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Taylor Brazell – Account Executive The workload in an agency tends to ebb and flow a lot, with some days being packed while others are a little lighter. During the busy days, especially when multiple projects are due at once, work needs to be managed intentionally to ensure deadlines are met without the agency team becoming overwhelmed. These three tips have proven to keep hot projects from boiling over. Prepare as Much as Possible No matter how organized an agency is, rapid turnarounds are always going to be part of life. Fear of a quick deadline should not stop the agency or client from taking advantage of last-minute opportunities or taking the extra time to make sure a project is perfect. Instead, both parties can make space for unexpected extra work with some organization and preparation. For starters, the agency should be staying on top of ongoing campaigns and avoiding procrastination. This ensures that work with a little bit of buffer time can stay that way and not turn into additional hot projects. Clients and agencies should also be communicating openly about upcoming work. Even if the job can’t be started yet, knowing it’s coming allows the agency to save some extra time and bring awareness to everyone on the team involved with the project so they can note it in their schedule. There’s nothing worse than promising a project to a client by a certain deadline only to find out the team will be out of town, on an offsite shoot or engaged in other clients’ work making the promise impossible to uphold. Prioritize Projects and People “When it rains, it pours” tends to prove true with hot projects, but it’s nothing that simple scheduling and delegation can’t help with. Prioritizing which projects are worked on first isn’t as simple as looking at the final deadline. Each job will have its own unique steps, and some require more time than others. A layout for a brochure that needs to be reviewed by the client, printed and shipped to a trade show by a certain date is much more time-sensitive than an eblast layout that needs to be reviewed and sent by that same date. Consider and account for all the factors that can slow down a project from the beginning to avoid missing important steps. Explicit job roles within the agency team are also important when a deadline is quickly approaching. The more people involved means more schedules to deal with and more time before the work is completed. In these situations, one person will run point and coordinate with other team members for strategic direction, copy, creative and proofing as needed with deadlines clearly stated for each person. This streamlined process still utilizes the full power of the team while keeping content moving at the necessary pace. Communicate with the Client Transparent, proactive communication is always important between the agency and the client, even more so when due dates are quickly approaching. One of the more apparent changes when deadlines are around the corner is how email communication is done. Often, instead of separate email chains for each file, the account executive will condense everything into one email with a bullet point listed for each attachment. The list will include any notes on the project as well as what’s needed and by when. Noting actions with the project name and deadlines in the subject line also helps, for example: “For Review: LePoidevin Marketing Website Updates DUE MONDAY.” In addition to informing the agency of any upcoming projects, clients should be upfront about the process on their end. Many industries, including pest control and veterinary medicine, are highly regulated in what they can and can’t say, so a legal or regulatory department within the organization may also have to review each piece of content. Knowing about this in advance helps the agency to budget more time for this extra step. There are other factors that can impact timing on the client side, and each company will have a slightly different process for reviewing work. As the agency team members get to know the nuances of that process, they can continue to improve the flow of work between both parties. Agencies need to be transparent in their process as well. There are the rare occurrences when a client’s ask needs some adjusting to be possible within the agency’s workload. In those situations, the agency needs to first be careful not to overpromise, then work with all clients that have upcoming deadlines to see what can be moved around a bit to make sure everyone’s needs are met.

