Nothing Has Changed in 25 Years – And That's the Point

Marketing

Jun 3

In a former life, I ran a PR agency in Manchester. It was immensely rewarding. We helped so many clients grow their businesses through creative marketing.

One of my proudest achievements is helping a family-owned IVF clinic become one of the largest and most respected brands in its sector. How? Lots of reasons. One of them was refining their visual language. Like everyone else in their industry, they'd been leaning on medical terms, bland websites and reams of stock photography. Generic, dull and lacking anything that felt human. Potential patients couldn't connect on an emotional level, and our client disappeared into a sea of sameness.

To be honest, fertility marketing back then lacked any real warmth or understanding. Every clinic in the UK took the same medical route as its main selling point – quite understandably. But most people don't understand the ins and outs of IVF. It can be overwhelming and scary.

So we stripped it right back and asked our client a simple question: what do you help your patients to do? "Have a family," they replied. And we went from there.

It was never about over-promising. Anyone who's been through the process knows the stats. It was about recognising that this is a huge, costly, emotional decision, so why not meet people with empathy, support and understanding? Humanity, even.

That comes through in everything: branding, website design, written language, and visual assets.

We'd helped them with most of these, but bespoke photography took some convincing – presumably because of the cost. We got there. We hired professional models and a brilliant photographer, involved the whole team, and captured high-quality images of the clinic and its services. We brought the entire customer journey to life.

The impact was almost immediate. The phones rang off the hook. Website enquiries came flying in. People felt an emotional connection to a clinic that already had the care and expertise in place – they just hadn't known how to communicate it.

We worked with that client for nearly two decades, and still support them today, introducing bespoke illustration, website design and journalist-quality blog writing along the way.

Why am I sharing this? I've heard a lot from creative professionals lately that work is drying up. Clients have gone quiet, and for many, it's been one of the most difficult periods of their freelance life.

If that sounds like you, here's what I'd say: nothing has changed in 25 years. Clients don't always see the value in creativity, especially when times are tight – but they always benefit from investing in their marketing. The work you do still matters as much as it ever did.

These days, brands might reach for AI to save cash and knock out a few visual assets. It's fast, it's cheap – and it's exactly what everyone else is doing. Generic and dull, they'll disappear into oblivion.

So now is not the time for clients to cut marketing budgets or chase cheap shortcuts like AI or stock photography. It's the perfect opportunity to work with human creatives on content no one else has – work that ties beautifully into their messaging and speaks to their audience.

And if you're worried about a dip in your own enquiries, now might be the moment to fire out some warm emails, reminding clients of the value of bespoke.