Seven ways to improve agency-client relationships
There are a lot of articles about how clients can get the most from their agencies, and vice versa. In March, MarketingCharts.com released this chart covering the most challenging barriers to a successful agency-client relationship. Here are our thoughts on the topic:
- Delivering innovative ideas. Clients often complain their agencies’ work is too edgy. And agencies often say their clients are more likely to play it too safely. Either way, it’s important for agencies to recognize clients’ comfort levels and for clients to like and respect agencies’ previous work before embarking on a relationship.
- Attributing revenue to marketing. Prior to executing any marketing initiatives, it’s critical both parties set up KPI, then track and measure things like brand awareness, leads, sales generated, etc. A marketing campaign can be more effective with the results to prove it.
- Delivering on established metrics. Every company has its own set of metrics. Decide, and agree in advance, on the most important metrics to track, whether it’s customer churn rate, customer retention rates, or customer satisfaction.
- Maintaining effective project management. It’s important to keep projects moving forward. There’s nothing worse than an agency or client causing an unnecessary delay and killing momentum. Make sure to have a good project management system in place—the one we use is Notion.
- Understanding the brand completely. Agencies appreciate when clients share consumer research and briefing documents. Clients need to share as much information with agencies as they can, and agencies need to spend a lot of time analyzing it—not just to understand the brand itself, but to understand its position in the market.
- Making each other a priority. This works both ways. Both the client and the agency need to understand that they’re both necessary parts of a system.
- Using senior talent on accounts. In addition to having a senior-level person involved routinely with the account, both clients and agencies should also assign a day-to-day “point person” to the business.
How’s the rapport with your agency? Share your experiences below.
