Building a strong relationship with your digital marketing agency is just like any other relationship. It requires good communication, collaboration, and clarity for both parties.
If those fundamentals are there, your teams can work together on building an efficient and effective relationship, learning how to work together successfully and enjoying every step along the way.
So how can you maintain a strong working relationship with your digital marketing agency? How can you work together to overcome challenges and ensure you are on the same team?
Here are a few thoughts and tips to help you navigate your working relationship with your agency:
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Know What You Want To Achieve (we agencies harp on about this, but it is always top of the list at any stage of a project or campaign)
Clearly articulate your business objectives and what you want to achieve through digital marketing. Some goals might include increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales. These can all be made more specific, but the point is everyone needs to know what they’re aiming for and what success looks like for you. We invite our clients to share their broader business challenges behind it – the more transparent you are the better we can perform as an extension of your team.
Agree How You Will Work Together
Every agency operates in a different way, and you might have specific needs and expectations for your agency. Agree how you will communicate, how you need to collaborate and when, how you will feedback and sign off on different stages of the project, who needs to be involved. Having these clear expectations set from the very start will help ensure a smooth working relationship.
Be Ready To Provide Access to Information and Systems
When you engage with a digital marketing agency, you’ll need to provide access to tools like Google Analytics, and share any existing marketing strategies, materials, branding guidelines, and any other relevant information. While the agency may be working on a single campaign or a specific channel, the more transparency they have across your marketing mix will only improve their efforts. Sometimes it might be useful to introduce the agency to certain team members who can assist with their work or inform content and messaging.
Know Your Budget and Figures
The amount you are able to invest will determine the best channels and opportunities to generate profitable results. While we can advise our clients on things like ad spend budget, the more you understand your figures the more productive our conversations can be about achieving the best ROI for you. You can read more advice on determining your marketing budget here.
Collaborate On Strategy and Provide Feedback
Work with the agency to develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Be willing to provide input and collaborate on the creative and strategic aspects of campaigns. Make sure you provide feedback and examples of what good looks like and how you want your brand to come across. Feedback in the early stages will enable your agency to live and breathe your brand, so over time they can become more independent as you’ll trust they can deliver content and copy that is just right.
Trust the Experts
While your input is valuable, remember that you hired the agency for their expertise. Trust their recommendations and insights, and be open to their suggestions. If there’s something you disagree on, ask the agency to explain why they are approaching things in a certain way and the outcomes they would expect. At the same time, with any digital marketing work, your agency will be monitoring and measuring progress along the way. We have regular check ins with our clients (for example, a monthly meeting to review progress) and will communicate openly about what’s working, opportunities we have identified to adapt or optimise campaigns, and ensure you are informed on the insights behind those choices.
Be Patient…
Digital marketing can take time to deliver results, but once it gains traction, digital marketing can be one of the most reliable and measurable ways to generate new business and nurture existing customers. Understand that it may take a few months before you see significant changes in metrics like traffic, leads, or conversions. If you need to generate results fast, discuss this with your agency so they can prioritise their activities, but always be realistic.
Have Clear Agreements and Contracts in Place
Ensure you have a clear contract in place that outlines the terms of the engagement, including scope of work, payment terms, and terms of service. You may also want your agency to sign an NDA. These agreements are in place to protect both parties and gives everyone clarity on their role, responsibilities and purpose.
Think Long Term
Building a long-term partnership with your digital marketing agency can lead to more effective and consistent results over time. Most agencies are flexible about how they work with clients, whether on a retainer or on a project basis. Having an agency that knows your business and that you can rely on will save you time and stress. The more integrated we become, the better we can advise on the marketing channels and tactics to help you achieve profitable results online.
We know effective collaboration between a client and a digital marketing agency is essential for achieving success in the ever-evolving digital landscape. By thinking and working openly and collaboratively, you can maximize the impact of your digital marketing efforts and investment.
If you are thinking about outsourcing to a digital marketing agency or want to understand what our team could bring to the table, why not take advantage of a free 1-hour strategy session with one of our experts? Apply here.
Alternatively, feel free to contact me on evie@socialb.co.uk
