How to work well with your client?

The relationship between the marketing agency and the client is critical to the success of any marketing campaign. How can the client and the agency establish and maintain quality cooperation that will bring the desired results? Here are some tips to help you improve your relationship with your client.

1. Set clear goals and expectations

Before starting cooperation, the client and the agency must agree on what they want to achieve with the campaign and what the budget, timeline, and success criteria are. The client must provide the agency with as much information as possible about his company, products, target audience, and competition. The agency must present its strategy, ideas, and way of working to the client.

2. Communicate regularly and transparently

Communication is the foundation of any good relationship. You need to establish an effective communication process that allows for a quick and easy exchange of information, feedback, and opinions. The agency must be responsive and flexible to the client’s needs and wishes, written down in the brief. Participation in the preparation of the brief, which should always be in written form, is recommended, but debriefing is also important, where the agency explains to the client its understanding of the project, the goals, and the path to the desired results.

3. Trust each other

Trust is essential for long-term cooperation between the client and the agency. The client must believe that the agency is working in his interest and that he has the ability to execute a successful campaign. The agency must respect the client as an expert in its field and treat it as a partner and fulfill its promises. Trust is built over time, by consistently fulfilling agreements, by demonstrating results, and by finding solutions to potential problems. The client and the agency must recognize that they are part of the same team working towards the same goal. This means that adaptation is required on both sides.

4. Give yourself enough time and freedom

Marketing campaigns do not always produce immediate results. It takes time for marketing activities to be conceived, designed, and executed, which requires patience and trust in the agency. The client must be willing to cooperate with the agency and support it over a long period of time so that the campaign can achieve its long-term goals. The agency must be given enough time and freedom to develop its creativity and expertise, but it must take into account the requirements (from the brief) and the limitations faced by the client.

5. Measure results

Define the criteria based on which you will measure the success of cooperation in advance and make them completely clear. Also, consider the typical length of the buying process in your client’s / product industry – if the average buying process takes three months, you can’t promise sales results in a week. Therefore, take into account and evaluate several KPIs, as this way, you will be able to propose appropriate additions already during the campaign.

The agency must understand that the client is the one paying for the services and therefore must adapt its relationship with the client. The agency must clearly understand the client’s requirements and correctly interpret the goals and expectations. At the same time, the agency must use its professional knowledge and experience and propose alternatives to the client that can contribute to even better results.

You can find more in the article by Iztok Sila entitled “From a client to a marketing agency”, which was published in Marketing magazine no. 503 May 2023, p. 38-39.