Len Dugow wonders about your closet’s future contents.
OK, not really. But the president and creative director of LGD Communications wonders how consumers will spend after the recession. Maybe 20 pairs of jeans won’t be in their budgets — but he wants to make sure his advertising, marketing and branding services will be.
“We’re talking to them about today’s needs as well as planning six months and a year out,” says Dugow, who has about 22 employees. “It’s a constant conversation going out to your clients and making sure that you’re part of the discussion.”
To stay relevant, he focuses on the value that he brings to relationships.
“If you’re only going to scream price, then a prospective buyer is only going to respond to the lowest price,” says Dugow, whose company billed $11.5 million in 2008. “I talk about parallel messaging to make sure that while we’re talking about the deal, we’re also interweaving the appeal or what makes the brand special.”
Smart Business spoke to Dugow about building relationships to stay in clients’ long-term plans.
Approach clients with value. You have to walk into the room with a [curriculum vitae] that says, ‘I have been in the wars, I have survived them, and I have helped a good number of companies survive and, in many cases, thrive.’
But because these [economic] times are unprecedented, things that may have worked in the early ’90s won’t necessarily work today. So you have to take some of the lessons of the past and you have to represent in a fresh and exciting way. It can’t feel old and tired, especially in such a competitive marketplace. It’s just a question of making sure you isolate and spotlight certain brand benefits that otherwise may have either been forgotten or you assume everybody knows.