I’ve worked in agency land for the past 23 years—both as an agency lead and on the client side as well. One topic that always seems to come up with prospective clients more than any other: Business owners are often unhappy with their agencies or freelancers.

Why is this such a common trend that never seems to improve? I think the primary reason is that shopping for agencies is not a straightforward process. And unfortunately, it’s easy to enter into a partnership that’s not a great fit. Most people find agencies through word of mouth by asking friends or colleagues for a referral. While that seems like a great way to find a potential resource, this can also result in common pitfalls.

To help avoid these situations, there are steps business owners can take to vet prospective partners. Here are five tactics to help you choose the right partner for your business.

1. Set expectations

When you approach an agency from a referral, it’s rare that they will say that they aren’t a fit for the work—even if they aren’t. They could have been referred for the work they did with branding or on a PR campaign, but that doesn’t mean they know how to design and code an awesome Shopify website. Setting expectations upfront can help avoid these scenarios. That’s why it’s important to confirm you and your potential partner are aligned on the task at hand before you begin working together.

Additionally, it’s essential to align on pricing. Agencies rates are all over the place—and sometimes they don’t always equate to skills and experience. I would recommend having an awareness of the scope and billable rates that you’ll be charged as soon as possible in the process. Some agencies won’t sneeze for anything less than $200 per hour and others aren’t great at estimating so it’s best to have this info out on the table as you move through the decision-making process.

2. Meet the team

Did you get to know the people that would work on your team prior to signing on? Do you have a solid rapport and feel confident in their ability to execute? Oftentimes, the big guns sell a deal to a new client and then they disappear once it’s time to execute on projects and move the needle for your business.

Putting faces to names can help establish a positive, productive partnership from the get-go. I can’t underscore how important this is. From the first five minutes of your initial call, your instincts should clearly indicate “I like these people” or “wow, this doesn’t feel right.” Oftentimes, it’s as simple as determining if it even makes sense to get into specifics, pricing, and proposals. If you aren’t liking the vibes, then I would just shut it down and move on to the next option.

3. Check references

It’s important to confirm that people have nice things to say about the very same type of work that you will be engaging in. While this may seem obvious, you shouldn’t work with someone that hasn’t previously done what you’re asking them to do. Ask them for work samples, case studies, or references that can speak to accomplishments.

Ultimately, your agency should take your business as seriously as you do. You share in the wins and you share in the setbacks. And overall, you’re stronger partners for it. This type of relationship goes far beyond crossing t’s and dotting i’s. It’s about sharing a vision for the future and creating those outcomes together.

4. Define success

Before you sign anything with a new agency, you should always make sure that your goals are clearly outlined and that both sides understand what success looks like. Too many agencies can’t wait to dive into tactics that are billable—but if they don’t move the needle, then what’s the point of the relationship or the money spent?

It’s essential to ensure a prospective agency understands your product or service and has a perspective and strategy for moving forward. I can’t say it enough, but so many agencies are overly focused on tactics. And if their basic strategy doesn’t move the needle, then it’s unlikely they’ll be able to change performance outcomes. Making websites, designing brands, and launching email campaigns are all great approaches. But if they don’t magically produce the desired results, you need a partner that can navigate with you to improve performance.

5. Communicate consistently

Do you have an escalation path that you trust and can make things happen if and when things go awry? We all want to think that our new agency relationship will bring nothing but success, but being aligned on how things are going is critical. Early on in the process, be sure to communicate consistently. Additionally, meeting on a weekly basis to talk about how things are going can help keep things on track. Most agencies will adjust their staffing for these meetings if they know they are going to touch on potentially sensitive subjects.

Communication cadences and tool preferences will differ based on organization—and it can be helpful to be flexible (yet firm) when working with your partners. Sometimes, a simple Slack message, email, or old-fashioned phone call (or Zoom video call) can serve its purpose. Other times, it makes sense to track project changes within a more robust project management platform like Asana or Jira. Regardless, it’s important to align with your partners on the tempo and tactics you’ll use to communicate with each other.​​

So there you have it. Establishing a productive partnership often boils down to building relationships. You may think I’m writing this article to somehow Jedi mind trick all of our client prospects into hiring us. But honestly, avoiding pitfalls and focusing on the right things helps us identify the prospects that are the best fit for us as well.

Regardless of the depth of your organization, there are great benefits that come from partnering with an external, full-scale marketing team. Whether it is to lead a new initiative, take on something that is not in the wheelhouse of your internal team, or simply to add bandwidth to your organization, the level and type of support offered by an outside partnership are completely flexible.

With every year that passes, it seems that digital advertising gets more complicated and less transparent. Digital fundamentals like SEO, PPC, branding, and UX are always key for businesses looking to attract new customers and to ensure their brand stands out in the growing digital landscape, but advertisers now have to juggle additional emerging social channels and ever-evolving advertising regulations.

When COVID-19 hit the United States, I’d been working from home for almost 12 years, so the shift away from the office to being at home left little impact initially. Buckland Co. has been a virtual/remote company since 2008, so we were all very accustomed to the home office approach and making the magic happen in and around our living spaces. What we were not prepared for was having kids, significant others, spouses all home too, with everyone feeling varying degrees of crazy, given the social distancing and sheltering in place that was required.

