{"id":2596,"date":"2022-10-19T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherylroll.com\/communication-best-practices-agencies-388661\/"},"modified":"2022-10-19T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T10:00:00","slug":"communication-best-practices-agencies-388661","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylroll.com\/communication-best-practices-agencies-388661\/","title":{"rendered":"4 communication best practices agencies must employ early in Q4"},"content":{"rendered":"
Let’s run through a scenario that agencies see from time to time (not just in Q4, but the stakes are higher across the board right now):<\/p>\n
On the client side, a main point of contact is relatively new to the team. It’s Q4. They’re feeling stressed. <\/p>\n
On the agency side, things seem to be going well. KPIs are in line with established goals, there’s a strategy in place for the next few months, weekly calls haven’t surfaced any concerns, and there’s a healthy test-and-learn methodology in place for creative optimization and channel expansion.<\/p>\n
Then the email drops: counter to what the agency is seeing, company data shows that the marketing team isn’t hitting goals. <\/p>\n
If things don’t improve quickly, there are going to be some tough conversations about ending the partnership.<\/p>\n
What happened? And how could the agency have prevented it?<\/p>\n
I’ll dig into the answers in this post.<\/p>\n
Agencies and brands are generally diligent about aligning goals, KPIs, and data sources as part of the onboarding process. <\/p>\n
But the agency can’t assume brands will automatically alert all parties when things change internally.<\/p>\n
Factors that agencies must plan to solicit regular updates on include:<\/p>\n
Every marketing department I’ve ever worked for or with has changed goals from time to time. <\/p>\n
Whether it’s pivoting from lead gen to site traffic or shifting focus from driving growth to improving CPA, change is a constant. <\/p>\n
This needs to be reflected in your campaigns and reporting, or you’ll be driving headlong down the wrong road in optimizing the wrong KPIs.<\/p>\n
Internal dashboards are always a big point of discussion in onboarding and kickoff calls, but the conversation can’t end there. <\/p>\n
Attribution models<\/a> change and improve, tech stacks evolve, internal business intelligence teams build dashboards, etc. <\/p>\n Agencies that aren’t asking for access to that data are flying without a map.<\/p>\n