In the time I’ve worked for Vision, clients have come and gone. Some become life-long partners for us, while others come and go after a bumpy relationship. Being a good client isn’t about how demanding you are, or your personality, or your expectations: it’s about working together with your marketing agency. By doing this your marketing – and company – will flourish because we’ll be able to do our job better. Read on to learn what makes a good marketing client.

1. Be a Good Communicator

With any business, communication is vital. The same is true with your marketing agency. I’ve lost track of the number of plans that have suffered because clients wouldn’t communicate: wouldn’t return phone calls, wouldn’t answer emails, wouldn’t show up to meetings. When your marketing company asks for something, they are doing it because they need it to do their job and improve their service to you. I’ve seen print deadlines and newspaper articles fall through because clients wouldn’t respond to us.

2. Provide Your Credentials

Your business most likely already has social media accounts, even if you don’t use them often enough or at all. It’s vital to give the credentials to those accounts to your marketing agency if social media management is part of the deal. Be ready to hand these over, otherwise you could see a delay in services. Some social media connections may require additional work on your part, such as connecting online with staff of the marketing agency.

3. Give Input on Your Content

When an outside company starts working on your account, they need your input to help shape the message. They don’t know your company like you do: only by working together can content written by someone else sound like it was written by you. Once we work with our clients enough, we find the “voice” of their company in tone and in knowledge: but the more they help, the faster we get there. This is especially true when designing or re-designing your website.

4. Share Media Content

Nowhere is “A picture says a thousand words” more true than in social media. This is why it’s vital to snap pictures (and video) of your business, staff, and the things they do (work, events, etc.). Plans can include photo sessions for your business, products (like food), and such, but you’d be surprised how much a cute/funny/kind moment at your business captured can do for your social media presence. Just please don’t use filters.

5. Let Us Know About Events

Having a party? Just donated to a local charity? Getting a booth at a convention? TELL US! Not only can we advertise it for you, but talking about how it went or snapping a few photos allow us to let people (and news outlets) know what you’re doing and also what you’re doing in and for the local community. This is especially important if your plan is to include press release services.

6. Look at Your Reporting

One thing that sets us apart from a lot of marketing agencies is our in-depth monthly reporting. These show you the metrics for your website, social media, advertising, etc. and allow you to see how our work is impacting your bottom line. So it’s vital for you to read and understand them (we can help with the second part), and to give us feedback. If you think spending so-and-so-amount on ads that net you so many clicks or conversions isn’t worth it, that’s vital data for us to hear.

So, if you want to get the most out of your partnership with a marketing agency, these are the ways you can do it. Your work will get done faster, be better, and have more of an impact if you put time aside to work together with us in these ways.