When you’re an independent marketing consultant or coordinator, you want to make sure you pick the right agency to work with – not only to ensure you get the best results that build your own reputation but also to make your day to day operations as easy as possible.
If your marketing agency makes you want to pull your hair out as much as your clients do, it’s probably time for a change. We had a chat with Renee from Dink Consultants to understand exactly what marketing consultants need from their agencies:
Communication
How and when an agency communicates with you can massively influence your own productivity and stress levels. Formally scheduled meetings and structured emails are great if you want to block out specific times in your schedule for each project and manage your time effectively. But if you’re someone who likes to turn small projects or changes around quickly and get in touch regularly about small questions and queries, you’ll be better suited with an agency who like more ad-hoc phone calls and messages.
Whenever we work with a marketing consultant at Logic, we always adapt our approach to work with their schedule and preferences. After all, it makes it easier for everyone!
Listen to the Director of Logic Digital, Alex Clifford, discuss Microsoft Teams and flexible workspaces on The Digital Workspace Works podcast.
Listen now
Relationships
Alongside communication, the relationships you have with the agencies can be equally as important for driving projects forward and achieving the best results. When the marketing consultant is viewed as an extension of the agency’s own team – and thus treated with the same level of respect and friendliness as anyone else in the office – conversations become much more comfortable allowing ideas and opinions to flow freely
Track record
When you outsource work to another agency to deliver results for your client, you are effectively putting your own reputation in their hands – i.e. if your agency does a great job, you look great but if they do a bad job, you risk losing that client in the future. That’s why it helps if the agency you choose has a track record of consistently delivering high performing marketing activities that provide results for their clients. By working with people who can provide evidence of their success and expertise you can feel confident that your own reputation will stay intact in the eyes of the client.
Transparency
A lot of older businesses see digital marketing as a dark art that they will never be able to understand – they simply pay for it and hope for results.
“There are a lot of marketing charlatans out there taking advantage of this and leaving people feeling burnt”
“There are a lot of marketing charlatans out there taking advantage of this and leaving people feeling burnt” remarks Renee. Agencies who don’t share reports or allow clients to access their analytics to see how the activity is performing make it difficult for businesses to trust marketers in the future – this is why we always share reports and analytics dashboards so that everyone can see the performance of a particular campaign. After all, we’re proud of the work we do!
Time-efficient
Even if they’ve got the best relationship in the world and the best results out of any agency if you’ve partnered with someone who isn’t efficient with their time your client will get annoyed. While it’s true that results can take time, if the client isn’t aware of this it can appear as though no work is being done. You want to make sure that you have a clear understanding of the agency’s project timeline so that you can factor in how that affects the rest of your work. Ideally, ask for this in writing – either as a quick note in an email or as an official activity plan – so that you have something to refer back to in the future should you need it.
The right marketing agency will be different for every marketing consultant – you need to do your research and evaluate what will work best for you. If you’d like to consider Logic Digital as one of your options, we’d love to have a chat! Get in touch with our team via our website or on LinkedIn.
