Here at SMACK we love making great things happen for clients. But a lot of that success boils down to the briefing and the ongoing relationship between us and the client. If you’re about to start working with a digital agency? This is what to do…
Ask yourself what you hope to achieve?
Before engaging a digital agency, ask yourself why you’re doing it and what you want to achieve. Is it increasing web traffic? Driving sales? Improving brand reputation? And what is the end goal of this activity? Why, ultimately are you doing it? If you identify what the picture of success looks like and are able to relay it to your agency – you’re much more likely to get good value from your agency. Be realistic too. Pretty much no viral video was created by marketers sitting down thinking “I want to create a viral video”.
Don’t be too prescriptive.
Turn the phrase upside down and come to your agency with problems, not solutions. You might think that what you need is just to add more ad budget – but actually that alone, might not be the best way of reaching your audience – keep an open mind. You’re paying an agency because they’re the experts, so make the best of that expertise. Tell your agency broadly what you want to achieve and listen to what they come up with.
Don’t resist defining your audience.
You’ve got a great product to sell and the world needs to hear about it. You can sell it to everyone – and you mean everyone – so why try to limit who you’re talking to?! Right? Wrong. The great thing about digital advertising is that it allows you to refine your target demographics right down to criteria such as age, location and even interests – greatly increasing the likelihood of conversions. Creating a campaign that is highly targeted and really speaks to a key demographic is more likely to drive real results.
Set KPIs.
There’s a saying that what gets measured gets done, and setting achievable goals can ensure that you know you’re getting good value for money from working with your digital agency. Typical KPIs might include your social media reach, web traffic or even e-commerce revenue. Work with your agency to define a set that are ambitious yet realistic.
Be clear on budgets.
Nobody likes to talk about money but it’s necessary. Be clear about your budget, whether it’s big or small so your agency can develop a campaign that will get you the biggest bang for your buck.
The more you put into your agency relationship the more you’ll get back.
At SMACK, co-creation is one of our core values. We believe the best solutions come when we work closely with clients to achieve results. This of course takes trust and respect for each other’s opinions. The more you put into your relationship with an agency the better they’ll be able to understand what you want, what your brand needs and ultimately – get results.