And Carrie On

Many marketing and communications leaders partner with agencies for a variety of reasons. Brand campaign development, advertising placement, research and strategy support, creative support, media relations assistance just to name a few.

While many of us use agencies to help support our work – sometimes the process is a little bumpy. Having worked with numerous agencies (both national agencies and regional ones) over my time in the 15+ years of higher education, here are a few tactical strategies to make sure the partnership thrives.

Disclaimer — yes, there are things like setting clear expectations and understanding the working relationship…. these things matter. This post is more what are the practical tips to make the process work.

Four Strategies that Work

Regular meeting cadence – In working with my agencies, I very much want a regular meeting cadence. That’s usually every two weeks with a weekly email check-in between meetings, but it can be weekly if the work is time sensitive. It’s important to have a standing time with the account executive to keep projects moving, to address big picture ideas and strategies, and to mitigate possible issues. I can really tell the relationship feels strained when I don’t have this time with my agency partner. It starts to feel reactive versus proactive. Also, using the same agenda as a single source of truth and notes of what was discussed and agreed on helps to ensure both groups remain on the same page.

Clear communication practices – Let’s be honest, things pop up and decisions must be made quickly. In working with my agency partners, we’ve set a clear practice…. emails are for standard messages. Text and phone calls mean something is a priority. This helps the agency know when and what I’ll communicate. And if they’re calling or texting, it also tells me I need to be super responsive to get what they need to keep the project moving. Setting these norms helps me to avoid feeling like communication is coming in all the ways because there is an established hierarchy of what I can expect and when. And hopefully, they feel the same way.

Value the context you have – You know the campus culture. You know the students. The agency will and should have great ideas, but your insight is second-to-none. If you’re hesitant about whether an idea or strategy would fit your culture, trust your instinct and share your concerns. It could be a color that won’t work, a message tactic that would land you in political turmoil, or a design look that’s too edgy. The bottom line: if you’re having reservations or concerns, your context has value. Share that with your agency partners and talk through it. They are craving your insight, and the good agencies will respect and trust your knowledge.

Understand how billing works – While this part of the work isn’t sexy and fun, the billing is going to make sure you and the agency work together well. It will be critical to set up what you can expect on billing, and nothing kills creative energy more than an awkward conversation about when the payment is coming. If other departments are paying for services, be sure to let the agency know that on the front end. If you need things billed a specific way, communicate that. When you’re first beginning the relationship, I’ve asked to see draft bills to work together to make sure they’re set up to meet both our needs. It’s much easier to talk through the process in draft form rather than once the bills are completed.

What works for You? Did I get it Right?

My turn to ask the questions — what works for you when you’re working with an agency? And for my agency friends, what did I miss that I should have included in my thoughts? We can certainly learn from one another. After all, at the end of the day, we’re all on the same team!