Stop whinging and get talking to your clients

Isn’t it about time that this industry stopped talking to itself? Yes, we need to encourage imagination. Yes, it would be lovely to always be paid handsomely for pitches. And yes, of course, design can be woven into the strategic fabric of big business. But why do we spend so much time convincing ourselves when we should be convincing our clients?

Having just wasted a paragraph doing exactly what I’m railing against, let me save face by saying what we really need: practical ways of demonstrating strategic creativity to potential buyers. For instance, we already use our newsletter to highlight the benefits of creativity, imagination and the value of good design to existing and potential clients.

Talk to clients in their own trade press, rather than whinging in ours. It’s the client who pays and each positive piece of PR goes toward helping us all. If you were a potential client and you read some of the debates that are raging in the design press, would you be reassured? I think not.

Anita Brightley-Hodges

Managing director

Still Waters Run Deep

London E1