
No one wants to feel they’re wasting money, or not getting what they pay for. If you’ve decided to use a comms agency, it’s a solid step forward in the world of marketing efforts. While agencies can achieve wonders for your brand, remember that a truly successful strategy requires your active participation. So how can you make sure you get your money’s worth?
Think campaigns not tasks!
Look at the bigger plan. Whilst it may seem to cost more in the beginning it’ll be much more cost-effective, will flow better, and have better consistency if it’s all planned and delivered together. It can be problematic when you have lots of smaller, individual tasks that don’t really work together or join up. If you’re having trouble defining the purpose of your campaign, consider which of the following goals aligns the most with your own:
- To promote a new product or service
- To increase brand awareness
- To gather customer feedback or content
- To generate revenue
- Boost user engagement
- Advertise an upcoming event.
By deciding this, the individual elements of the campaign will be easier to plan and this makes it easier for the agency to plan efficiently.
Forward planning
Giving as much notice as possible helps agencies plan efficiently and gets them thinking early about your campaign. It’s essential to prepare your comms agency with the materials and information they’ll need while communicating the expectations you have. You’ll also need to define your communication strategy, what your brand should be saying and when and how it should say it. This can be supported with brand guidelines to ensure the content is consistent. Your agency should be able to support you with those key resources.
Give clear and concise briefs
A content brief is a document that lays out details of a content piece such as the direction it’ll take, the Call To Action it’ll lead to, a rough outline, and so on. The better informed the team is, the less confusion, the less time spent clarifying, and the more time in a project is spent on design than in meetings. A complete content brief should include everything from the goal of the piece and its unique angle to the target keywords, internal links, and CTAs. This is important in all elements, whether you’re focusing on social designs or blog posts. Agencies aren’t mind readers, and they love useful information. That said, At Be Smart we’re brief makers, not brief takers, so when you work with us you’ll follow a set process to make sure we have the information we need.
Worried you’re not getting value for your money from your existing agency? Contact us today and let us help you.