When was the last time you told your agency what you want them to do for you? Chances are that it was months ago – perhaps even back to the point when you hired them. It sounds simple enough to be clear about what results you’re asking your agency to achieve, and it is, but it tends to be one of those tasks that is done once and then only taken care of again when a problem is perceived.
By that stage the relationship with the agency can become damaged. It feels as though they’re unable to work to your agenda and maybe you need to try someone or something else.
It's our experience that maintaining a clear understanding of expectations between agency and client is made even more challenging by distance. If your service is delivered remotely, maybe in different languages, the situation can be exacerbated. If this sounds like you, what should you be doing to prevent things from going stale?
While changing your agency can seem refreshing, it could be a move that sets you back in terms of time and unnecessary effort. Your incumbent knows your business and knows you, but what they may not know is that what they’re working on isn’t giving you satisfaction. To be sure, it’s a question any good agency should ask every so often, yet appearances can be deceptive - it appear that everything is fine when in fact it is not.
The simple answer is to ask questions and help your agency partners in finding the answers:
Are we getting coverage in the right media?
Are the correct messages getting through?
Should we be looking at other activities?
How can you better support our sales staff?
What impact is activity having on our prospects?
We suggest making this process a quarterly task as part of regular reviews of communications planning. It doesn’t need to be an in-depth session – just asking the questions and acting as a team to giving the answers some thought is all that it takes.
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