There are many aspects to building a successful agency. Juggling different projects and deadlines, managing multiple teams, and being proactive with your own marketing efforts are all essential to success. While the work itself is important, it’s also vital to establish strong, positive agency-client relationships to grow your digital marketing agency. You could be one of the best digital marketing company in the world in terms of results but if your clients find it difficult to work with you, or you don’t align with their philosophy and culture, the working relationship will be doomed to failure. Keep your clients happy and you’ll reap the rewards.
1. Strive to Set Clear Expectations
Setting expectations in terms of timelines, results, or processes means fewer surprises down the line for you. This can provide a sense of predictability that helps you to feel in control and confident in the process. When approaching search engine optimization, for example, it can be easy to assume that once you hire an agency your search engine rankings will be boosted overnight.
In reality, website optimization is an ongoing process that can sometimes take several months to see notable results and is dependent on many factors. When an agency fails to address program expectations ahead of time, they risk leaving you feeling under-served or misled.
2. Break down the process fully
As a rule, it’s best to avoid surprises. Clients don’t need an agency that adapts well on the fly. They want an organized, well-planned campaign. Clearly explain how you work generally, and how you will work for this client specifically. What is your process, and why does it suit this campaign? It’s also a great time to share case studies or examples from former clients. This will give them a better idea of your specialties.
Digital marketing agencies should identify customer touchpoints making them have knowledge of the whole process. Touchpoints are how your brand engages with the client. These might be face-to-face meetings, weekly email updates, or creative direction at certain points in the campaign. Clients should know when they can expect to hear from you, and what you need from them.
3. Communicate Regularly and Effectively
It’s important for your clients to be kept in the loop of what’s going on with their campaigns. This way, they are actively involved in the process and have the opportunity to ask questions and request changes. You should make it clear from the start how your clients can contact you and how frequently they should expect to touch base. This might include:
- Answering emails within a set time
- Having scheduled weekly phone calls to discuss projects
- Setting up regular review meetings
- Sending reports and results of campaigns on a monthly basis.
It’s important that, while your clients should be able to reach you on short notice in an emergency, they must also understand what is an acceptable level of contact clearly.
4. Understand Your Client Requirement Better
In the early stages of a relationship, you need to commit time and energy to learn about your partners. At present, this is a significant challenge for digital marketing agencies in Sydney. For agencies focusing on a specific niche, this may not be a problem. But if you take on a client from industry, you’re not completely familiar with, you need to get up to speed quickly. Media monitoring can help with this. Track online conversations around industry topics, and try to gauge public sentiment about similar products.
This is a quick way to do market research before turning to time-consuming surveys and focus groups. This is especially valuable for clients in competitive industries. You need to know what opponents, supporters, and the news media say in order to create appropriate creative work. If you can speak authoritatively about your client’s industry and show that you’ve done your homework, you increase your chances of building a lasting relationship.
5. Respect Time
Your workweek is booked, your inbox requires constant attention and you may sometimes find yourself scrambling to get your job duties completed. Any great digital marketing agency will recognize that long-winded emails and unstructured meetings are inconsiderate of your time. Good partners will ensure meetings bring value to those involved and are respectful of your time by:
- Sharing agendas ahead of time,
- Sticking to the allotted time scheduled
- Avoiding tangents and off-topic conversations
- Concluding with next steps for each party
6. Work Together in Partnership
Encourage your clients to see your agency as an extension of their own business, not just as another service provider. The key to building great relationships and achieving great results is to work together as partners to achieve a common goal. Make sure you take the time to listen to your clients and deliver what they truly need. Remember, while digital agencies in Sydney may be the experts on marketing, they know their brand and customers better than you do.
