Unlocking Synergy: Navigating the Dynamics of Client-Agency Partnerships
Finding the Right Client-Agency Fit Series – Part 4
So you’ve hired and onboarded an agency. Great!
Now comes the process of making it work and reaching your goals. Although it’s imperative to business growth, building and maintaining a positive—and effective—client-agency relationship is often overlooked.
Relationships are more nuanced than KPIs and metrics, and I’ve yet to see actual client-agency training, even though it’s so important for daily interactions and long-term success. That’s why a lot of us fly by the seat of our pants, figuring it out as we go (but often missing the mark).
After 15+ years on the agency and client sides, I’m here to share key principles and dynamics that shape successful partnerships. In this installment of the client-agency fit series, I delve into demystifying the inner workings of a powerful client-agency relationship.
Principles for Building a Synergistic Client-Agency Relationship
It can be hard at times to put your finger on why something isn’t working. People are unique. The same goes for businesses and agencies. Thus, personality conflicts are bound to surface.
While there’s no simple checklist that guarantees harmony, there are some grounding key principles worth leaning on to nurture an effective agency-client relationship, or troubleshoot when things are a little rocky.
Alignment
Organizations are cross-functional by nature; securing buy-in from other departments or team members is imperative. I’ve found that while having a great point of contact (POC) in an organization is helpful, what matters more is the alignment of the full team. This alignment is imperative to driving productive conversations, decisions, and results.
Integration
With alignment comes organic integration. You don’t want to babysit an agency—you want one that’s an extension of your existing team. For a client-agency partnership to function optimally, a workable interdependence must develop. The two must integrate their interactions and communications.
Culture
At this point (after hiring), you understand both parties have the same or similar culture and values. Now, it’s about practicing what you both preach. For example, if your business and team value transparency, both sides should consistently embody that. You might ask yourself:
- “Have we set up communication in such a way that both sides give and receive the transparency they need?”
- “How can we embody transparency during this next meeting?”
- “What do we need in order to deliver transparency for this campaign?”
And if you sense your team or the agency is slipping off the transparency bandwagon, it’s time for an accountability chat, bringing me to my next point.
Accountability
In a healthy partnership, both sides keep each other accountable without being argumentative or defensive. Accountability is about openly communicating progress, actions, conflicts, and outcomes. It also means being clear on who owns approvals and who implements those approvals, reporting on KPIs/goals, and getting the job done.
Accountability entails questions like:
- “Why did this happen?”
- “What was your thought process when pursuing this?”
- “What have we learned from this, and how can we apply that moving forward?”
Keep in mind that accountability should not drive shame. There’s a difference between saying, “You’re not doing your job,” versus, “I feel this is not aligned with our quarterly objectives. Can we discuss how we can make the right adjustments?”
Accountability drives empathy, responsibility, humility, and growth.
Complementary
A working relationship is most effective when there’s a good match between the client’s strengths/limitations and what the agency offers. You want the agency to not only help improve your limitations but also capitalize on your strengths.
For example, if you’re not well-versed in PPC strategies, you’ll want your agency to consistently fulfill that role. Or maybe you are well-versed in PPC—you just need a team that can keep your campaign afloat and back up discoveries and decisions with relevant KPIs.
A good partnership involves two parties that have each other’s back. This is symbiosis and trust.
Communication
Communication can make or break the client-agency relationship.Keep in mind the unique elements that can impact communication:
- Context and environment: Physical space, cultural norms, and distractions impact communication. A person who keeps going in and out of the Zoom meeting room to take other calls is not only distracting but can also deter you from effectively communicating.
- Listening: Listening to understand and not just to respond helps individuals see each other’s perspectives and fosters empathy. It also helps guide the conversation in the right direction.
- Feedback: There’s good and bad feedback. Good feedback is constructive; it’s candid yet caring even when the feedback is negative. It also involves asking and answering questions. Bad feedback undermines and leans on coercive tactics. There’s a level of ego involved, indicating the messenger isn’t fully rooted in results—rather, it’s about making themself feel good.
- Technology: Understanding the nuances of virtual written communication (e.g., emails, Slack messages, data platforms) is critical to maintaining impactful communication across remote and hybrid environments.
- Frequency: Providing timely communication (e.g., responding within 24 hours) and keeping each other updated on industry shifts/trends fuels a productive client-agency relationship. It can also positively impact the level of engagement between the two parties.
Recognizing a Good Client-Agency Relationship
A good agency understands the position its POC is in and knows that what’s good for the contact is good for the entire campaign.
