Last week, I talked about the importance of making your relationship with your marketing agency as productive as possible. I shared the first two rules that I’ve learned over the years of being on both the client and the agency side (1. Be respectful and 2. Share). Here are the other two simple rules:
3. Expect the best: If you agency turns in something you think isn’t up to par, tell them so. Don’t accept anything less than their best work. You deserve it and good agencies will enjoy the challenge and the expectations.
4. Treat them as a partner in your success: Your agency is there to help you. Whether it’s for strategic planning and ideas or creative execution, or both, they are there to make your life easier. If you treat them as a partner in your success and share your successes with them, you’ll have a strong client-agency relationship.
The other thing I didn’t mention last week is that if you have a strong agency relationship, you’d be amazed at all the little things they do for you and for which they never charge. Many clients are surprised when they suddenly don’t have that agency anymore for whatever reason and they realize how many little projects they sent to their agency and how much it can suddenly cost. Agencies don’t bother with billing for very small projects because it can cost more to bill for it than to just do it.
A great agency relationship is definitely a primary way to optimize your marketing spend and expand your capabilities quickly.
Jenn