Greatly Improve Your Marketing by Thinking Win-Win-Win

Updated 4/7/2021

In order to understand win-win-win, you must first understand win-win. It's a common philosophy but let's take a look at it from an agency standpoint.

As business director at a creative agency, I find myself in the natural role of balancing our client’s needs and budget with what our creatives require for time, equipment & materials in order to collaborate on awesome. The first step is to gather information from the client, encouraging them to treat us as a trusted partner with direct and open communication. Then we can reciprocate at a deeper level and propose options. Thinking win-win alongside our client, we get as much production value as possible out of each project.

A big part of thinking win-win is both parties having empathy for the other. This is the second step: asking questions that seek to understand.  Done correctly, it feels different. It is not adversarial - it’s positively looking at what’s needed, what the constraints are, and how to creatively make it work.

A myriad of solutions come out of this approach including greater efficiencies, new ways for the client to contribute, a creative concept that works within a smaller budget, or perhaps a different than standard payment plan.

So far we've only talked about win-win. Just two 'wins'. You may be thinking to yourself, where is that third 'win'?? Ultimately, the win-win-win approach includes the target audience - the whole point for the collaboration! The third step in the win-win-win approach requires you to always think critically about your target's needs and wants. This results in better content all around.

At the end of the day, the most important win is a meaningful experience for the target audience. Engaging, inspiring, and educating ultimately serve to prompt an action and/or a feeling in the target audience that moves the needle and produces a positive ROI. Bonus points for every win-win-win you have!

Don't just settle for win-win, strive for win-win-win.