Taylor Brazell – Account Executive Everyone who works at an agency may have their own variations on an organization system for files and client work, but having some kind of system in place is an absolute necessity. Managing multiple clients at a time with several projects on each of those accounts would be impossible without one. Agency life is not unique in its need for organizati on, but it does quickly prove what works and what does not. Here are some tips I’ve picked up over my time in an agency that can help anyone go back to the basics to start establishing their own system of organization. Old-Fashioned Organization Still Works No matter how advanced technology gets, a notepad and pen will still be my go-to for gathering initial input. The freedom from sketching on a piece of paper allows me to dictate details and write out thoughts exactly how I want. My whiteboard serves a similar purpose as a physical reminder of important deadlines or due dates upcoming. I don’t even have to leave my desk to reference the content I have drawn out on my board, and I can use it to help keep track of projects’ status when multiple items are in the air. These options are great in the short term, but they are less than ideal as long-term organization methods. Notepads and whiteboards fill up quickly and can lead to slightly connected notes scattered everywhere, cluttering up the office. Dive into Digital When projects need more organization space than handwritten notes can offer, turning to digital tools can save a lot of headaches. A system for saving files in the same location on a server by project and client is inarguably important, but emails should also be similarly arranged to keep conversations in order. Creating folders for each client with subfolders on individual projects or reoccurring subjects makes it easier to access and report the latest communication from where it was left off. Relevant email threads are sorted into the folders, sometimes over the course of years, to keep track of communication. I use my inbox for more pressing projects, remarking emails as “unread” until the important tasks are completed, addressed to the client or filed/noted in their proper way. This provides a quick list of outstanding work that I owe my team members or clients. Most email platforms also have calendars attached. Those are useful tools for obvious reasons, such as organizing meetings and appointments. However, I also use my calendar to set notifications and reminders for myself. Larger projects will often have multiple deadlines for various components along the way, and keeping track of all of them without some kind of tool would be impossible. By putting those dates into the calendar to contact vendors, follow up with client on outstanding projects, submit content and accomplish other steps by a certain date, I get reminders and notifications as I need them to keep projects on track. Delete Strategically Though inbox folders and the server have much more storage capacity than a notepad, they can still get cluttered if old content continues to take up space. Files and emails can be moved to an archive, where they are out of the way without being permanently deleted, but doing this means that they are not readily accessible for client needs. Deleting content is also occasionally necessary to open storage space and keep old drafts from being confused with newer versions of a file. However, deleting something as soon as you’re done with it or when it hits a certain age is unwise. Clients may change their mind about edits and ask to revert back to a former version of the copy or design. They may also pick projects back up after leaving them for a while or lose track of something and ask for it to be sent again. In any of these cases, having old files readily available can save the time and effort that would go into recreating them. Only delete files and emails when you’re sure the client will never need them again. These tips may seem simple and somewhat obvious, but they are the foundation for our clients’ work and the reason we are able to provide effective full-service marketing services. Putting these to work can be key to putting some organization into the chaos of agency life.

Katie Robertson - Account Executive, Public Relations When clients go to trade shows, we will often work with them to set up meetings with editors of trade publications and industry news sites who are also in attendance. This is a great opportunity for businesses to take advantage of being in the same space as important media contacts by building relationships and positioning themselves for earned media opportunities. These dos and don’ts will help you make the most of every conversation and communicate the best possible messaging for your brand. Do… Know who you’ll be talking to We will provide details such as the person’s name, publication and any relevant topics from the editorial calendar for you to review before the meeting. Come up with speaking points before the meeting Based on the reporter, come up with 3-5 newsworthy speaking points such as new products, business developments or differentiators to focus on. Ex: Our company recently added a new product, expanding our capabilities in the XX market. Ex: Company XX brings these unique values to our customers. Have relevant handouts/resources available to give them A physical resource or preexisting link builds credibility to what you’re saying and helps them remember your conversation later. Ex: Product sell sheets or design books Ex: Blog or case study that reinforces your speaking points Be concise Speak in quotable sound bites that the reporter can use. These meetings will also only be scheduled for 15-20 minutes, so keep an eye on the time and don’t go over. Don’t… Speak in negatives Don’t repeat negatives from their questions or answer using negative words/phrases. Ex: Instead of “We will never stop delivering quality products,” say, “We will always deliver quality products.” Talk down on competitors Stick to the benefits of your company instead of the deficits of competitors. Ex: Instead of, “Our competitors don’t emphasize quality the way we do,” say, “Our products are durable and long-lasting.” Speculate If a reporter asks something you don’t know the answer to, direct them to someone who does or tell them that you will check and get back to them. Don’t guess or make it up. Answer every question literally You can pivot your responses to highlight your speaking points and make your company look better. Ex: Q- “Why is your product so expensive?” A- “Our customers don’t need to pay to repair or replace the product, so the durability actually dramatically increases the ROI.” Ultimately, editors are looking for a story, and you have good ones to tell. Following these tips will simply help refine and communicate the great content you already possess to advance your brand and enhance your marketing.

