Maximising your agency’s performance

Business are constantly being challenged. Over the last year, some of the best loved high street brands have disappeared and there are no signs of the economic climate getting any easier. Amidst these difficult conditions, there is mounting pressure on marketers and their agencies to deliver game changing work in the most optimised way while budgets continue to shrink. As a result, advertisers will be taking more time out to reflect and review performance, assessing what changes need to be implemented.

Whilst there are many contributing factors to winning market share, behind every successful campaign there is a common trait – talented marketers and agencies who have great relationships. What do you think is the most important part of your relationship with your agency? Is it a team of incredible creatives that deliver outstanding, award-winning work? Or is it intelligent planners that develop innovative, customer-centric strategies? Maybe it’s a dedicated leadership team who rally the troops across all departments, ensuring a high quality of work for all campaigns. Most marketers would probably say all of the above are fundamental in addition to a long list of other essential components.

In a recent survey conducted by Flock, 72% of clients said they believe that their relationships needed to improve. But where do you begin? There are so many elements to a successful client / agency relationship that require regular review and nurturing from both parties.

Whilst there is no one-size fits all approach to reviewing and improving your agency relationship, at Flock we believe that agency appraisals should be based on four core principles:

• 360 degree feedback – any relationship is a two way street, which is why we assess your relationship through reviewing both the client and the agency. This encourages a more collaborative partnership through demonstrating a willingness to take on feedback.
• Informed questions – reviews are useless unless the right questions are asked and tailored to your requirements. That’s why our survey questions have been created by marketers and agencies that have over 500 hundred years of experience between them.
• Independent expertise – reviews should be conducted without bias by specialists who have walked in your shoes, who understand how to optimise and improve ways of working through the creation of clear action plans
• Regular reviews – bi-annual check-ins provide both parties important benchmarking on progress and the information they need to accelerate performance and deliver against business objectives.

Regardless of spend, size or discipline, investing in fair, transparent reviews demonstrates to your agency that you are committed to receiving open and honest feedback to help improve your relationship. For more information on how the Flock Agency Appraisal Tool can help you to improve your agency relationship contact us for further details.