For the last couple of months, we’ve been working with a client that insists on showing the work to everyone and anyone. In listening to their interpretation of the feedback, we know more about the person making the comment than on the actual work. We even had a client take a phone call from a “customer” who commented that if the client could afford multiple billboard locations in town, that they should pay their people more.
I’m not usually interested in feedback as the source is usually not qualified to comment, as they are not the audience that we are targeting. But feedback today is a major problem for us, such as the English major who insists that single-sentence paragraphs “aren’t allowed” and who may be qualified to critique a book, but certainly knows nothing about writing marketing text.
This doesn’t mean I don’t listen to feedback. For example, I listen to what clients say they’re looking for. That tells me something about them, and there’s often more in their feedback than what appears on the surface. This is where the “Golden Rule” comes into play. Whoever has the gold makes the rules, and that’s why I listen very closely to their feedback.
Filed under: Agency ideas
