Often, agencies and their clients do not end the working relationship on the best terms. Agencies burn a bridge, and clients are left completely fed up with digital marketing agencies. Here, we share some factors that, based on our experience, negatively affect the agency-client relationship:
There are things that would facilitate communication between marketing agencies and their clients. This is a job that requires effort from both sides. Here, we are going to tell you how to create a stable relationship with your agency and stop looking for someone to hand over the “disaster” to every three months.
This is the obvious part of the matter: the list of things to do and the deliverables must be completely clear. Things like frequencies, schedules, and everything the agency will be responsible for, and what the client will be responsible for, must be crystal clear. We should not expect more or less than what has been agreed upon.
It is common for the client to fail to communicate to the agency what they want or how they want it done. A clear example of this is the graphic design or style of a photograph for social media: the client imagines one thing, and the agency comes up with another. This is very easy to fix by showing references. If the client illustrates their idea with a visual reference, the agency will have a much clearer idea of what to do and what the execution of the piece entails.
The opinions of third parties unrelated to the process can be very damaging to the relationship with the agency. For this reason, there should be a manual that the agency can follow to know how to treat the brand, how to speak to the public, and how to substantiate its design decisions. This way, the opinions of the “Cousin who knows design” do not affect your relationship with the agency. If the opinions are valuable, they can lead to a change in the design system, but they should not be used to qualitatively judge the agency’s management.
The best thing to do is look for an agency to be comfortable in a long-term relationship. They will not give magical results as soon as the contract is signed. All agencies must learn about the brand, collect data, and get to know the end customer, and this does not happen overnight. The client must allow the agency a learning period for things to happen. If there are missteps at the beginning, it should be seen as a learning process, which is what a good agency will embrace.
This is a red flag the size of the world. Agencies that accept every client request are agencies that will fail sooner or later because they do things simply to keep the client and put off execution-related problems for another day. Another case is when the agency subcontracts, which drives up the cost and means you could likely get better quality and a better cost-benefit ratio with a specialist.
Small agencies often do this: they use all their resources at their discretion, changing priorities among their portfolio of clients. This can be uncomfortable for the client, but if the scope of work is crystal clear, there is nothing to worry about. However, if the agency fails to fulfill its part, you must talk to them to resolve the issue.
You must be clear with the agency, stating exactly—and quantitatively if possible—what sales or marketing objectives the company wants to achieve. It is the agency’s duty to always keep this present and commit to those goals. This is a good way to measure your return on investment, depending on whether the agency reaches the target or not.
