7 Ways to Get the Most from a Creative Agency
Creative is a tricky thing. Every bit of content and visuals reflects on your business—and once that creative is released it’s out there forevermore, for good or ill or in between. A brilliant YouTube video can launch a multimillion dollar business. An expensive but ho-hum website will be ignored. A few hundred characters in a tone-deaf tweet can take down a personality in a matter of hours.
That’s why hiring a firm to help with communications may be the right move if you don’t want to or for whatever reason can’t handle communications internally. And like any function you outsource, success depends on how well you manage the relationship with the professionals you hire.
If you’ve never worked with an agency before, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Do your homework. That translates to helping the agency understand your company, its challenges, its customers, its goals and its issues. Have briefing materials ready. Yes, collecting that information is labor intensive, but a thorough orientation will minimize confusion and false starts.
Designate a single point of contact. Select a project manager to funnel direction and feedback from the client side. This will streamline the info sharing and keep everyone on the same page.
Be responsive. When your supporting players ask for something, whether it’s to review a draft or answer a question, it’s important to respond quickly. No one wants to pester, so don’t leave items hanging or respond to only three out of five questions. If you can’t meet your agency’s deadlines, they can’t meet yours.
Be candid. When you’re reviewing a plan, sketch or draft, don’t hold back. If you don’t like something, speak up—and explain why as specifically as possible.
Understand the timetable. Edits and midstream changes in direction are part of the process, and timelines should reflect that reality. Also, recognize that it’s not unusual for the approval process to take 3-4 times longer than the initial development of content or visuals.
Solicit feedback early. Run preliminary strategies and tactics by senior management before giving the agency the green light to finalize any work. In other words, make sure there is buy-in from the powers that be fairly early in the process.
Hold regular update meetings. Whether it’s once a day during a rush project or every two weeks for an ongoing campaign, having a regular call can keep a project on track. If there’s a lot to go over at any time, make an agenda and send it in advance of the meeting. That way, if you don’t cover everything on the call, you can finish up via email.
