Top tips to get the best from your agency

Let’s start with an apology…
I considered myself a fairly good client, until I went to work for an agency. Then I realised how many numpty things I’d done that must have caused grief.

Let me retrospectively and sincerely apologise to all concerned (I’m looking at you WWAV).

Few clients are trained on how to work effectively with agencies. When you’re starting out, it’s hard to know what practical  steps you can take to help your agency produce excellent work. So when I returned client-side, I ran training sessions for my colleagues to help them improve relationships with their direct marketing agencies. Though it was written for fundraising managers, I think the principles apply across sectors and agency types. I hope you can learn from my experiences.

Common client frustrations
Client frustrations with an agency often materialise in a plea is “How do I get them to do what I want?” (accompanied by a rolling of eyes).

Most frustrations arise when you review the creative work produced by the agency. However, the vast majority of these problems are originally caused directly by things you can influence much earlier in the project.

I have 8 tips to help you generate excellent work with your agency. I’ll cover one per blog post.

Tip 1: Know what you want

Before you contact an agency
You must take time to clarify in your own mind what you want the project to achieve. It may sound obvious but I’ve seen plenty of woolly briefs that change direction daily, so this is not universally done.

Don’t rush
When you’re a busy marketing manager, it’s easy to rush the work off your desk to make it the agency’s responsibility. The trouble is that when you actually spend a bit of time thinking about what you want, the brief changes. This can result in grief all round.

Clarify your objectives
So take a short time at the beginning of the process to clarify your objective(s). For example, We need to raise £100,000 from alumni by xxx date.

Until you know what you want to achieve, you can’t possibly decide who is best placed to do the work. A clear objective will allow you to consider whether you actually need an agency at all for the project.

Do you need an agency?
Sometimes the best option is to keep a project in-house. This will depend on whether you have the necessary resource available. Don’t forget you need the relevant skills and you need them to be available within your planned timescales.

Check the budget
If you don’t have in-house resource available then you’ll need to work with an agency. And you must ensure you have sufficient budget for the work that needs to be done.  Do not involve your agency with a project until you are sure what budget you have available.

Decide on the level of agency involvement
Once you decide that working with an agency is the correct way to proceed, decide exactly what sort of involvement you need from them. Sometimes you may need to discuss this with them to discover exactly what they can do for you. But you should go in with a rough idea of what level of involvement you want.

Strategic advice or tactical delivery?
Do you need strategic advice on fundraising channels to help draft a marketing plan for next year or do you suddenly have a press ad booked which must be supplied in 2 days? The agency will approach these two jobs in different ways.

Other key factors
You also need to define any other key factors that will impact on the project:

What are the main project deadlines? There may be intermediary deadlines that matter as much as the final deadline.

How much budget is available for this work? Do you want a Mini or a Rolls Royce project?

Who will sign off the work at each stage? This often influences your deadlines.

If you are continually contacting your account handler to change what you’ve already told them you want, it creates unnecessary work for the account handler (and perhaps the planner and/or the creative team). Over time they can’t help but delay briefing your work as they expect it to change. As a result, the planners and/or creative teams may not get as much time on your project as possible. This is not a good thing.

Unavoidable changes
I’m not saying you can’t make any changes once a project starts. Sometimes changes happen that are outwith your control.This is partly what makes marketing an interesting career choice and it is not a problem. Just don’t make a habit of creating extra work for your agency because you’re insufficiently prepared.

Pre-brief discussions
Don’t think I am saying you can’t involve your agency at a very early stage so they can help you formulate your objectives. Often it is useful to kick ideas around with an objective person from an agency while you formulate your plans. But you must be clear that this is what you are doing with them.

Checklist
What are the project objective(s)?
Do you need an agency at all?
Have you sufficient budget to achieve your objectives?
Can you afford to pay for an agency to help deliver the project?
Is there enough time to deliver the project?
What level of agency involvement do you need?
What are the main project deadlines?

Preparation is vital
So prepare yourself before you involve the agency and discuss these issue with them upfront. Then your project will start off in a clear and well-defined manner. This will help your agency do the best possible work for you. And it will help prevent difficulties later in the project.

Next time
Tip 2: Brief your agency well