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5 tips from Darwin for healthy marketing agency-client relationships

26 February 2014

Creative marketing agency, True Story, share their unique ethos for developing happy and successful client-agency relationships

Agency life can be unpredictable and fast-changing, and much of this is driven by the needs of the client, both in terms of the workload and perceptions as to how the relationship is going.  

Darwin business

Maintaining a stable agency-client relationship can be the ‘holy grail’ for many agencies, provoking endless conversations as to how best to achieve them, both within agencies and amongst the wider industry. Sustaining harmony in agency-client relationships can be a balancing act because they usually involve many different personalities, with all their ideas and opinions to manage.  

Add into the mix the fact that often, on larger accounts, you may also be sitting round the table with other agencies, some of whom offer similar services and suddenly the relationship can get a whole lot more complex.

True Story is a creative agency for retailers and brands of all shapes and sizes - from high street names to small independents.  

We try to take a tip from Darwin in our client relationships, because as he said:  

“It is the long history of humankind... that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”

With this in mind, here are our top five suggestions for successful agency-client collaboration:

1.  Put ego aside:  

The definition of ego is “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.” When we advocate putting ego aside, it’s the “self-important” element we are referring to - having worked client side we know that managing an agency that isn’t listening to feedback or is jostling for position is one of the less-desirable parts of the job.

We love Mad Men as much as anyone, but there’s a reason why Don Draper belongs to the last century. If other agencies are involved, get together with them before pivotal client meetings, iron out differences of opinion and then present a united front and the best solution for the client. If this means going with the lead idea of another agency, then do so, while delivering your part to the very best of your ability.

2. Clearly define the remit:

A recent poll found that clients believe getting the job done is more important than personal chemistry (PRCA, August 2013).  

However, while ultimately, quality of work is king, the ease of delivery will surely help cement client relationships for future briefs. Before a campaign, project or brief begins, make sure that the parameters are set and everyone knows who is doing what, when. It may sound obvious but it’ll save time, effort and possible discord down-the-line.

3. Trust in the preferred partnership network

As well as recognising your skills and experience, when bringing preferred agencies together the client surely see similarities in your cultures that makes them want to work with you all.  So trust that decision.

Similarly, if as lead agency, you play a role in sourcing suppliers of other niche services, utilise your network’s recommendations.  

Of the three agencies we recently worked with delivering the new Topps Tiles Boutique store concept, only one was previously known to us - the other two were recommendations.

4.  Deliver value for money …. and firstly understand what ‘value for money’ means to your client. 

It’s probably not so much about the volume of ‘stuff’ you produce - contact reports, PowerPoint presentations and the like - rather, more around delivering intelligent insight and provoking conversations that show you’re in tune with the brand, as well as surprising creative concepts and ideas that push the boundaries in exciting ways. However, perceptions of value for money will undoubtedly be affected by budget control.

So when spending client funds, it’s imperative to pin down budgets before the money is spent. If your agency has overall responsibility for the budget, but others may be spending part of it, consider penalty clauses to ensure all parties adhere to their parameters.

5.  Project manage, manage, manage

No matter how many individuals or agencies are involved in the process, clients deserve a seamless service.  So ensure you have a robust account / project management resource on board that can cope with both the client and any other participating parties - it’ll be worth it in the long run, even if it squeezes today’s ever-tighter margins.

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Danielle Stagg

Written by Danielle Stagg