Small Details, Big Impact: Ask Questions and Do Your Research with Mackenzie Biddie

Mackenzie Biddie is a PR specialist with more than eight years of experience in both consumer and corporate communications. She's worked on both the client and agency side and has developed her skills working with some of Canada's top brands.

Mackenzie specialises in the planning and execution of multi-channel public relations campaigns, with a focus on integration and collaboration across disciplines to tell brand stories and has extensive experience in both media and influencer relations.

Mackenzie chats with LBB about the key lesson she learned from jumping to a PR agency from a client side role.

Most of us in PR have been given the advice that if you want to work at an agency, you need to start your career there. But, when you’re a fresh graduate looking to build a career in PR, we often jump at the first opportunity that comes knocking - even if it wasn’t what you initially expected.

For me, that meant taking my first role, at 22, as a communications advisor for an in-house comms team in the world of QSR. In those early years, I got valuable experience working on campaigns that stretched in scale and focus, and was fortunate to work with smart, collaborative agency partners.

These early experiences made me realise that jumping to the [PR] agency side of things would be more in line with how I wanted to develop my career in the long term. I knew that I wanted more variety and to challenge myself across industries and in the type of work I could bring to the table.

So while most people start at an agency and then explore jumping to a client side role, I did the opposite. But it wasn’t until I landed my first agency gig and started working on my first client (instead of being the client), that I realised the true value and unique perspective that those first formative years in-house offered.

What this opportunity provided me in the early moments of my career was an insider look at what stands out as an agency partner. I experienced first-hand the good and the ‘could’ve been better’ in client service, planning and execution and what ultimately were the things that provided the most value to a client partner. But, most importantly, it spotlighted for me the power of true agency and client collaboration.

As a client, it was clear to me which agencies had ‘done the homework’, even being so early on in my career, that I had a head start in determining what I could do as an agency partner to show up for my client in a way that was truly meaningful. I knew firsthand the value of an agency that acted as an extension of my own team so I was determined to provide that experience to my own clients.

There’s nothing more valuable than spending the time to truly understand the ins and outs of a business; learn the names, the stakeholders, the processes, the ingredients, your fellow agency partners so that you can operate as a cohesive unit and help to manage internal challenges and obstacles proactively. I’ve been fortunate to have spent my time at smaller, independent agencies who have always encouraged me to lean into this time and ‘dig in.’

Even if the engagement is short-term, paying attention to the details and immersing yourself in the vertical are what help to make your relationship with the client go the distance.

Now of course, there are key ways in which we can onboard and immerse ourselves in a business - whether that’s trying the product, touring a facility or conducting stakeholder interviews. But beyond that, the best way to truly immerse yourself in your client’s business is to simply pay attention. Ask questions, do your research.

This might seem obvious, but in the world of Zoom meetings and multiple screens it can be easy to get distracted by the many other pressing matters that we can have going on at any given moment - but when you’re fully engaged and staying present with your clients and your agency partners, that’s when you pick up on the little things that can often lead to the quality insights. And it’s the details that will stick with you and bring forward an ‘aha’ moment that will demonstrate to your client partner that you’re even more in tune with their business than they thought. And as someone who has sat on the ‘other side of the table’ - that’s what makes an agency stand out.

Maybe it’s a piece of feedback you catch proactively based on them relaying a conversation with their founder or an influencer campaign that’s rooted in the secret menu offering they’ve mentioned to you in your first status call.

So when I think back to how my time on the client side has impacted how I approach working at an agency, ultimately it’s a reminder that the little things are the big things that can make the difference for the agencies that show up as true partners.