1. Do your due diligence and research beforehand
When it comes to selecting your specialist agency, there are a list of questions that need to be addressed, and you’ll need to be a bit strict with asking them. Start with experience. Find out who they have worked with in the past and when you do, proceed with caution.
Steve says: “Do you have clients we can talk to? With any supplier, not just an agency, they will put their best reference clients in front of you. You want to talk to the ones that they’ve lost. So ask: ‘Could you tell us about any clients you’ve lost in the past year, and why?’ And those are the ones you’re going to want to talk to.”
On the same note of transparency, Steve urges clients to ask who would be doing the actual work. Oftentimes, agencies outsource to some degree, and, while there’s nothing wrong with that, are they being transparent about this from the jump?
He continues: “If you find an agency that specifies that they don’t do it themselves completely, but they do have partnerships, that’s really important from an NDA point of view, because the client will think signing NDAs will be passing on to others. Well, how do you know from a protection point of view that they’re bound by those same rules?”
Also, make sure you ask about their experience in your industry – specifically, how long they’ve been doing work around your sector. Specialist agencies can be extremely beneficial as experts, and will know upcoming trends ahead of the curb, but you need to make sure they’re well-versed in your industry, so the output will pay dividends.
In addition, Steve mentions that it won’t hurt to gauge their understanding of a particular geography either, as different areas of the world have different peculiarities. For instance, Steve was working with a client recently where they needed to have an SEO specialist at a regional level. Not only can that offer a load of insight, but just knowing where your agency is located and what time zone they’re in can establish what kind of meetings you’ll be having. If you all want to jump on a Zoom call, is that easy to schedule? While it doesn’t have to be the be all and end all, it should be considered.
2. Find out about their processes
Once you find out the ins and outs of who they are, start to shift the focus on what their processes would entail.
- Do they have a robust briefing process?
- Do they use collaboration tools?
- Do they have a project management team, or is work being done by account managers?
Steve mentions: “One of the first things I ask for is if they have a tone of voice document. What are your brand guidelines? It’s about immersing the agency in your work and company – especially if it’s a market where it’s quite technical, you’ll start getting project managers immersed in what your products do.”
Documents on things like ‘tone of voice’ are critical, especially if your specialist agency is responsible for different types of content for your brand.
For example, if your audience are thought leaders in the business, are they doing the work to make sure they’re replicating that same tone of voice to that audience? If you test them early on and give those initial tasks, you’ll see early on if their content is appropriate. You’ll even be able to iron out the smaller details, such as selecting images for features, how they’re hyperlinking content, and if they’re matching the length of content.
While you’ll be asking loads of questions in the beginning, it’ll be a much better setup to get your agency to hit the ground running.
3. Treat them like a new employee in the beginning
Once you start working together, establish a close working relationship in the beginning. One mistake clients will make early on is assuming the agency will go ahead and do the heavy lifting from the beginning. One key tip Steve mentions is to treat them as new staff. The more you put into them as a client, the more you’re going to get back out – as with any new starter.
Steve says: “It’s like building a house. If the client is the architect and the agency is the builder, if your blueprint doesn’t have a clear front door on the house, builders won’t build the front door. They’ll assume you don’t need a front door. And that’s not the builder’s fault, it’s the architect’s fault for not giving the right plans for that builder.”
Just because they’re a specialist agency, doesn’t mean they’ll be able to do everything right away. With new starters for example, you wouldn’t just chuck them into a room and expect them to get on with work. Help them understand what you’re looking for.
Steve adds: “It’s kind of like building a long-term relationship with someone, you don’t just get married and assume you’ll get on, it’s better to work out and understand and build common ground first.”
As with any working relationship, be sure to schedule a system of communication. Maybe you start off with weekly meetings and then change it to monthly meetings once they’ve gotten a handle on your work. There might be an assumption that the agency will tell you how frequently they’d like to speak with you, but the client should dictate the schedule so that you’re communicating on a semi-regular basis.
