Agency/Client relationships take different forms. Do any of these sound familiar?

Your agency approaches you with an open hand that is regularly asking for a raise.

Your agency provides adequate services and end meetings with civil handshakes all around.

Or does your agency consistently celebrating wins together with high-fives?

We hope your current agency is taking the high-five route and sharing their growth with you.

There are a few ways to tell if that is the case:

Does your agency feel like they are an extension of your team?

• When you are working with an experienced agency, it can fill the voids in your operations and take the burden of customer acquisition off of your plate. You can focus on your core competencies while the agency relieves you of marketing strategy and deliverables.

Do you feel a sense of transparency when it comes to data and how they match up with your goals?

• It is important for your agency to understand your goals and produce reporting that demonstrates how the campaigns they are managing are moving your business toward those goals. Agencies that you will celebrate wins with will be proactively sharing detailed reporting with you and discussing goals with you.

Does your agency engage in a performance-based approach to compensation so that growth can be shared?

• Performance-based compensation is a way to take the risk out of your agency relationship. When the price for marketing services is variable and based on performance, as opposed to set, you are actually getting what you pay for. At this point, you are sharing growth with your agency. If you win they win so they are heavily incentivized in helping you not only reach, but exceed your goals.

Is your agency strategy driven or tactic driven?

• Many agencies, the ones that will shake your hand, promote certain tactics because of what they like to do and what they are good at. They don’t provide what the client needs to meet their goals. Cookie cutter strategies will produce results, but not the kind of results that will move the needle. An agency that puts custom strategy first, not tactics, will accelerate growth.

Is your agency proactively suggesting and testing new types of campaigns to help reach your goals?

• A campaign may be working well but it can always be working better. If you don’t test you don’t know. If your agency is constantly testing new ideas and sharing the results with you, there is a greater chance of success.

When you are evaluating your agency relationship the answers to the five questions above should all be a resounding YES.

If your agency isn’t sharing growth and taking the high-five approach, it’s probably time to reach out to a new one. We have an idea of who that could be!