That isn’t true - it was just a trick to make you look. Sucker.
But here’s the thing: if I’d simply said, “We’re great at New Business,” you’d have shrugged and moved on. Why? Well, because of course we’re going to say that. Every agency does. And that’s the problem.
We review a lot of agency creds and websites, and guess what? They all say the same things:
We bring your brand to life online.
We deliver on budget, on time.
We really get under the skin of our customers.
We have unique industry experience.
We have a team dog who is “Head of Wellbeing” (or something equally pointless).
What does this tell us?
It tells us that in an attempt to sound impressive, agencies just end up blending into the background. If everyone is saying the same thing, no one is standing out.
Why tell me you deliver on time? Do you think there’s an agency out there proudly declaring, “We’re often late and sometimes over budget—oopsie!”? Or, “We probably won’t have the expertise to do what you need, but hey, let’s give it a shot”?
At Sponge NB, we run an exercise called Expected vs. Remarkable. Ask yourself: Do your clients expect you to be on time? Of course they do. So stop talking about it like it’s a selling point. You don’t announce, “Two or three times a day, we take a break to go to the toilet.” It’s expected. It’s not remarkable. (Now wash your hands.)
If you’re lucky enough to have someone read your content, make it worth their time. Ditch the clichés. Instead of wasting valuable seconds with generic statements, show me results. Tell me about the problem you solved, the challenge you nailed, the campaign that delivered beyond expectations.
Because no one cares that you “park your car between the lines.” That’s the bare minimum. Tell me something that actually makes me want to work with you.