Matthijs Kloezeman and Marieke van den Hoek are responsible for the clients of media agency STROOM. They have the vision that if you want to grow as a brand, the relationship with your media agency is essential.
This experienced twosome with extensive content knowledge has formulated a central motto for the activities within the media agency: the client is always central through short lines of communication that result in long relationships. The client teams of STROOM and De Media Maatschap merged naturally after the merger in 2022, Van den Hoek explains. ''We make sure clients get the service they were used to, but you want to add to that.'' Kloezeman says the way customers are treated was very similar. ''It's a matter of continuing the line and tightening it up.''
That way of servicing customers is clear; being very short on time, and doing more than what customers ask. ''We are the media specialist, of course, but we also have to think beyond that,'' Kloezeman says. ''When you have a relationship where you can think beyond the media goals of a campaign, you end up really helping brands grow.''
Why is it important that this connection with customers is intensive?
Van den Hoek: ,,There are of course many media agencies, but in our opinion you can make the difference with personal attention, combined with the focus on growing together. Kloezeman: ,,We do not want to compete at all with the large network agencies that mainly work for international clients. Our main assets are our time for the client and our knowledge and understanding of the market. It always starts with the ambitions and goals of clients and then we look at how we can, with surprising choices, take the strategy to a higher level.''
And you are the point of contact within STROOM?
Van den Hoek: ,,The communications consultants can always be reached and they build the team needed to answer that question based on the client question. Teams consist, depending on the client issue, of media specialists, SEO/SEA experts, but also brand and marcom thinkers. By the way, it is not the case that we only have a coordinating function, we think along with the content and are ultimately responsible for the customer relationship.''
Kloezeman: ,,The current and future services of STROOM really include added value in the media field. If you as a customer call an operator, he always advises his own network, but we give independent and substantive advice. Consumers' media use has become so fragmented that this advisory function is enormously important.''
What do customers need?
Van den Hoek: ,,That unburdening is important. For example, you notice that once companies get on TV with a commercial, they all get requests to advertise on billboards or radio as well. We assess all those separate requests for the client and see if it fits the objectives of the campaign and the brand. We go back to basics and grab the numbers; what is actually the goal of this campaign?''
Kloezeman: "And ultimately, of course, the use of paid media is only part of the total communication strategy. Above that is the business issue and that's what it's all about. You put us in to grow the business and that's where our energy is.''
So you're really looking at the hard brand indicators like awareness, preference and purchase intent?
Van den Hoek: ,,We try to agree clear KPIs with all clients in advance. That has changed if you compare it to before when it was much more about reach.''
Kloezeman: ,,It just says very little if you have reached 80 percent of your target audience with your commercial. Of course it is tempting because you can always show that it was a great campaign, but the important thing is whether the business has grown. Is it really that important to go from 80 to 85 percent awareness? Because that's just pretty expensive to achieve. For example, you can also steer less on reach and more on consideration and thus make other media choices We enter the conversations about the real objective and that's why that relationship is so important.''
This also makes work more fun....
Van den Hoek: ,,Certainly, it gives a lot of energy that you can really build a brand together with the customer. Their success is our success.''
Why do you always score so well in terms of customer satisfaction?
Kloezeman: ,,I think it's mainly because we are so good at thinking along about the business objectives and how you can influence them by using media well. We have continued to develop this: getting a better understanding of how brands grow and how media play a role in this.''
Van den Hoek: ,,And in addition, that relationship with the customer again plays an important role. Our colleagues are all social people who like to talk, ask good questions and are good listeners. We take the time for our clients and their issues and treat their business as if it were our own. And because of that, we won no less than 3 customer satisfaction awards last year: Chosen as best media agency by MT-1000, Emerce and Fonk. Very happy about that!"
You are also at Candid, of course?
Kloezeman: ,,We are part of the platform and so the question of a client needing creative input, for example, always comes along at some point. Then it helps that you can go to other Candid agencies like Positive for a creative question or to Coopr for a question about PR.''
Do you have a great case in hand where that relationship plays a major role?
Van den Hoek: ,,For Woonmall Alexandrium we put together a media strategy and in collaboration with Candid agency Positive we developed a nice concept for it. The new campaign is now being launched. That way we can always come up with a good integrated story.''
Kloezeman: "The golden triangle combination between advertiser, media and advertising."
Text: BBP Media | Image: Pure Image
This article previously appeared on Marketingfacts.co.uk and Marketingtribune.co.uk.