The relationship between you and the agency you have hired can be rewarding and profitable on both sides if it is built with solid foundations.
If done right, both sides understand each other’s perspective and work in cohesion together as a partnership. This might sound odd given the dynamics as, yes, a client does pay and hire an agency, but it’s the same as hiring someone in-house. You’re trusting a team to take on your business and grow it like it’s their own, so this relationship must be built on strong communication.
It doesn’t matter how good your agency is. They could be the best digital marketing agency London has to offer. Still, without the right information and an in-depth understanding of how you want your business to be portrayed and your ideas for the businesses development, well, then it’s like trying to do a puzzle without all the pieces. You can only get so far.
So let’s take a look at why it is so important to brief your agency fully.
Why Is Briefing So Important?
Any partnership is built with communication, which rings especially true when it comes to the relationship between client and agency.
As soon as you think of this agency of people as colleagues and people you work with rather than people that work for you, this is when it becomes truly collaborative, and the sky’s the limit on how flourishing this partnership can be.
Dealing with your agency as you would your in-house staff members means that each campaign and each step taken will be with transparency and understanding in mind, which is critical.
These solid foundations are garnered from the first interactions and, most importantly, the clients brief. A client might view a brief as just a formality and not provide much detail, just the basics; this can be detrimental to the future relationship between the client and their agency.
A brief can also be a broad term – it doesn’t just mean a particular project or campaign, but ‘briefing’ your agency can simply refer to the communication you have with your agency. So being as clear as possible will only benefit both sides.
It also works both ways! Your agency should be honest and upfront with you about your business potential, the progress that can be made, and how success will be achieved. The saying goes, it takes two to tango after all…
It Saves Time And Money
One of the most essential reasons behind briefing your digital marketing agency in full detail is the time and money it saves.
As a client, if you give little detail about what you want or the type of messaging that’s valuable to your brand, it should come as little surprise when either the tone of voice isn’t quite right, or the written content doesn’t have your brands ‘feel.’
Instead, giving your digital marketing agency a good idea of what core values your brand holds, what ideal audience you’re targeting, and what sets your tone of voice apart from the outset can avoid any unnecessary back and forth. This means you get your content out into the world quicker, and your agency can begin working towards achieving your desired goals.
This saves time, communication, doubled workloads, and money because it means that your agency is using your package, or your retainer, towards work that actively contributes to your KPIs.
You Build A Better Relationship
Another crucial reason to brief your digital marketing agency properly is so that you have the opportunity to build a strong relationship with each other.
If the brief is not detailed or clear and is left slightly ambiguous, then the agency will work with what they’ve got. But this will likely lead to revisions – which are never negative! But if the pieces of work, especially when it comes to on-page content, this can create an unnecessary strain on the partnership.
Whereas if all ideas are shared from the offset, you can communicate more profitably for the business. This isn’t saying you have to know exactly what you want from the offset, that is part of the agency’s role is to help steer you in the marketing world.
However, more detailed guidance and instructions will result in quicker turnaround times and work. You are both satisfied with these more straightforward and open conversations on how to progress the content further and what the brand can grow to be.
Clear Strategy From Both Sides
So strategy is everything in marketing. Coming up with a clear goal that you are working toward is crucial for the growth of the business and overall cohesion across both social channels and website content.
This is why when your digital marketing agency is not briefed about your core KPIs or the tangible results you’d like to see, it can be detrimental to the work produced – especially when it comes to paid campaigns!
If you both think the goals are different and work towards those opposite goals, it will show in the overall marketing strategy and come across as broken and disjointed. This can be the case even if your agency believes a growth strategy is most beneficial, and you, as the client, disagree. It’s important that all differences in opinion are communicated to find a strategy that clearly works towards your core KPIs in the most effective and prosperous way.
So, this is why you and your digital marketing agency should work collaboratively to lay out your goals, both short term and long term. Not only will your agency then create work intended to meet these goals, but will use their industry insight to help guide your KPIs to be more achievable and effective for your brand, ensuring a more successful marketing campaign.
Overall the best thing is always to be oversharing rather than stay quiet. As much as you’d like to hear from your agency, they likely want to hear from you just as much! Setting those clear communication expectations at the outset of your partnership will be so beneficial for the long term and the longevity of the relationship.
More often than not, your agency wants to see your brand succeed and the work that they put time and effort into garner genuine results for your business.
This is why it is crucial just for you that to truly get your money’s worth, you be as informative as possible and brief (as well as update) your digital marketing agency. It’s a win-win all round!
