Apart from an agency’s craft and quality, a strong agency-client relationship can help you achieve great results as a client.
A seamless client-agency communication results in exciting and encouraging campaigns. In a digital marketing environment, it is crucial that your agency understands your needs and frequently communicates with you. They must be willing to take the initiative and produce new, innovative ideas to ensure success in this dynamic and competitive field.
When you sign a contract with a digital agency, you trust it; therefore, much depends on your relationship. So, apart from skills, which matter but are not a decisive factor in your success, other things matter more.
Maintaining a healthy long-term relationship with the agency is important. So, if there are cracks in it or your agency is not giving its 100 percent, you can be on the receiving end of the deal.
Regularly evaluate your relationship to ensure that you are getting what you need. You should also ensure that your agency is committed and dedicated to helping you achieve your business goals.
7 Ways to Spot a Great Agency-Client Relationship
Here are the seven tips for finding an agency that offers a great agency-client relationship.
1. Seek Transparency
Most businesses hire digital agencies because they don’t possess the expertise and skills required to achieve the desired results online and don’t want to expand their team size.
But, in the real world, finding a committed agency is not child’s play. Many mushrooming agencies say “yes” to every question you ask or request you make as a client. They act positively during conversations, but it can be a huge red flag. Transparent agencies don’t say yes to everything, especially the expectations that are irrational and unrealistic.
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Pro Tip: A genuinely committed and professional agency will not say “yes” to all your demands. Instead, they will tell you upfront things that are achievable and that you shouldn’t expect in the given time frame. You can use it as a litmus test.
2. Get To Know Your Team
Professional agencies will provide you access to the entire team executing your campaign. Substandard ones will keep these things private. They can even go to the extent of introducing you to the senior team members, who will not supposedly handle your project.
They can assign your project to junior staffers or freelancers that can be incompetent.
This is not a good situation. You need to know who is handling what so that you can monitor your campaigns and provide your input wherever required to achieve the best results.
So, just after your sales meeting, ask the agency to arrange a meeting with the individuals handling your account.
Knowing the people involved with your campaigns and people you can refer to for feedback and operational details is crucial.
3. Have Flexible Processes
For better project management, your agency should have an adaptable and flexible process. You should clearly define every project’s scope of work (SOW). It should be properly mentioned in the contract, so everyone is on the same page.
You should precisely define the processes and document them for your reference.
However, it doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any flexibility in the process. If you feel that something extra needs to be done urgently, you should be able to immediately change the course and do it.
Suppose you change your mind after signing the contract and want to pause a Google ads campaign for two weeks. A competent agency should be able to understand this and be able to pause the campaign without offering excuses and adhering strictly to the process.
4. Ensure That Your Needs Are Prioritized
It’s quite strange, but it is frequently observed that most agencies focus on generating as much money as possible from their clients. It’s justified if they offer value and charge for the premium services, but what makes it worse is that they aren’t willing to put that much effort and time into your project. Instead, they do as little as possible if you don’t track it regularly.
As a business owner, you should be aware that it is quite prevalent in the market, which is why businesses fail to get the best results and ROI on their campaigns. However, it does not apply to all digital marketing agencies.
Professional agencies focus on your business objectives to ensure your success because that gives them tons of business as referrals and positive reviews.
5. Ensure That You Can Communicate Smoothly and Effectively
You must ensure that you can communicate with your agency without hesitation or curbing. For a successful project, seamless communication should happen at all levels.
You should be able to communicate via email, SMS, phone calls, chatbots, or even WhatsApp messages if needed.
You should also conduct frequent meetings so everyone can sit down and get updates across teams. You should also have access to the analytics platform if they use one because that will maintain transparency.
Agency Tip: With DashClick’s white-label agency platform, an agency can offer their clients a unified dashboard through which they can track everything using the analytics software.
With the DashClicks’ Analytics software, you can change the settings and view the most crucial metrics on the homepage to instantly track the metrics that are most important for you.
6. Don’t Hire a Passive Agency
Even though it is an essential ingredient of success, few agencies are proactive and innovative. If an agency wants to add value, it must suggest new approaches and ideas to the clients to help them outsmart their competition.
A passive agency would follow the scope of the work and will do just what is needed and agreed upon initially in the contract.
Suggesting new ideas, tactics, and ways requires expertise and willingness to excel and supersede the competition. Sadly, it’s outside the DNA of every agency. So, choose the best agency that thinks out of the box and is highly innovative.
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The most successful agencies in the world in which team members suggest new ideas and share possibilities with their clients.
It’s crucial to boosting their online presence and conversions. It is also observed that most agencies are interested in earning regular money without providing any value addition, and they consider it a success. They call it “business on autopilot.”
Brainstorming new ideas and processes takes a lot of work, and most agencies are not ready to put in that kind of effort.
Trading your expertise, following the latest trends, and sharing strategic possibilities are top signs of a reliable agency. Such agencies are always willing to research market trends and implement innovative practices.
It gives their clients an edge over others. Clients can greatly benefit from their knowledge and expertise to break barriers and achieve new heights of success.
7. Find an Agency That Is Passionate About Digital Marketing
Last but not least, you can easily assess whether your agency is passionate about digital marketing. They should love the work they are into. They shouldn’t do it just to add another income stream.
And if you feel that your agency is not working wholeheartedly, you should approach another agency. Be ready for the tough conversations because they will bring great value onboard.
Final Words
We have discussed a few red flags above to help you differentiate mediocre agencies from great ones. Use these tips to spot a great agency for your digital marketing campaigns. Make sure your agency is transparent, professional, and open for regular communication. Make sure that they use the latest tools and software and are data-driven.