5 Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Agencies (& How to Avoid Getting Burned)
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Are you currently working with an agency or planning to hire one soon? Register now for the next sponsored Search Engine Journal webinar. Paxton Gray, CEO at 97th Floor, will discuss the keys to building a productive relationship with your marketing agency, as well as some of the warning signs to look out for when hiring one. In this presentation, you will learn: - How to know the right time to bring in an agency (and when not to). - Why trust is a two-way street. - Ways to align goals with work and guarantee success. - Effective communication, or, how to make sure you get what you want. - How to foster true innovation. It doesn’t take much to have a bad experience with an agency. A few common mistakes and it can very quickly turn into a huge waste of everyone’s time and money. But when you use an agency correctly (yes, there is a right way), you’ll get not only a go-to team of experts with specialized knowledge but a true partner that can generate stunning results. We’re giving insider info to help people and companies understand steps they can take to get the most value out of the relationship with their agency.
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5 Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Agencies (& How to Avoid Getting Burned)
- 1. 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Agency And how to avoid getting burned
- 2. Paxton Gray CEO | 97th Floor /PaxtonGray @PaxtonMGray
- 3. Brands we work with
- 4. seo Keyword Research Link Building Technical SEO Reputation Management advertising Social Search Programmatic Retargeting creative Copywriting Graphic Design Interactives Content Marketing cro Multivariate Testing Heat Mapping Landing Page Design Analytics
- 5. How can I be sure I’m hiring the right agency?
- 6. How can I be sure I’m hiring the right agency? Will this agency take work off my plate or add more?
- 7. How can I be sure I’m hiring the right agency? Will this agency take work off my plate or add more? How can I know the agency will do what they say they will?
- 8. What has been your experience working with marketing agencies? Poll I haven’t worked with agencies I’ve had pretty bad experiences in the past Good not great, I’m open to suggestions Excellent, I love working with agencies I work at an agency!
- 9. Return on Agency Spend =
- 10. Return on Agency Spend = Agency Value
- 11. Return on Agency Spend = Agency Value Agency Cost -
- 12. Return on Agency Spend = + Results + Innovation + Capability Agency Value Agency Cost -
- 13. Return on Agency Spend = + Results + Innovation + Capability - Agency Fee - Time - Integration Complexity Agency Value Agency Cost -
- 14. Return on Agency Spend = + Results + Innovation + Capability - Agency Fee - Time - Integration Complexity Agency Value Agency Cost -
- 15. Return on Agency Spend = + Results + Innovation + Capability - Agency Fee - Time - Integration Complexity Agency Value Agency Cost -
- 16. Tip #1 Goal and SOW Alignment
- 17. Be very clear about what you want.
- 18. Deliverable, goal-based, or hourly contracts?
- 19. Deliverable-Based Goal-Based Hourly-Based You wish to be solely accountable for the strategy and results Agency should have more skin in the game Most flexible, option to scale up and scale down quickly Great when bandwidth is the primary issue Great when looking for strategy Least level of accountability on the agency Generally lower cost, less chance of success. Typically requires higher budgets, higher chance of success Danger of going over budget, make sure the agency has a quick feedback mechanism on hour usage Your procurement team requires all vendor agreements must be based in deliverables or hourly figures You have the personnel and expertise to act on the optimizations given by your agency Your business doesn’t have enough historical data to create a reasonable goal You have a reliable source of historical data you can trust to form accurate goals SOW Formats
- 20. The pros and cons of goal setting contracts vs. deliverable based contracts. Aligning Goals With Work to Guarantee Success /PaxtonGray
- 21. What happens if KPIs are not met?
- 22. What happens if KPIs are not met? - Performance Based SOW:
- 23. What happens if KPIs are not met? - Performance Based SOW: - % refund or bonus based on % of goal complete
- 24. What happens if KPIs are not met? - Performance Based SOW: - % refund or bonus based on % of goal complete - Caps on both ends
- 25. What happens if KPIs are not met? - Performance Based SOW: - % refund or bonus based on % of goal complete - Caps on both ends - Ideally focused on 1 main KPI
- 26. What happens if KPIs are not met? - Performance Based SOW: - % refund or bonus based on % of goal complete - Caps on both ends - Ideally focused on 1 main KPI - KPI should be as closely tied to revenue as possible.
- 27. Tip #2 Know Exactly What You Need
- 28. Before you hire, know what you want.
- 30. Questions For Yourself to Prepare Your Search: - What is my company goal? - What is my marketing goal? - What are my channel goals? - Where will an agency to fit into my channel/marketing/company goals?
- 31. Questions For Yourself to Prepare Your Search: - What is my company goal? - What is my marketing goal? - What are my channel goals? - Where will an agency to fit into my channel/marketing/company goals? KPIs - How will you measure the relationship? - What #s will you look at to know if things are going well? - What are the current baselines for those KPIs?
- 32. Questions For Yourself to Prepare Your Search: - What is my company goal? - What is my marketing goal? - What are my channel goals? - Where will an agency to fit into my channel/marketing/company goals? KPIs - How will you measure the relationship? - What #s will you look at to know if things are going well? - What are the current baselines for those KPIs? Relationship - How do you want to communicate? - How do you expect reporting will work? - Are you looking for foot soldiers, strategists, or something in between?
- 33. Know What To Ask
- 34. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business?
- 35. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account?
- 36. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different?