Mike Isaacson – Senior Account Executive With new advertising media popping up constantly across the digital landscape and print remaining a solid presence for B2B marketers, the options for available advertising platforms can seem overwhelming. A good advertising plan incorporates elements from several different channels, but how and when should each be utilized? To answer this question, businesses can work with their agency to identify how much priority needs to be placed on various parts of the sales process to drive awareness, build interest, encourage evaluation or activate decisions. While several advertising methods can fit each need, some match up better with certain phases than others, and supporting each of these steps with the right medium will solidify branding, grow impressions and ultimately, generate leads. Awareness: Print When looking to establish your brand presence, trade publications offer the specific audience you are trying to reach and the physical space needed to deliver your key points. The media relations department within an agency needs to pay close attention to the readership of a potential advertising partner to reach the decision makers the client plans to target. Reputable publications will be able to provide a detailed audience summary. Using this resource, the agency and the client can work together to review the facts and determine which ones are worth the advertising investment and the right message to influence the publication’s audience. Interest: Eblasts Once awareness is established, eblasts can be used for more personalized email prospecting. Many publishing groups offer options to contact their readers via email, including spaces in newsletters or sponsored eblasts. The contact lists they provide for these campaigns can usually be broken down by job role, geography or several other demographics for an even more targeted advertising strategy. There are also other services available to find contact information and build your own contact lists. Eblasts are a much more personal form of advertisement, delivering content directly to someone’s inbox. This allows the business to make a connection with potential buyers and expand on the points established in the awareness phase. Within the email design, clients can also direct interested leads to valuable resources, such as blog posts, infographics, case studies and ebooks, with a link to a landing page. Evaluation: Videos Most B2B purchases are made at a larger cost than B2C purchases, making the stakes for potential customers much higher. B2B consumers cannot make buying decisions on a whim and need to be highly informed about your products or services’ specs and differentiators. To help inform their audience, businesses should be well-stocked with a variety of resources that can be reviewed to help the purchasing process. One highly adaptable medium to use in this stage is video. Videos are easily viewable and can be shared on a variety of digital platforms including social media, emails, websites, paid ads and more. Content is both audible and visual to provide a multi-sensory experience and efficiently communicate your information for customers to evaluate. Decisions: In-Person Demos Even with all the information in front of them, a customer may still not be fully confident in your ability to enhance their business and provide a solid ROI. Offering an in-person demonstration with a sales representative builds confidence by allowing leads on the verge of committing to see what you offer in action. Your agency can work with you and your sales team to develop a checklist of features to cover during the demo and create flyers, product books and other deliverables for a more polished presentation. This also allows reps to leave physical copies of those sales resources with the lead, which has proven to positively impact their final decision. If done correctly, this phase of the process should be your strongest – leaving a positive, lasting final impression. Every advertising plan is going to look different with these tactics and a variety of other options available to express your brand in the best way possible. Clients can work with their agency to research and analyze the target audiences, build messaging and develop a well-rounded advertising strategy that advances the brand’s position.

