It takes two - Maximising the client-agency relationship

Partnering with an agency to devise and deliver marketing strategies ensures key information is shared with your stakeholders in the right way, through the correct channels. A good agency will look at you as your customers do – considering patient management, the patient journey and the delivery of treatment.

You can read about an approach to marketing on any agency’s website, you can talk to their team, clients and possibly even the patients that have been specifically impacted. However, there’s just as much onus on you to get the most out of the relationship.

If you adopt the mindset that your agency works with you, rather than for you, you’re halfway there. It should be a partnership with one common objective: improving, or saving, the lives of patients. Because after all, that’s why you exist, why your therapy was developed and why you need to shout about it.

So, how well do you know your agency, and are you really using that relationship to your advantage? Here are a few things to consider.

TRUST

Marketing agencies are professionals in their field, but if you don’t trust their professional opinion, there’s little point to the relationship. Trusting your agency’s recommendations to push the boundaries and elevate you above the competition can not only produce truly amazing, valuable and impactful work, but it can be exciting and invigorating for all involved.

Trust your agency to recommend the best path in terms of marketing, expect them to ask questions and question the answers. If you’re engaging the services of an agency and they haven’t taken the time to truly understand you and your brands, it may be time to reconsider the relationship. In other words, find an agency that aligns with, or exceeds, your expectations.

PLAN & SPEND

It’s not customary for any marketing agency to ‘fly by the seat of their pants’, or advise you  to do so! Alan Lakin suggested that planning is where you bring the future into the present so that you can do something about it now, and he’s not wrong.

Having a comprehensive, strategic plan can influence business performance, engagement and enthusiasm, all of which directly benefit you and your team, while reducing the opportunity for error. If your team is under pressure, there’s a higher likelihood of rushed decisions, errors of judgement and incomplete or inaccurate information being shared.

Budget shouldn’t ultimately affect the effectiveness of a campaign. Well planned and timed execution of marketing can be extremely impactful, and an agency should be able to work with you within any budget or time constraints. That’s what you’re paying them for, after all.

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