The digital advertising landscape has changed pretty dramatically over the past few months. Facebook, specifically, has made adjustments to their standard conversion window, from a 28-day click, to a 7-day click model. On top of that, there are some larger changes that are fast approaching and have already started to impact ad performance reporting and targeting. What is this change you ask? Apple is releasing an updated operating system for their mobile devices, iOS 14.

Black Friday has quickly become the largest shopping day of the year. According to CNBC, shoppers spent $7.4 billion online on Black Friday in 2019, ranking as the second-largest online shopping day of all time. With companies presumably promoting Black Friday and Cyber Monday more frequently—and at bigger and bigger discounts—what might persuade a brand to decline to participate in all the frenzy? (We’ll give you a hint­­­­: an increased chance of greater purchase value, a more likely second purchase, and a higher lifetime value from consumers.)

It may be hard to believe, but it’s been more than six months since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States. Although every new morning since early 2020 may feel like Groundhog Day, it’s true that time waits for no one. When the pandemic first hit our community, like many, I felt a wide range of emotions. As we learned together, it was cathartic to admit our feelings of confusion and uncertainty. Although I’d say that collectively, we’re still a little unsure of the future, I’ve come to terms with that.

It seems the entire world has taken to cooking and baking more than ever during quarantine, and the Buckland Co. team is no different. For many of us, cooking isn't just about eating well, but it's about creating entertainment and community at a time when we can't be as social as we normally are. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, our working style wasn't impacted as largely as other marketing agencies - we've always been a remote-first based team, but the things we miss most have a lot to do with spending time outside of the house, and you guessed it, food.

You don’t need me to tell you that the future is bright for ecommerce. According to Shopify, worldwide ecommerce sales exceeded $3.5 trillion USD in 2019—an increase of nearly 18%—and are expected to double by 2023.

Partially due to this growth, ecommerce has become increasingly competitive. Brands are able to scale faster and grow more efficiently than ever. Plus, customers expect ease of use and best in class experiences across every brand category. With this comes the reality of the true—and often high—costs to run an ecommerce business. Now, it’s exceedingly important to be aware of operating costs.

If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past couple years, you’ve likely watched a live stream. Almost every single major social media platform has incorporated it as a front and center feature. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok all include this functionality. Live streaming allows users to share “current events” via video at the click of a button. It’s that easy.

New to the digital advertising world? Welcome to the fun. If you’ve been in the game for a while, then like us, you know you can’t create a strategy, set it and forget it. Instead, it’s essential to test and iterate your efforts. This means understanding your customer and knowing how to budget campaigns accordingly.

Now is the time. You are inspired and you are ready to take a rocket ship to the moon with your brand. You have a great product and a solid advertising budget. You have the resources. You are willing to do whatever it takes to propel your company to the next level. That all sounds great, right? It can be. But it can also be a detriment to your brand if you try too many things too quickly without first implementing a testing culture within your brand’s DNA.

This is a simple, yet profound question. With the country on lockdown, we suddenly find ourselves with a lot more time on our hands. If you were to be asked the aforementioned question right now, what would your answer be?

Your brand visuals are the face of your business. It’s a unique blend of imagery, color palettes, fonts and tone that make your company stand out from the rest. Discovering and identifying your brand is no easy feat. As your company expands, your future self will thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully develop your identity materials at the outset.

When was the last time you visited an ecommerce site where all of the brand’s products had only positive ratings? My answer would be three days ago, when the site I was looking at only had five-star reviews.

Did you check your texts and open your inbox—and hold on for dear life? Or, did you set a clear intention and take control of its outcome?

Pause for a moment and really think about this question. It’s way too easy these days to show up at work (or your home office) and just ride the wave of email, texting, phone calls, Slack messages, and meetings (and then some). It’s true that checking off items from this constant stream of quick tasks may seem like an accomplishment in the short-term.

Email marketing is one of those things that brands know they need to do, but in my experience, this channel seems to get less love than others. Creating content calendars, creative, and subject lines for multiple emails a month can be tedious and strain resources if not managed properly, but here’s something to consider: email marketing isn’t just about sending emails anymore. There’s SO much more you can do with your email platform, and if you treat email marketing as one of your most important channels, it pays off more than you can imagine.

Recently a client asked: “Should we work with multiple agencies or is it better to try to find a partner that can do everything for us?” This is a challenge that many clients face and a question we are often asked. While many agencies say they can do it all, it’s rare that you will be best supported by one—especially when it comes to medium- to large-sized businesses.

You’ve created a digital ad with compelling image or catchy copy. You’ve directed it to the right people at the right time. And you’ve driven lots of traffic to your site. Nothing feels better than seeing a digital ad attract new potential customers…right? Well, sort of.

Let’s face it. The days of businesses focusing solely on their own self interests are over—and the time for the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) is upon us. It’s time for all business leaders to enable and support this change, rather than resist the (literal) rising tide.