Brendt Glaunert – Digital Marketing Specialist The language you use when setting up a website should do more than just sound nice; it also needs to bring in customers. Having the best copy in the world won’t matter if no one makes it to the site. To increase traffic to a site, you don’t just need good words, you need keywords. From a fundamental SEO standpoint, keywords are the terms that your customers are putting into search engines when they’re trying to find your products or services. An effective keyword strategy includes matching the language on your site to the language your customers are using in the search bar, naturally bringing your site to the forefront of their search results. These three steps can help implement a simple keyword strategy that has shown to organically improve site traffic. Step 1: Investigate Your Competitors Your direct competitors are likely using a lot of these same digital strategies. Running through a list of these companies and auditing their sites for keywords and phrases can give you a solid list of terms to incorporate into your own site. Organic competitors are also important to monitor. These are the websites that come up along with yours in a search, regardless of any direct competition. Auditing these sites too, especially ones that are performing better than yours in SEO, can expand your list of keyword terms. Step 2: Identify Your Target Keywords Using the competitor research and your own understanding of your brand, products and services, you can now start to build a list of keywords. The metrics need to include both high-volume and specific keywords to generate the right quantity and quality of traffic to your site. Semrush and Google’s Keyword Planner are both great tools to show you the metrics of specific keywords you’ve identified. This will help measure the words and phrases with metrics like high search volume, so you can put them to work boosting your SEO. Picking only the terms with the most searches can be tempting, but keywords also need to be specific to your audience. Using just the word “veterinary” when building a site for a B2B veterinary diagnostic equipment manufacturer will generate a lot of traffic, but much of it will be people looking for a clinic for their pet, clinical research or other non-related products and services. The keywords “veterinary diagnostic equipment” may reach fewer people, but it will reach the right people, which, in this case, are veterinarians looking for equipment acquisitions. Step 3: Develop an SEO Checklist Each page of your site offers multiple opportunities to plug in those keyword terms. These words should be worked into the titles, section headers and other copy on the page, but they should also be written into the back end of the site. Title tags, meta descriptions and alt tags are the page name, page overview and image descriptions, respectively, that you give to the search engine, so it knows what your site is all about. This language should follow SEO best practices, such as character limits and suggested structures, as the crawlers that rapidly search the web only know how to flag keywords, not interpret text. Once your keywords have been identified, refined and strategically placed in both the front and back ends of the site, relevant site traffic and the number of quality leads should start to grow. However, these steps are just the tip of the SEO iceberg.

Taylor Brazell – Account Executive A regular status meeting between agency personnel and their direct client contacts is not just a chance to hang out with your favorite team members, it can also be an extremely useful tool to check in on goals and keep projects on track. Whether they’re once a week, once a month or at any other time interval, meetings between clients and agencies covering a single project or multiple campaigns can allow for better input, increased organization and clearer communication while saving time and money. Input Similar to the yearly planning meetings between the agency and its client, a recurring update meeting gives both groups the chance to evaluate how campaigns have been going and map out the next steps; it just does it on a smaller or more focused scale. While these meetings typically include the client representative or team and the account executive from the agency, they also offer opportunities for other agency staff to receive and give input directly. Depending on the projects, members from the agency public relations, creative and digital departments can hop into meetings as needed to help the process of translating client requests into deliverables, offer their expertise, provide recommendations and offer a new perspective for any brainstorming discussions. Even the meetings themselves can be reviewed at the meetings. Most agencies bill clients according to the time spent on projects. With that in mind, update meetings should only happen as needed. The initial frequency should be set based on the expected workload, but adjustments can be made to meet more or less often as project needs increase and decrease. Organization Everyone has heard of the meeting that should have been an email, but what about the email that should have been a meeting? When multiple projects are going at once and several versions of drafts are circulating to different people within the agency and client teams, keeping up with the most current information can be a challenge over an asynchronous communication channel like email. An in-person or online meeting alleviates some of the dependence on emails by giving everyone the space to discuss decisions, while getting immediate feedback that keeps projects moving and saves time. To keep both the meeting and any ongoing projects on track, account executives should prepare an agenda that includes important steps for each project, including the history of completed components, current needs and upcoming deadlines. The report should also list who is responsible for completing each task, so no one is confused about where their responsibilities lie. Savings Clients may not think of meetings as a way to manage budgets, but good status update meetings will do just that. A real-time conversation can take the place of countless rounds of emails and edits as the client and the agency try to understand each other’s input, ask questions and get on the same page. With a thorough agenda, the right meeting frequency and team members ready to discuss important steps and project goals, regular update meetings can be one of the best investments clients make in their marketing program.

