Many claim the days of the full-service marketing agency are over – clients now demand a level of specialism that can no longer be housed under one roof.

This means client-side marketers are now left managing multiple agency relationships – from separate social media, experiential marketing, advertising, SEO and PR specialists.

And it’s a headache for them – they’re constantly trying to conduct the multitude of agencies they work with – joining the dots and sharing information so that between them, they can produce the results.

But sometimes it just doesn’t work out and the very people they’ve employed to make their lives easier, simply make things harder and sour the relationship.

We take a look at how marketing agencies can work better together – how they can manage their relationships, coordinate their work and make sure their clients love them.

Request an integrated brief

Too many brands are briefing work with specific channels in mind, delivering separate briefs to the different agencies they work with. It means agencies aren’t given the opportunity to work together, join the dots and spot the opportunities between them.

Encourage your clients to give you an integrated brief with an overall vision of what they want to achieve for the customer and brand. For marketing to work effectively, the channels and agencies need to work together, supporting the customer’s journey between the different touchpoints.

Adopt one single customer view

When it comes to what the right marketing strategy is there’s no debate – it’s the one that has the customer at its heart. It’s important that all agencies share a ” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>single customer view so they can make wiser, more holistic decisions based on data that everyone agrees on.

Solutions such a PureIntelligence give agencies the ability to consolidate their client’s data from their various systems and touchpoints so they can explore it in one single view. It gives them an unprecedented insight into customers’ behaviour without having to rely on the client to pass the information on. It’s a great collaborative tool for agencies that lets you integrate data so that you can spot and explore opportunities with others.

Be creative with data

We’re obviously big fans of data at Pure360 – providing it, measuring it and sharing it with our clients is our lifeblood. But for this insight to deliver results, it needs to be coupled with creativity. Base your decisions on data but your execution around creativity to produce beautiful and effective marketing campaigns.

And when it comes to reporting don’t rely on shoving numbers in front of your client to justify your work. Give them actionable insight and not just undigested data – they’re far more likely to listen to highlights and conclusions than wade through lots of numbers. And suggest new, creative ways of working alongside the other agencies such as contributing towards one monthly report that can be read by everyone.

Play to your strengths

With the breadth of the modern marketing mix, agencies are now deeply specialised and there’s enough room for everyone to play nicely together. The chances of full-service agencies coming back are slim meaning you should feel comfortable turning down work if it isn’t your area of specialism.

As an agency, you must have a good working knowledge of the different marketing specialisms but maintain your focus on your core competencies. By doing this you’ll avoid taking on work that could sour the relationship with the client and the other agencies involved.

At the end of the day, clients employ agencies to make their lives easier, not more difficult, and they appreciate cooperation, taking the initiative and self-management. And when agencies don’t work together it’s bad news for everyone – resulting in a disjointed customer experience, inefficiencies and competitions for the client’s attention and budget.

If you’re confident in the value of work you should be open to working with others. By doing so you’ll inevitably improve the quality of each other’s work and lead to better results for the client and their customers.




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