Managing Your Advertising Agency Effectively – 7 Ways

Your advertising agency is just like any other business. You need to manage it well so that it can continue operations for longer periods. In running an ad agency, a lot could go wrong if you mismanage or overlook even a single important aspect. Indeed, it’s a cause for concern, but you shouldn’t be too concerned. With these seven ways of managing an ad agency, you can avoid dire outcomes that can severely affect your business. That said, we invite you to stay for a few minutes. We’ll discuss each of these planning and management strategies for you.

Managing Your Advertising Agency Effectively – 7 Ways

Make Teamwork a Primary Standard

For sure, your ad agency deals with multiple projects regularly. Of course, to complete those projects on schedule, you need enough workforce. However, merely having enough employees won’t get the job done. What’s more critical is teamwork, individuals working together harmoniously towards a common goal. If your people aren’t on the same page, projects will have unsatisfactory results, and your agency’s organization could crumble.

So, always preach teamwork in your agency. Make it a core principle and standard in your work environment and culture. Remember that your ad agency is also a creative agency. Aside from devising advertising or marketing strategies, your agency also produces promotional materials, which requires creativity. And when it comes to creating, teamwork is essential.

Motivate and Empower Your Team

It’s completely normal for your employees to feel burnt out and drained over time. Constantly exercising their critical thinking and creativity will take a toll on them. And that outcome can affect their productivity and overall performance. So, make sure to motivate and empower your advertising team frequently. Let them know that they’re doing a great job delivering quality service to the clients—award employees who went the extra mile and contributed important things for your agency.

As a leader, it’s your responsibility to keep your team’s morale high. In that way, they’ll continue doing exemplary work despite the challenges in your ad agency.

Manage Client Expectations

Most of your clients are also adept business people. So in terms of advertising, they know a decent amount of things about it. But, that doesn’t ignore the fact that the real advertising expert is your agency. There are clients with unrealistic standards and expectations about advertising. If you leave them unchecked, your agency might end up disappointing them. With those in mind, your team should manage client expectations thoroughly.

Managing client expectations enables your agency to set achievable project outcomes. Some clients will object to some of your agency’s suggestions. But try to make them understand through a convincing proposal. On top of that, your team should have the authority to establish an objectives checklist that’s feasible.

Unfortunately, some clients are just too stubborn. Working for such clients is basically a lost cause. The best course of action is to refuse them politely. Never jeopardize your agency’s resources and reputation in catering to clients with infeasible wants.

Cultivate Client Relationships

Clients are vital for service-based businesses, such as your ad agency. Without them or less of them, your agency’s revenue and profit will be rock bottom, and that’s not a good sign. As much as possible, you have to keep clients coming back and make them regular. For that to happen, you need to cultivate your relationships with them.

How do you cultivate client relationships? Well, it sounds simple, but it takes effort. One of the best things your agency can do is providing excellent service. When clients are happy with what they get, they’ll most likely trust your agency. Thus, they might rehire your ad agency for future advertising projects. Another approach is to communicate with clients well enough. Before, during, and after projects, always keep in touch with them. That gives them the feeling that your agency values them.

You can apply other methods to cultivate client relationships. The goal is to win their trust and build a professional camaraderie with them.

Always Keep an Eye on Budget

According to a Business Insider report, Chanel (a famous fashion company) released a commercial back in 2004, which costs a whopping $33 million. It featured their first perfume product called Chanel No. 5. Because of that commercial’s behemoth expense, it became the most expensive commercial of all time. It’s followed by Guinness’s 2007 commercial costing $16 million, which is not even close to Chanel’s.

Chanel and Guinness are companies that have the financial power to produce extravagant advertisements. But, most of your clients’ businesses aren’t as big as Chanel and Guinness. So, their advertising budget could be limited. With that said, make sure always to keep an eye on the budget for ad campaigns. Never go beyond the client’s budget. If you do, it’ll surely raise their eyebrows. In such cases, when you present a quotation to your clients, they’ll likely not cover the additional expenses outside their budget. Instead, your agency will have to cover for them, which puts you in a huge loss.

Monitor Progress Regularly

Being a part of the advertising industry is always a race against time. Many other businesses and agencies are hustling to produce ad campaigns to be steps ahead of their competitors. So, if you don’t want your agency to be left out, monitor progress regularly. See to it that your team finishes projects and other business processes on time. Moreover, make sure to track the growth of your agency to know where it currently stands. Overseeing progress isn’t a one-person task, so ask your team to submit a regular report or memo about productivity, financial status, and other vital business aspects. Communication is necessary for monitoring progress efficiently.

Revamp Your Business Model When Necessary

In time, changes will happen in the advertising industry. Market trends will evolve, and consumer behaviors, needs, wants, and buying patterns will shift drastically. Those two are just two possible scenarios, among many. When such future outcomes occur, you need to revamp your agency’s business model so that it can adapt. That’s one way of making your agency sustainable and relevant for many decades. In revamping your business model, work at it with your team. Use a meeting minutes sheet during team meetings to document fundamental ideas. And also, review your original advertising agency business plan and revise some parts of it.

Managing an advertising agency is certainly a lot to take in. But by applying practical strategies, such as the ones we discussed here, your agency will remain standing and continue growing each year.

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