Account-Abilities
We consider ourselves good stewards of our clients’ resources, which is why we’ve recently switched to an agency model that scopes Account Service as a project of its own.
Clients often ask why we’re charging for something that “used to be included”. Good question. In today’s digital-first, ad-flooded world, strategic marketing is more important than ever. Baking in the cost associated with research and planning just doesn’t give the task the time it deserves.
Your Account Service Team (myself and your dedicated Account Coordinator) are tasked with maxing out the value you get from working with us. Here’s how we do it…
1. We make your business our business.
You get a team of agency advocates. We want to know as much about you as we can, so that we can become your rep inside the agency. We’ll become students of your business and share what we know with the rest of the agency so that everything we do is not only good-looking, but appropriate from a strategic standpoint too.
2. Real-time Status Updates
You don’t see the internal kickoff meetings, whiteboard sessions, idea praising (idea bashing), etc. that goes on within these walls, so we’ll make sure you know what’s happening. That includes setting up and updating your personalized online dashboard, where we’ll post all your files and current project statuses.
3. Budget & Timeline Optimization
Overpromising and under delivering is literally the worst. Your account team knows your project scope frontwards and backwards and is constantly auditing your projects as they move through the agency pipeline. We hold the rest of the team accountable to meet deadlines, fulfill the scope and push the envelope. When something new pops up, we’ll get it in.
4. Agency Access
As “accountspeople”, we know sometimes you want to talk creative with the creatives. That doesn’t hurt our feelings one bit. HOWEVER, have you ever tried herding a band of left-brained designers and creative directors? We have. No one likes to have their text or calls unanswered. Trust us, you’ll have a much easier time scheduling that chat with our help. We’re not looking to play a game of telephone, but we can help. Same goes for talking with agency leadership, media team or web guys.
5. Market & Industry Research
In order for us to do a good job, we’ve got to know what’s going on. We’ll read up on shifts, trends, challenges and opportunities in your industry. We’ll share insights with you and will also be sure the creative, strategy and media teams have all that info as they are working on your stuff.
6. Competitive Trolling
We actively follow your competition to see what they’re up to – new products, partnerships, messaging. We report back to you and to our creative team when we see something notable.
7. Regular Check-ins
We’re here for you. In addition to being available at the drop of an email, we like to set up weekly (or biweekly) phone or in-house check-ins. Getting in front of each other regularly helps with communication and ensures we’re all blasting forward in the right direction.
8. Ideas Ideas Ideas
We’re always looking for ways to help you move products, build your brand and get results. We have internal idea sessions that we’ll use to make recommendations to you and all our internal teams.
9. Idea Realization
After those idea sessions and check-in meetings are over, our team is charged with scheduling next steps to make sure all chats and brainstorm sessions are productive. We turn them into something valuable.
10. No Unexpected Invoices
We believe in transparency and understand that no one likes to get an unexpected bill. In the spirit of that said transparency, you’ll start to see Client Service project fees in W/S proposals from here on out. We like to propose a range of hours which we actively monitor and we’ll never bill above that top number without a heads up first.
This is one big change (among others) we’ve made in 2019 and we’re already starting to see better work for our clients.
Still have questions? Let’s chat! (On the house, of course.)
