Internet marketing changes constantly, and companies are struggling to keep up with these changes. That’s where agencies enter the picture. Agencies help fill that dynamic void.
Clients reach out to internet marketing agencies for a number of different reasons.
- They could be calling on an agency to help explore new web marketing strategies that the client has no experience with.
- The client could have resourcing issues and look towards an agency to help maintain or accelerate their momentum.
- Maybe the client is experimenting with a new marketing method to test the validity of it before bringing it in-house (i.e. social media, or paid search advertising)
In each of these cases, there is an opportunity for an agency to add value to a client’s campaigns.
Although there seems to be an obvious fit, where on one side there is a need and on the other someone to address it. Not all client-agency relationships work out as smooth as both parties would like.
At first the relationship starts out really well, with the client full of hope and enthusiasm. Then a ball or two gets dropped, or results aren’t what was expected. Eventually through the life of the contract the relationship starts to fizzle. Whether it’s the client’s fault, agency’s fault or a combination of the two.
This type of strain can be counterproductive or even ruin the year for the marketing team. Imagine budgets depleted with sub-par results.
How can clients preempt a falling out with an agency and ensure they get the best results from their agency counterparts?
#1 – Choose Your Agency Wisely
Getting the best results starts even before you launch a campaign. Gone are the days where there were only big agencies that did everything. The market is filled with “agencies”…and I put that quotes for a reason. Agencies come in different sizes and niches.
- There are traditional agencies where internet marketing is just one of their specialties along with media buying, web design, print production, etc.
- There are specialty agencies that focus on a few disciplines of internet marketing such as social media, SEO, paid search marketing, web analytics or testing. Or even a combination of these disciplines.
- There are consultants that ban together to form virtual agencies providing expertise in varied disciplines.
So as you can see there is no longer the typical agency mold. As a client you have to know what you’re buying.
Here are a few things to consider:
- Can the agency scale to your needs? – You might have a small budget now for that social media campaign. But if it goes like gangbusters and you want to expand it to your other campaigns, can your agency scale along with it?
- Do you have the resources to manage your chosen agency (or agencies)? – Here’s a scenario, you have a campaign that requires SEO, PPC advertising, social media and web analytics with a dash of testing and you’re dealing with 3 different agencies. Do you have the manpower to heard those 3 agencies? Or do you only have the bandwidth to handle two agencies? You might be better off working with single agency that does all 3 in this scenario.
- Will you be managing the project? Or will your agency? – Project management is essential. If you’ve got the resources to do so, great. Then working with that smaller niche agency might work out quite well. But if you are relying on your agency for this type of service and they are just a group of practitioners, you might want to reconsider.
- Are they truly experts in their field? – I don’t want to paint all large agencies with the same brush, but larger agencies tend to be able to address a wider field but without as much depth as others in the market.
- Will the person you are dealing with during the pitch be the person working on the campaign? – This is key. Ensure you get the goods! If you’re dealing with a superstar during the pitch process. Make sure that same person is working on your campaign in a very influential capacity and not just as a supervisor.
This subject warrants its own how-to but essentially to get the best results you need the best people for your circumstance.
#2 – Set the Right Expectations
Setting expectations falls on both parties. But as a client, you too must communicate your expectations both at a strategic and tactical level.
Strategic Expectations
- From a strategic standpoint be upfront about your expectation of results.
- Clearly communicate why your chosen agency won the contract. It sounds quite simple, but this gives the agency insight into you’re selection criteria and to play to their strengths.
- Don’t be coy. If you’re expectations are that your new Facebook social media initiative will yield $1,000,000 in direct sales, it may be out of touch…but be upfront about it. At least it gives the agency the opportunity to assess whether they can meet those expectations or at least set your expectations on a more realistic scale.
Tactical Expectations
Tactical expectations are like keeping your house in order. Set the rules of engagement for this new relationship you are forging with the agency. Here are some tactical considerations:
- Frequency of meetings
- Reporting requirements (frequency, format, data to include)
- Delineation of responsibilities – Make it absolutely clear what you will do vs what the agency is expected to do
Often times a misalignment of expectations are the root of a bad client-agency relationship.
#3 – Set Clear Goals
Agencies can’t meet goals that don’t exist. You’d be surprised how many organizations don’t set goals.
Set clear goals on how the agency will be measured. Here are some quick examples:
- If the agency will be measured based on revenue generated. Will it be on gross total? If so, all channels? Select channels? What about if there are refunds?
- If your goal is to improve your website user engagement, list out the metrics the agency will be measured on. Will it be on time-on-site? Bounce rate? Pages per visit?
The point is that the devil is in the details. Setting clear goals improves alignment between both parties. The agency benefits from a clear understanding of targets. The client benefits from better results from the campaign.
#4 – Assign a Single Point of Contact
Nothing is worse from an agency perspective than not knowing who to go to when you need a decision made or who to contact for those specs you needed.
Assign someone on your marketing team to manage the agency. All requests to the agency goes through this person, and this person is also the conduit for requests from the agency. It makes life easier for both parties.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t pull someone from your team into a conference call or that this person is the only one that attends meetings. But it does mean that this person is accountable for ensuring the ball doesn’t get dropped on the client side of things.
#5 – Acknowledge Agency Wins
If your agency is doing excellent work share the accolades with them. Many times when working in an agency you do all the work without seeing the rewards. The rewards don’t have to be monetary. But a simple email detailing what they did and the outstanding results it provided helps solidify your relationship and re-affirms what the agency is good at.
#6 – Be On The Ball
This is a two way street. Agencies rely quite a bit on their clients to hold up their end of the deal in the form of decisions, deliverables, feedback, input and by just being mentally present at meetings.
Don’t expect stellar results if you are slow to reply to emails, late on deliverables or provide wishy-washy answers or replies to request for decisions.
Remember, you’re not the only one who can choose to end the working relationship. Agencies can also choose their clients. Being a good client can lead to better agency results.
#7 – Be Organized & Communicate Clearly
Most project communications are through an online system like Basecamp, via conference calls, emails, in-person meetings, etc. Basically there are a multitude of channels to communicate with a multitude of opportunities to get your wires crossed. When communicating, be detailed, to the point and don’t make assumptions.
#8 – Be Upfront & Honest
Give your agency the benefit of transparency and honesty. If there’s a hint that the relationship isn’t working out, communicate it to your agency and list the reasons why you don’t think you are getting the best results. It helps re-calibrate the working relationship and saves you the time to hunt for a new agency which also takes time and resources to ramp up again.
And if at the end the working relationship ends anyways, at least both parties can walk away amicably.
I’m quite certain these 8 points don’t cover everything needed to have a smooth client-agency relationship. What have you done to get the best out of your agency? Or if you work for an agency, what are the ingredients for the perfect client?
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