Employing an agency partner is often a meaningful investment for your company. And making the most of that investment has major implications for a brand’s performance on the market; a true strategic and creative partnership can put you in the lead within your industry, versus your competition, and amongst your customers. (Plus, when it’s gone well, justifying the allocation of funds in an annual budget review becomes that much easier.)
But how do you go from a mere vendor relationship to a true partnership? In my nearly two decades working in agencies, I’ve made a few observations about ways the client-agency relationship can be at its most harmonious.
Once you’ve found the right agency partner, you need to build a trusting rapport by investing not only time, but confidence. Treat them as an extension of your internal team by being upfront about key KPIs, budgets and challenges, and let that faith in your agency work to your advantage. When an agency is a true partner, rather than just a vendor, you empower them to make smarter recommendations for your business.
Choose an agency that knows your industry inside and out, then leverage that expertise to challenge your own thinking. It’s easy for an established business to get stuck in its ways over time. Getting insights from an informed outsider is an important way to stay ahead of the curve. If you’re not slightly uncomfortable, they may not be challenging you enough.
Few things are more disheartening to an agency than jumping through hoops to meet a crazy deadline, only to be met by crickets when it’s time for feedback. If you want an agency to give top priority to a project, plan to respond to them with the same level of urgency you ask of them. You’ll build a stronger working relationship and get the project over the finish line and out to the market, together.
If you don’t have one of these, request one. No one wants to add unnecessary meetings to their day, but regular check-ins are worth your time to keep momentum going and ensure everyone stays aligned.
It often takes multiple stakeholders to provide input on a project. And while it’s helpful to see the various internal points of view on your team, eliminating the guesswork by including clear direction from one point person helps you get the most for your money. So that PDF that has to be passed around to ten individuals across three departments? Allow it to fully make the rounds, consolidate all the comments and direction in one doc, and watch your road to completion become much more streamlined.
When strategy and marketing work happens in a silo, it can hinder the effectiveness of the final product or fail to fully leverage the partners’ work and your investments. By informing your partners of all the aspects of your marketing and branding work, they can strategize collectively to ensure they optimize your investments, and ultimately your business success.
Good work takes time—that's true of nearly any kind of project, but it’s especially true of marketing and branding work. Respecting the strategy and creative process (and the fine balance between budget, deadlines and quality) builds a strong relationship and gets the best results. It also helps ensure that in those rare instances when you do need to ask your agency to move mountains (and quickly!), they’re far more willing and able to oblige. (In that instance, be extra keen on responding with any required action or feedback on your side as well.)
So, you’re considering a brand makeover. But do you have the right reasons? Identifying the cause for overhauling your go-to-market identity (or at least evolving it) is as important as the quality of the new work you’ll commission. Interrupt creative directors share the four times your company may be due for a rebrand.
If you’re a manufacturer of American-made goods, you already know the value of the “Made in America” claim has ebbed and flowed over the past few decades. Recently, however, it seems to be making a comeback. Bill Rossiter, agency owner and principal, discusses Morning Consult’s “Made in America” report and shares how you can leverage the power of Made in the USA on your own homegrown products.
While businesses nationwide strive for diversity, age remains a largely overlooked aspect. Conversations tend to focus on gender and race, but a team with a wide range of life and work experiences is incredibly powerful. Learn why a multigenerational team is a key differentiator that’s too often overlooked.