Mike Isaacson – Senior Account Executive Account executives (AEs) play a key role in establishing the culture and dynamic between clients and agency teams. As they navigate through the responsibilities of meeting client expectations, managing projects and fostering team collaboration, it can be difficult to effectively maintain positive working relationships. In these situations, the principles of servant leadership offer an easy guide to cementing healthy team dynamics and reinforcing productive communication practices. Servant leadership is a management style that focuses on serving others first and leading second. The term was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf to emphasize empathy, collaboration and the well-being of team members. Applying these servant leadership principles in an agency setting creates a positive work environment, fosters trust and ultimately leads to better outcomes for clients and the agency as a whole. Empathy and Understanding: By understanding the needs, concerns and aspirations of their clients, AEs can better align agency efforts with client objectives. Similarly, showing empathy towards the creative and account teams creates a supportive culture that boosts morale and productivity. Active Listening: Servant leaders are adept at active listening – a skill crucial for AEs dealing with diverse stakeholders. By truly hearing and comprehending the perspectives of clients, team members and other participants, AEs can make more informed decisions for better strategic outcomes. Clear Communication: Clear and transparent communication is essential in advertising. Servant leaders prioritize open and honest communication, creating an environment where untried concepts can grow into effective campaigns. AEs can apply this principle by fostering a culture of open dialogue, where everyone feels comfortable expressing their thoughts and concerns. Fostering Collaboration: Successful advertising campaigns require a collective effort from different departments. Servant leaders actively promote collaboration by breaking down barriers and encouraging cross-functional teamwork. Account executives can create a collaborative environment by facilitating regular team meetings, brainstorming sessions and knowledge-sharing initiatives. Development and Growth: Servant leadership emphasizes the growth and development of each team member. AEs can take on a mentoring role, providing guidance and support to those around them. Recognizing and investing in the professional development of individuals enhances team performance and contributes to the long-term success of the agency/client business relationship. The most successful AEs clearly demonstrate the values and behaviors they expect from their teams. AEs set the tone for a positive and collaborative work culture by embodying the principles of servant leadership in their own daily actions and decision making. By embracing empathy, active listening, clear communication, collaboration and a commitment to development, AEs create a more positive and productive work environment that meets client expectations and fosters the growth and success of their teams. Even as advertising agencies evolve, the proven principles of servant leadership can help AEs build relationships that endure.

Taylor Brazell – Account Executive Everyone’s favorite time of year at an agency isn’t summer or the holidays – it’s planning season! This is the time when account executives will sit down with each client to review the previous year’s goals and set new ones for the coming year along with budgeting for the strategies and tactics used to accomplish them. Each client will have a slightly different planning process, but it generally follows this basic timeline. Step 1: The Agency Gathers Information Planning for the next year begins at the end of a client’s fiscal calendar. For companies that follow the calendar year, this means that between October and November account executives and clients will each do a review of the previous year to see how the budget was followed and what goals were achieved. This will help indicate any necessary adjustments going forward to accomplish ongoing and new goals or maintain the current level of success. Most B2B clients also rely heavily on relationships with trade publications and websites for advertising and public relations. In the late fall, these publications and sites will release a media kit outlining opportunities and pricing for the upcoming year, which agencies and clients can use to make decisions about how and when to work with each opportunity. Step 2: The Client and Agency Meet Once the agency has some baseline information to discuss, both teams sit down to review the current year and talk about the next. When this meeting takes place will usually depend on the client. Most need to submit a marketing plan and budget between November and December, so a meeting should be set with enough time for the agency to review the information and develop a plan, as well as any review within the client’s organization before that deadline. Clients coming to this meeting should have a handle on major upcoming needs, such as sales goals, product launches, branded events or business expansions that will need marketing support. They should also bring up any shifts in the company’s priorities like improved lead management, performance data from online marketing efforts – like an increased emphasis on social media – or decrease in tradeshow presence. When the discussion is over, the agency and client should be on the same page with a list of SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals for the coming year. Step 3: The Agency Builds a Budget After the meeting, the agency team will take all the input from the past year, available market research, data analyses, media partners and the client to develop a budget breakdown. Some clients prefer to allow the agency to come up with a plan without first revealing their target budget. Using the input from the planning meeting, account executives can create tiered options, with the first including the most barebones tactics to reach the essential goals, the second adding in some additional tactics to elevate those campaigns and the third incorporating those additional goals. The client can then select an option to develop a marketing plan that best balances budget and ambition. This method offers clients more options, but it is highly time consuming and requires a lot of back and forth to cut or add tactics that make the plan fit into the budget. Instead, starting with the budget number gives both account executives and clients more freedom and clarity. With this method, the agency has all the pieces of the puzzle from the beginning. Account executives won’t have to guess how much money there is available or try to cover the possible by taking the time to build multiple budget options. The process will be faster, and the final plan will be the best fit for accomplishing goals without going over budget.