- 37. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different? - How will you help us achieve our goals? - Why do you recommend that strategy?
- 38. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different? - How will you help us achieve our goals? - Why do you recommend that strategy? - How will the work be executed?
- 39. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different? - How will you help us achieve our goals? - Why do you recommend that strategy? - How will the work be executed? Ask For References
- 40. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different? - How will you help us achieve our goals? - Why do you recommend that strategy? - How will the work be executed? Ask For References What To Look For: - Happy employees and solid culture
- 41. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different? - How will you help us achieve our goals? - Why do you recommend that strategy? - How will the work be executed? Ask For References What To Look For: - Happy employees and solid culture - Much larger fulfillment team than sales team
- 42. Questions For Your Agency: - How long have you been in business? - How many people will be working on my account? - Who will be working on my account? - What makes your agency different? - How will you help us achieve our goals? - Why do you recommend that strategy? - How will the work be executed? Ask For References What To Look For: - Happy employees and solid culture - Much larger fulfillment team than sales team - Honesty and competency
- 43. /PaxtonGray
- 45. Believers go the extra mile.
- 47. How to make them believers - Give the team space to learn about your company, where you’ve been, what you’re doing as an organization, and where you’re planning on going.
- 48. How to make them believers - Give the team space to learn about your company, where you’ve been, what you’re doing as an organization, and where you’re planning on going. - Introduce them to people they may not be working with directly. The more people they know, the more they’ll feel like the know your company and the more they’ll understand how their work impacts others.
- 49. How to make them believers - Give the team space to learn about your company, where you’ve been, what you’re doing as an organization, and where you’re planning on going. - Introduce them to people they may not be working with directly. The more people they know, the more they’ll feel like the know your company and the more they’ll understand how their work impacts others. - Show them behind the scenes. Show them how the company operates and how it’s organized. This context will help with future ideas they may bring to the table.
- 50. How to make them believers - Give the team space to learn about your company, where you’ve been, what you’re doing as an organization, and where you’re planning on going. - Introduce them to people they may not be working with directly. The more people they know, the more they’ll feel like the know your company and the more they’ll understand how their work impacts others. - Show them behind the scenes. Show them how the company operates and how it’s organized. This context will help with future ideas they may bring to the table. - Where applicable, get your marketing team trying your product or experiencing your service.
- 54. When getting external help, do you prefer to hire multi-disciplined agencies, single-disciplined agencies, or consultants. Poll Multi-disciplined agencies Single-disciplined agencies Consultants Either, I just want results I prefer to hire employees vs external help
- 55. Tip #4 Trust Is The Ultimate Discount
- 56. When you have mutual trust: - results improve
- 57. When you have mutual trust: - results improve - ego goes out the door
- 58. When you have mutual trust: - results improve - ego goes out the door - agency costs go down
- 59. When you have mutual trust: - results improve - ego goes out the door - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up
- 60. When you have mutual trust: - results improve - ego goes out the door - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up - stress goes down
- 62. When you have mutual trust: How do you build mutual trust? - results improve - ego goes out the door - quarterly reviews become celebrations - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up - stress goes down
- 63. When you have mutual trust: - regular calls should be organic discussions rather than formal meetings How do you build mutual trust? - results improve - ego goes out the door - quarterly reviews become celebrations - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up - stress goes down
- 64. When you have mutual trust: - regular calls should be organic discussions rather than formal meetings - speak up when something is out of place How do you build mutual trust? - results improve - ego goes out the door - quarterly reviews become celebrations - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up - stress goes down
- 65. When you have mutual trust: - regular calls should be organic discussions rather than formal meetings - speak up when something is out of place - allow your agency the space to provide input How do you build mutual trust? - results improve - ego goes out the door - quarterly reviews become celebrations - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up - stress goes down
- 66. When you have mutual trust: - regular calls should be organic discussions rather than formal meetings - speak up when something is out of place - allow your agency the space to provide input - spend some time in person How do you build mutual trust? - results improve - ego goes out the door - quarterly reviews become celebrations - agency costs go down - mental investment goes up - stress goes down
- 68. Tip #5 Expect & Foster Innovation
- 69. A good agency should be bringing new ideas.
- 70. How To Foster Agency Innovation
- 71. How To Foster Agency Innovation: - Find an agency that is known to do boundary-pushing work
- 72. How To Foster Agency Innovation: - Find an agency that is known to do boundary-pushing work - Make the agency aware of your marketing stack
- 73. How To Foster Agency Innovation: - Find an agency that is known to do boundary-pushing work - Make the agency aware of your marketing stack - Make the agency aware of larger goals, beyond the work they’re doing
- 74. How To Foster Agency Innovation: - Find an agency that is known to do boundary-pushing work - Make the agency aware of your marketing stack - Make the agency aware of larger goals, beyond the work they’re doing - If they’re not bring new ideas at least quarterly, ask for them
- 75. How To Foster Agency Innovation: - Find an agency that is known to do boundary-pushing work - Make the agency aware of your marketing stack - Make the agency aware of larger goals, beyond the work they’re doing - If they’re not bring new ideas at least quarterly, ask for them - Continue to build rapport and your agency will be thinking about you regularly, which is where the ideas are born
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- 85. 85
- 86. Objectives ✅ ✅ ✅ Increase Organic Traffic ✅ ✅ ✅ Increase MQLs ✅ ✅ ✅ Build eFileCabinet’s Brand