How to Improve Communication With Your Marketing Partner
Are you struggling to get the campaign or project results you expected? Do you feel like your direction is going in one ear and out the other? Are requested revisions being missed over and over? These problems are all too common … and frustrating for clients working with marketing and advertising partners.
Here are some tips to streamline communication directly from the mouths of the experts – Vimarc’s Account Service team.
Tip #1: Outline communication and working styles
Set expectations about how you’d like to communicate and work together. Do you prefer weekly status meetings or as-needed communication? Would you like for them to be in-person or over the phone? How do you prefer to review creative? Answering these questions (and more) will set your relationship up for success.
Tip #2: Share key objectives from the start
Defining project or campaign objectives from the beginning will allow your agency to provide strategic recommendations that best meet your goals. In addition, without these benchmarks, it is impossible to determine the effectiveness of the outcome.
Tip #3: Don’t be afraid to overshare
It might feel like word vomit, but sharing even the smallest details will help the agency frame up “the why”. Furthermore, having the full picture will reduce rework and revisions, ultimately increasing efficiency. Sharing objectives, audiences, project specs, budget parameters, deadlines, etc., will expedite the process and improve the final product.
Tip #4: Be transparent
Agencies receive feedback from clients all day long – good and bad. It’s OK to communicate your honest reaction with enough forward-moving direction to make sure it supports the overall strategic vision. This doesn’t just apply to project work. If you’re experiencing the same performance issue frequently (e.g., missed deadlines), share it. This kind of communication is how agencies continually improve and how great partnerships are built.
At the end of the day, if you’re not being heard by your agency, you’re probably not with the right partner.
Contact us to find out if our team is the right fit for your organization.