Conversely, a good client grasps the inherent value of a strong client-agency relationship. They acknowledge that collaboration and mutual respect are essential ingredients for maximizing the partnership’s potential.
Let’s break this down by exploring three attributes of a good agency and three attributes of a good client. The takeaway? A quality client-agency relationship is a two-way street. Both sides need to meet each other halfway, creating symbiosis.
On the Agency Side
#1: Good Agencies Help POCs Create a Fluid Communication Process
When POCs deliver what their executives need to make informed decisions, this elevates alignment, communication, and trust across all stakeholders. A good agency knows this and supports its POC by helping establish a fluid communication process.
Here are some ways agencies can help facilitate this smooth process for POCs:
- It can be useful to create a summary of results a POC can share with their team.
- Sometimes, it’s just about matching personalities. When agencies do their due diligence in assessing the POC’s traits and preferences, making the necessary shifts on their end to work with those traits and preferences, they create symbiosis with the POC and beyond.
#2: Good Agencies Eliminate Silos
Successful digital marketing campaigns acknowledge the holistic nature of digital marketing platforms and tactics. There isn’t one marketing strategy that is superior to another. They all maximize one another’s strengths.
A good agency embodies this by driving a team that collaborates across all business units. They focus on eliminating silos on both the agency and client sides. Doing so makes room for a more integrated, collaborative, and mutually beneficial relationship.
For example:
A good agency does not silo SEO work; they will facilitate integrating with a client’s full marketing efforts like PPC, email marketing, and social media. An agency team member may inquire about other initiatives the client is undertaking and discuss how ongoing client-agency efforts fit with those initiatives.
If an agency creates content for SEO, then why not use that content in social and email campaigns, too? That’s smart—and makes the whole marketing effort more cohesive.
This approach enables the agency to fully leverage all resources to fulfill client goals, refining the messaging to the client’s target audience.
#3: Good Agencies Do Not Overpromise
Good agencies communicate realistic expectations to their client POC. Overpromising leads to disappointments and corroding relationships not just between the agency and POC, but also between the POC and their respective higher-ups.
Instead of overpromising, good agencies understand their strengths, limitations, and position in the competitive landscape. They set and communicate realistic goals with transparency. Impactful digital marketing outcomes take time and finesse.
On the Client Side
Being a good client is as crucial as having a competent agency. Take it from Jared Belsky, CEO and co-founder of digital marketing agency Acadia.
Belsky published a book titled You Get the Agency You Deserve.
In his book, Belsky candidly reflects on his tenure as a brand manager at Coca-Cola and acknowledges his past shortcomings as a client. Here, we distill three vital lessons from Belsky’s wisdom, illuminating the path toward becoming a better client and, consequently, fostering more fruitful collaborations.
“I was a terrible client in my late 20’s at Coca-Cola.
“I was demanding, I wrote vague briefs, I did not motivate well.
“I gave feedback like ‘make this more vibrant’ or ‘we need better results.’ I can visualize what the agencies were probably thinking or saying and it sort of makes me want to puke.”
So, what can clients/organizations do to avoid such a chronically nauseating experience?
#1: Good Clients Manifest Curiosity, Empathy, and Trust
Belsky further expands in an interview with AdAge:
“Over the years I’ve made it a point to ask chief marketing officers, CEOs and other top executives whether they have ever had training in how to get the best work from agency partners. Most told me they wanted to learn how to be a better client.
“By navigating moments when things go awry, a great client creates a virtuous cycle that reinforces confidence, candor and, ultimately, great work. We can create more great clients by setting a new standard in training and practice.
“It starts with a shift from coercive to curious leadership, viewing agencies as critical support and focusing on understanding the source of different perspectives and ideas.”
#2: Good Clients Have Frequent Touchpoints with Agencies
The empathetic lens Belsky illuminates leads to better conversations and cooperation.
A recurring theme I’ve heard from decision-makers across organizations is the value of frequent conversations for driving better relationships. Communication frequency spurs more impactful collaboration.
#3: Good Clients Eliminate Silos Among Their Departments
Let’s say a business has a POC from its in-house marketing team. It’s best if this person works closely with other important internal departments like sales, product, and customer support. Our team also has client POCs loop in their colleagues to help us source more information. This ensures the information they give us includes input from all these areas, allowing us to create a comprehensive strategic approach.
Story from Thriving Client-Agency Relationships
At Big Leap, we seek clients who recognize the long-term value and compounding nature of digital marketing. These folks aren’t just looking for a quick win; they understand online marketing is an enduring strategy—one that involves thinking years ahead and leaning on the key principles just mentioned.
