How B2B marketers can get the most out of their creative agency
In summary
- Be clear about the kind of relationship you want from and with your agency
- Relevant expertise and experience
- Chemistry – it’s all about feeling
- Honesty and transparency
- Kicking personal professional and business goals together
We have a mantra here which is “in service of our clients.”
Wei is our Client Services Director, resident foodie, and all-around good egg. She leads our client services team to make sure that we deliver on the promises that we make to all our clients. She’s a unique cookie and has a special relationship with the people we work with. So we picked her brains on how as B2B marketers, you can get the most out of your creative agency relationship.
After all, a relationship is a two-way street, so we thought we’d share. 😊
What key ingredients make a great client-agency relationship?
- Be clear about the kind of relationship you want from and with your agency
Do you want an on-time on-budget doer? Or are you after a more strategic partnership, an agency to keep you on your toes and help shape your thinking. That creative team that’s going to challenge you and your teams in new ways and add value that way.
- Relevant expertise and experience
Before you meet an agency, you can easily check out if they are in your area. You can glean a lot from agency websites, LinkedIn, recent work, case studies, creds decks etc.
We work with global companies in the B2B SaaS, Tech or Software space so when potential clients check us out, they can see we aren’t generalists. We’ve been there and seen it before, so we understand what’s unique in the tech world. The jargon, the need to simplify the complex, and the necessity of balancing emotion and rationality for example. You want the feeling you don’t need to spend ages on-boarding an agency and getting them up to speed.
- Chemistry – it’s all about feeling
This is a really important area. It’s not just about what they’re saying, but how they’re saying it. Look out for their body language, and observe the team dynamics. Do they come across as relaxed with each other? Is it a team that gels? Are there a couple of people who seem dominant, or do you get that feeling that each person is there for a reason and bringing something different and valuable to the table.
So, from there, what does your gut tell you? Culturally are they a good fit, do they share the same values and vision as yourself, and your organization? And most important do you like them! Can you see yourself and your teams working with them?
- Honesty and transparency
We highly recommend letting your agency in and being candid with them. For example, if it’s a prescriptive brief, don’t feel bad for them, just say it as it is. But at the same time if there’s that opportunity for your agency to flex their creative muscle because appetite time and budgets allow for it, then let them know, get them excited and let them run with it.
If it’s screaming urgent tell us, and we’ll burn the midnight oil, and if it isn’t tell us and we can all get some Zzzz’s.
- Kicking personal professional and business goals together
You get out of it what you put into it. It’s a cliché, but clichés are clichés for a good reason!
Invest in the people you’re going to be working very closely with really take the time to get to know each other as people, versus just clients and agencies.
We really feel a good professional relationship alongside a personal one is the magic ingredient. It’s that holy grail. it opens it up and goes such a long way towards everybody kicking their personal professional and business goals together.
And importantly just making that process enjoyable for everybody.
This was part of an interview on The Changemakers podcast. Check out the whole interview here.
That was really useful, I’d like more insights like that please!
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