We’re a pretty lucky bunch at TDP, attracting some of the dreamiest clients goin’ round. We’re talkin’ brands that once upon a time a couple of years ago we were listing out in a #dreamclients Slack channel only to have them drop into our inbox or DMs.
It’s no accident that we’re attracting the businesses we know and love though, we wholeheartedly believe it’s because they’re attracted to our values-led approach to doing biz’ and they’ve got their own shiny list of values that is similarly guiding everything they do. It helps that we also get some pretty dazzling results #humblebrag, but we thought we’d let you in on our not-so-secret approach to running a values-led agency.
We *know* what our values are.
This seems like a bit of a no-brainer but in all honesty TDP hasn’t always had identifiable values. We’ve always had a pretty good idea what they were and they called a doc in a drawer somewhere home for a while, but the past few years we’ve worked with some of the people we most admire in the industry to unlock our values and then live into them in everything we do.
You may have heard about our CICCA awards which are one of the internal ways we recognise how we personify those values every day. Those values are Courage, Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment and Accountability. They’re not just words on a document or in snazzy vinyl stickers on the wall for us, they’re a daily reminder of how to deal with every interaction both internally as a team and externally with our amazing community of clients, small business owners and digital marketing professionals.
We shout those values from the rooftops to attract like minded folx.
If you’re following us on socials, we expect this isn’t the first you’re hearing about our values… we like to talk about them A LOT. They’re pretty important to us so it makes total sense! So many of the enquiries that land in our inbox are a direct result of consuming this content. These amazing clients that one day we daydreamed about working with choose us over some of the much bigger guys out there, because they see what we stand for … and they’re all about it too!
We do bring an amazing amount of experience to the table and lots of proven results but we’re not cheaper [we’re all about quality and seniority, after all] so our point of difference is definitely the values we hold so dear.
When it’s not the right fit we call it.
We’ll just come out and say it … we’re not everyone’s cup of tea and that’s A-OK! We *know* that we’re not going to be the right fit for every business and in our books that’s something we can be completely honest about. If it’s not working, we know it’s better to call it out.
Keeping the client at all costs doesn’t lead to very happy clients usually, if they’re not enjoying working with you. It can also impact your team’s ability to really thrive on the other accounts and that’s something worth considering.
We’re also looking for values-alignment when it comes to our clients because that’s where the magic happens but if that doesn’t quite match up we feel that transparency is always the best policy and open communications about this tend to achieve the best outcome for everyone! Some of our biggest cheerleaders are previous clients or clients we referred to someone who might be a better fit.
We’re confident in how we operate so knowing it’s not the right fit sometimes doesn’t lead to a crisis of confidence, it’s actually quite the opposite reinforcing and strengthening our values each time.
We don’t imitate industry practises that we don’t respect.
There are a heap of examples of what not to do out there as an agency so seeing all those things that make us cringe we turn them into lessons of what not to do.
❌ Underpaying our staff so we can make higher profits…. Not our jam!
❌ Creating an unsustainable model that means mass redundancies every time a client leaves… definitely not!
❌ Making 14 hour-days the norm… no thank you!
Not only do we feel like we’re running our own race [a values-led one of course!], we’re also trying to turn this industry we love so deeply into what we’d like it to be and we’re so heartened when we see others doing the same.
We’re not afraid to say no.
Saying no can be hard, but we’re getting pretty good at it these days! Anytime we have that niggly feeling in our bellies that something might not be a good thing to pursue we listen to it, because we trust our intuition and experiences.
This means never taking on work that we can’t resource. This is a really hard one because we’re incredibly grateful to have so many businesses wanting to work with us, but it makes it even more important because if we can’t offer TDP levels of amazing, they’re going to be disappointed and then we will be too!
We’ve never been about doing something just because someone is offering to pay us for it and that means we’re very discerning about taking on accounts and projects that we genuinely feel we can succeed. Getting results is just as important to us as it is to our clients!
We play to our strengths.
At TDP we know what we’re good at and we also know what we’re not.
There’s no pressure here to be a digital marketing unicorn that knows SEO, coding, Facebook advertising, copywriting, web development, video creation etc. etc. We each have our strengths and we play to them so we know that the work we’re doing is incredibly valuable. I love never having to apologise for not being an expert in everything… but then, who really is!?
Our commitment to lifelong learning also means we get to brush up on our growth areas and continue to develop in the things that we excel in. Anything else? We’re *more* than happy to point our clients in the direction of someone we know who specialises in just that! #CollaborationOverCompetition #Always
We also have amazing opportunities to collaborate so our clients always get the best of what we, as a team, have to offer. The more you start living into your values as a business of agency, the easier it gets and the better it feels. We’re so proud of the agency we’ve become and that’s because those values are a compass always steering us in the right direction.
If you’d like to chat to us about working together we’d be oh-so-happy to hear from you, simply email hello@thedigitalpicnic.com.au. We hope you’ll see our values at play from that very first interaction!