Riki’s Read:  Jan 2025

OK, so where to start! I’m not one for New Year Resolutions but goal setting, yes…I’m here for that! I just read a quote today: “I am blissfully discontent, irrationally passionate and unashamedly ambitious” - sounds about right 😊

Every new year is an opportunity to assess what’s gone before and set in place a plan to push us all further to where we want to be.

For me, this means business goals for RNN, professional goals for myself and personal goals to enable me to grow. 

And I don’t want to waste time, so January has been busy…busy setting plans in place for both the agency and clients. 

RNN - The Plan

I’ve been reminded time and time again that what you can't measure, can't be managed.  We’ve improved on this year-on-year, but it’s still not where I want it to be. For us, time is what we sell, that’s all we have, so time and spending it wisely is high on the agenda.

1. Time - delivering client work in the most efficient way possible. This means:

• Meetings when required not for meetings sake
• Clear briefs
• Mindful of hours versus agreed hours, communicating clearly with our wonderful clients when we’ve reached capacity on agreed hours

2. Bold & Brave

• Being selective with our client base
• Choosing to work on bold & brave client briefs, and delivering work with impact - bold & brave campaigns that deliver results
• Knowing our value, ensuring that we are making a difference, being up for the challenge

3. RNN's Impact

• We’ve continued our commitment to deliver pro-bono support to those who need it in 2025
• We’ve already become JAM-card friendly, learning more about neurodiversity and expanding our skills
• B-Corp - this is a goal. It will take effort and commitment, but we have a plan in place and the wheels are in motion 

    

Never ‘content’

Some of our team (and my husband) might say, ‘you’re never content’ – well, that would be true. I push further and in that vain, I’m not content with RNN’s content. We try, but enviably client work always takes over. So… to not fall into the cobbler’s shoes trap, we have hired in our own monthly content creator, just like we would advise our clients.

By hiring in a service (just like our clients retain us), it guarantees that we:

• Allocate time
• Plan accordingly
• They are solely focused on delivering quality work for us
• It happens when it should

Our first shoot is in the bag and our new videos have already started to drop so if you’re not following us on social, please do. You’ll find us at @RNN Comms across most channels. 

Saying Goodbye

Contracts end, that’s a fact. This is something that’s rarely talked about but it’s a certainty for all agencies. Yes, it could be time to part, but in our experience, it’s often down to a range of external factors - client being acquired, new personnel, in-house team growing etc etc.

So this month, we said goodbye to a client of 2.5 years. It’s a client that we loved working on, we were all in, and to be honest, it’s disappointing.  I know the quality of work that we’ve delivered, how we’ve gone above and beyond time and time again, and how we’ve added much more value than our scope of work on so many occasions.

To that end, we created an ‘impact’ report, and seeing this in black and white makes me very proud indeed. From the volume and quality of coverage, to award wins, influencer partners and high-level consultancy, our work was bold & brave.

Onwards we go….

The hustle

The demands and deadlines of agency life can be a little overwhelming. Busy workloads, live projects, new deadlines and add in a tender or two…well….

But this year, the goal is to lean into the hustle. Since the new year, we’ve already had four new business enquiries. At the time of writing, two new briefs are agreed with a couple pending. Creating responses, tender docs and new business takes time.

But by reminding ourselves that a) we can always say NO b) we just need to deliver our best, c) we have boundaries on what we can deliver for speculative work and d) if it’s for us, it’ll not pass us by, we can lean into the busyness of agency life and embrace the organised chaos. 

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We’re so excited about what 2025 will deliver. There’s no question that challenges lie ahead but there are also so many opportunities, and that’s where we’re choosing to focus our minds.

If you’re a client and are reading this, I can assure you that RNN’s promise to you is to deliver value. When our clients win, we win and we value every single client that chooses to work with us. That’s why our partnership model delivers more. It’s not just about media coverage, central is how we can use communications strategies to help you to achieve your goals. 

As always, my inbox is open for any questions. I wish you all a year of progress ahead and if we can be of help in any way, please do get in touch.

Over & out,

Riki