A good agency partner is often hard to find, and if you want to make your client-agency partnership work, you need to look for expertise and professionalism. But it's not only about the quality of work; it's also about the client-agency experience.
In this episode of the YouShouldTalkTo podcast, our host Daniel Weiner welcomes Tori Barlow, the VP of marketing at Allbound. They chat about the four critical aspects of a good agency, the importance of personalization, and why specialized agencies are better than full-service agencies.
Guest-at-a-Glance
💡 Name: Tori Barlow VP of Marketing at Allbound
💡 Noteworthy: Allbound is a partner relationship management software. If you manage reseller referrals, your partners can come in and log into the portal, register deals, and read about updates.
💡 Where to find Tori: LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡Google is not the only place to find an agency partner. Despite popular belief, Google is not the only way to find a good agency partner. Tori shares some of her suggestions for finding a good agency. She says, "I don't know if I've ever Googled for an agency partner. Here's where I would go if I wasn't using you — now, you're my first go-to — but I'm a part of this community that you're also a part of called Pavilion, and it has a lot of other like-minded marketers; so, I find a lot of goodies there. If you're not in Pavilion, I'm sure there are a ton of other Facebook Groups, networking events, or groups that can help here. But luckily, I also have a good number of marketing mentors. I think if someone were to refer an agency that they were unhappy with; I just don't know anyone who would do that. So, I really take their word for it."
⚡The four key aspects of a good agency partner. Many factors go into a successful client-agency partnership. Tori shares her top four. She says, "I think the name of the game for agencies when we are looking for one are a few things. One is accountability. I think we count on you as the agency to deliver a certain standard of work that we've talked about within the process. And so, accountability is definitely one of those things. The second thing is proactivity. So I think this goes hand-in-hand with us as the client; we have a million different things going on. We hired you to help us with staying one step ahead — whether that's our competition or me reporting to the CEO on what he's looking for — helping us stay proactive with whatever we're working on together. The third thing is organization. [...] And then the fourth, and I think one of the most important things, is being an advisor to us."
⚡ It's not just about the work; it's also about the experience. A successful client-agency collaboration depends on the overall experience, not just the quality of work. Tori explains, "I think it really comes down to if you miss your deadline. That's the first thing that pops into my head. Here's why. We hire you as the agency to — I've said this so many times — be our partner, but then also, we have to meet deadlines. We have to say what we're going to do. We have to stay accountable. If you miss your deadline, I think it's a really simple thing, but it makes a world of difference because, on the client side, I'm telling my CEO, my board of directors, 'Hey, we're going to get this campaign launched. This is how much money we're putting behind it. This is going to go great.' And if it's late or subpar performance, it throws everything else off in our world."
