How to get more from your marketing agency

Last year, I came across a great post on getting more out of your marketing agency. This post came to me via the CMO newsletter. Written by Kent Lewis, a veteran agency expert who has worked at nine different creative organizations in his time, I've been meaning to share it with you ever since.

Just the other day, we did a post about the Nyman Ink "client bill of rights" and this is advice along the same lines. In order for not-for-profits to work effectively with their creative partners, we need to understand each other, and that's what Lewis's post will help you do. I think he wrote it with business clients in mind, but the advice is just as effective (and probably even more necessary) for not-for-profits.

To read the full post, visit the archived piece on the CMO site, but in the mean time, here are the highlights, excerpted and edited down:

Get More from your Marketing Agency in 6 Easy Steps

by Kent Lewis via CMO

1. Understand your business & marketing objectives

Having a solid grasp of how your business operates and how marketing supports the organization’s success is critical. The client contact(s) should have clearly defined marketing objectives, associated metrics and specific benchmarks or goals. Be aware of any agency that doesn’t request or require this information early in the relationship. Tip: create a “cheat sheet” containing the information outlined above, and be prepared to share that information with your agency or agencies, as appropriate. The more information an agency has, the more likely it can devise effective marketing programs to grow the business.

2. Be a partner

As marketing agencies, it’s our responsibility to help develop, implement and manage effective programs. Treat your agency with the same level of respect you would give to an important employee, and the agency will reward you with an equivalent level of valuable output. Trust is also important: if you are hiring agency “experts,” then give them the benefit of the doubt that they have your best interests in mind and know what they are doing.

3. Manage communications

Once you’ve outlined objectives and have the proper mindset about agencies as partners, then it’s time to identify, structure and facilitate open lines of communications. Similarly, identify and share related expectations of your agency partner, and make sure the agency reciprocates. Both organizations must agree on the definition of success and the associated timeline. Secondly, but no less importantly, ensure your organization is prepared to provide timely feedback.

4. Allocate Resources

Early in the agency relationship, ensure you’ve identified and allocated appropriate in-house (or external) resources that can be available for implementation. Tip: Work with your agency to develop a workflow process that minimizes bottlenecks and maximizes efficiency.

5. Do your homework

To get the most of your agency relationship, make sure you have a solid understanding of your agency’s overall philosophy, services, team, clients and partners. Of course, it’s the agency’s responsibility to share this information, but oftentimes, both sides fail to provide regular updates, knowing businesses evolve continuously. As mentioned earlier, regular meetings and infrequent strategic planning meetings are ideal opportunities to get and provide updates.

6. Be flexible, yet challenge

When you’re not challenging your agency, you’re not likely challenging yourself, which means you’re likely missing marketing opportunities. Approached with respect, an agency will jump at the opportunity to “up its game” in which case everyone wins. We are human, so we can make mistakes and we just ask for the opportunity to make it right and to have the faith and trust the same mistake will not happen again.

No matter where you decide to go with your marketing opportunities in the coming year, and no matter what agency you choose to represent you  (in fact, even if you choose no agency at all, but decide to do all your marketing work in-house), remember Lewis's words: "a partnership is worth more than getting the best price on copy paper." Develop positive partnerships with your marketing and communications people and you'll get better results.

_{Header image by Walter Groesel, SXC. Body image buy Dominik Gwarek, SXC.}