Building an effective relationship
You’ve signed a contract and are ready to get started with a new marketing agency. Now what? The relationship you have with your agency is not unlike any other meaningful relationship in your life: it requires open communication, trust, and managing expectations. It’s important to go into this partnership with the right attitude so that everyone can be successful together. Let’s explore some ways in which you can have a more effective, healthy relationship with your marketing agency.
1. Start your relationship with trust
Like any relationship, trust is crucial when it comes to dealing with your marketing team. You’ve trusted us to be the experts, so trust that we want to succeed as much as you do! We’re your partner, not just a vendor. After the initial client onboarding, we get to work on our deliverables—but at certain points, just because you can’t see something happening, it doesn’t mean it isn’t getting done. Treat us like you would any other employee that you work with in your office: you’ve given us tasks to complete, and now it’s our job to get them done. Always remember that we are here to make your life easier and better. Ask questions as they arise, but trust that as your partner, we’re working on your account and determined to help you succeed. We partnered together because you had a pain-point in your business, so now you can exhale and focus on what you’re most passionate about and let us handle the rest.
2. Keep communication open
While trust is important, as you navigate a new relationship, open communication is equally essential. Don’t assume we can read your mind; tell us, openly, what you are expecting from us. Let’s have a conversation together about if it is feasible and let us explain how we will get it accomplished or why it might not be possible. Not to mention, if you’d like to know something, just ask! We’d love to help you learn about what we’re doing and shed light on any step of the process that you’d like more information on. It’s important to have open communication and complete transparency from the very beginning. Tell us what we’re doing well, but also feel free to offer constructive criticism. What can we do better to make this a more effective, healthy relationship?
3. Tell us your work style preferences
Everyone works a little differently and going back to the fact that we can’t read your mind, it’s important that you let us know your individual preferences. Is there an ideal time of day to contact you? Is there a preferred mode of communication? For some people, hopping on a five-minute call is preferable to emailing back and forth, while others greatly prefer email. Who should be our point of contact for different deliverables? Do you want to be CC’d on certain updates? Are there specific metrics you prioritize over others? From the very start, it’s important that you let us know your preferences, so we can make this the best working relationship possible.
4. Don’t let resentment pile up
Just like in any other relationship, if you let small grievances pile up and fester, they breed long-term resentment. Don’t let this happen! If something bothers you, tell us. It’s much easier to fix problems as they come up rather than have resentment build over things that were not properly addressed at the time. At that point, the relationship can be much harder to repair. If something bothers you or goes wrong, let’s hash it out in the moment instead of waiting until something else happens to trigger that frustration. By addressing the main problem as it occurs, we can have a healthier relationship with fewer hiccups and more success.
At the end of the day, your marketing agency is your partner—treat us like an extension of your team, not a vendor. Pretend as though we’re employees that sit next to you at your office and offer us the same trust, open communication, and transparency you would anyone else. When you succeed, it means we succeed. We’re all in it together!
