. Have you explained it to them lately?

Mar­keter, believe me. This one is a two way street and I’m not blam­ing you. And frankly, you’re the one with hand in the rela­tion­ship. Agen­cies need to do more to nur­ture the love and keep the spark alive. If that means more face time, a trip to a con­fer­ence, a happy hour on you or a trip to a ball game do it, weekly.

Main­tain­ing chem­istry long term isn’t some­thing that’s easy even when true love is involved. Sooner or later you’re going to have a spat about bill­able hours. And if you don’t have a rock solid foun­da­tion and open lines of com­mu­ni­ca­tion it could get ugly.

That’s why you’ve got to take a few moments to remem­ber why you guys got together in the first place. To recall what it was like when you went stag to party. And never for­get what it was like in that old rela­tion­ship where you had irrec­on­cil­able differences.

Maybe talk this through with your part­ner every now and then. Remind them how happy you were when she helped you with that amaz­ing pre­sen­ta­tion and about the day you got to tell your boss about the awards and the amaz­ing ROI num­bers. Good luck and please don’t forget.