Here is a client-agency story that illustrates how powerful client-agency relationships manifest on both sides.
Client-Agency Story: Driving Alignment & Excellence with a Car-Rental Company
Start of partnership: 2018
POV: The Client Side
As an enterprise, a copious amount of red tape is probably the biggest challenge businesses like this client face. Testing new ideas and implementing changes often takes significantly longer than it does other businesses. Ideas can get rejected by other departments (e.g., legal), leading teams back to the drawing board. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case.
This large car rental client needed an agency that could collaborate with multiple key stakeholders with constantly shifting needs. The client’s partnership with Big Leap enabled the client team to optimize their marketing workflow across crucial key stakeholders and craft an effective SEO strategy. This successful long-term relationship is built every day on trust, transparency, and communication.
Director of eCommerce and Digital Marketing, Car Rental Company:
“They take a humble approach to SEO, consistently over-delivering on results, working honestly and creatively to solve problems. Whether they are working with our developers or working with our other agencies and teams, I trust the Big Leap team as much as I would trust my own internal team.”
POV: The Agency Side
Establishing a streamlined strategy to helm enterprise SEO demands along with managing several key stakeholders merits patience, time, and consistent communication.
James Straatman, Vice President of Product, Big Leap:
“It is very much about being a key partner that can work with their internal team … lockstep, if you will, and be that trusted advisor.”
Aligning expectations, goals, and relationship dynamics up-front was essential. Our contact on the client side consistently aligns with their internal team members. This helps our digital marketing team cohesively blend communication and workflow processes with them, which fosters a rich partnership.
In the end, the results are lucrative from both a relational and business perspective.
Shemmah Al-Darweesh, Digital Marketing Director, Big Leap:
“Long-term campaigns, and the relationships and collaboration required to maintain them, always give us the best results when it comes to SEO … by pairing the industry expertise of [our client’s] internal teams with Big Leap’s SEO expertise, we have been able to take advantage of a wide range of opportunities in the search landscape and capitalize on them together. This has kept the campaign going strong through unanticipated global events, shifts in the economic climate, and industry changes.”
Remember: Friction Doesn’t Always Equal Failure
Let’s take a moment to revisit this timeline from Part 2 of the client-agency series. Remember, at the beginning of any partnership, there will always be a period of friction and fine-tuning.
So keep these common friction points in mind before deciding to leave a partnership too soon:
Common Friction Points
Months 1-3
During the first three months, the client and agency learn each other’s communication and work styles to lay the groundwork for a successful partnership. As a result, common friction points include:
- Sorting out communication dynamics and styles
- Defining success
Months 3-6
The KPIs you’re tracking may begin to take shape at this point. Common friction points include:
- POCs growing impatient due to the pressures of showing a return to higher-ups
- POC changes triggering communication roadblocks/issues
- More ROI demands from PPC campaigns
Months 6–12 and beyond
SEO results typically begin to manifest in this timeframe. Possible friction points entail:
- Addressing dips in rankings due to algorithm/industry updates
- Having to assess and report reasons for performance dips or a lack of substantial results to higher-ups
- Reassessments of yearly or quarterly budgets causing strategy pivots
As Tom McSherry, Managing Director of LeadLocal, puts it:
So, I encourage you to approach your partnership with a learning lens. Roadblocks are inevitable. Thus, it’s about nurturing a partnership rooted in humility and accountability—these traits can make all the difference in establishing a powerful versus a weak client-agency relationship.
Did I Cover Everything?
The goal of this series is not simply to share insights but also to initiate a conversation. If I’ve left out anything here, I’m all ears. What’s your experience been like? What helped and didn’t help solidify a successful partnership?
I encourage you to reach out to me about any essential points I may have missed or any further questions you have.
Up Next… Part 5: The Results of a Successful Marketing Partnership
Next, I dive into the results of a successful marketing partnership, because a partnership isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it type of deal. As the years go by, circumstances will prompt both parties to pivot strategies.
How do you add value to prolong a relationship? What are some indicators of a successful partnership over time?
I hope you stick with me in the final part of the client-agency fit series.
That’s Enough
About Us.
Here’s the thing about our SEO agency: We prefer long-term partnerships that are deeply rooted in trust. Before we dive right into this, we’d like to get to know you better, get a feel for your current situation, and talk about your marketing goals and expectations.
You can call us now, or we can meet over lunch. Either way, we’re excited to meet you.