Steve Staedler – Account Supervisor, Public Relations Clients have great stories to tell, but getting their editorial pieces in front of the right audiences can be challenging. This is especially true in B2B, where the available media that target a client’s key demographics are limited. The process of placing a story begins with a pitch to let an editor know that you have a story that you feel would be a good fit for their audiences. You’ll be up against countless other stories vying for limited space, so making a good first impression with the pitch is critical. These four tips can help give your story the best chance to make it to print or online. Know the publication – Research the publication you’re pitching to and familiarize yourself with the kinds of articles it publishes. Do they run stories submitted by agencies or end-users, or do they just publish articles written by the staff? Have they published similar content to the story you’re pitching? Are there upcoming special editions or topics that would be a good fit? Knowing this information will show an editor your familiarity with and interest in their publication and will help you craft your pitch and resulting story to be more successful. Know the audience – Who exactly are the target audiences of the publication or website you’re pitching to? Your proposed topic needs to speak directly to those audiences with supporting arguments, tips or other information that will be useful to them. Editors go to great lengths to ensure the content they run best serves their audience, and making your story’s relevance obvious in the initial pitch keeps it in the running. Provide value – The content in trade publications and associated websites can be very technical in nature. Editors are looking for articles that provide a resource to their readers. Your pitch should highlight the novel concepts you will be presenting and any ties to larger trends or events in the industry that would add relevance to the story. When done right, the final story should present the client as a thought leader in its field. Deliver on the deliverables – Editors operate under tight deadlines. If the editor is expecting a story package with 1,200 words and four high-resolution photos by a certain date, you need to deliver. Missing deadlines not only places added stress on the production schedule of the publication or site, but you lose credibility with the editor which could affect future pitches. Earning media placements is not an exact science, and there is a bit of luck involved. However, doing some basic homework up front and communicating that extra effort to the editors sets both you and your client up to turn that pitch into a homerun.

Katie Robertson – Public Relations Account Executive One of the challenges of working in B2B marketing is generating content for informed audiences. Unlike B2C, where the messaging is about everyday products and geared toward average people, B2B focuses on building brand awareness and generating leads for products developed for a specific field from individuals who work in that field. The level of technical knowledge within the target population is high, meaning marketing and PR collateral needs to meet, if not exceed, that level to establish credibility and influence behavior. This can be achieved in one of two ways. The first is the agency team members on an account going through the years-long process of obtaining all the degrees, certifications and job experience held by the professionals they are trying to reach. The second (and more realistic) option is establishing these three key factors to ensure they have the pieces they need: A Basis of Knowledge Any new client that comes in requires the agency to apply existing internal product, category or industry knowledge and perform extensive research into the organization’s reputation or standing in the industry, as well as the products or services it offers. Understanding of the market will grow over time, but agencies should review competitors’ sites, trade publications, online articles and any other available resources to start out with a solid foundation of general industry knowledge. Once this is established, the agency team can do a deeper dive specific to the client. There will inevitably be product attributes, jargon, acronyms and information related to the client’s offerings that may be common knowledge to the audience but unfamiliar to marketers coming into the industry. Learning the “language” of the product ensures that it can be presented properly to people in the field without mistakes or over-explaining basic concepts. Transparency Just as clients rely on agencies for strategic direction and creative solutions, agencies rely on clients for product features and benefits along with any technical input. This starts with building that initial basis of knowledge and continues throughout the entire agency-client relationship. Finding success within this dynamic is dependent on transparency. For the client, being transparent consists of sharing as much as possible with the agency. Having the full breadth of information is the only way to ensure the most thorough, full-service marketing plan and well-informed tactics. For the agency, being transparent means being honest with itself and the client. There will likely be information needed for writing copy or designing creative that the agency may not be able to learn on its own. This is especially true early in the relationship and as new products or services roll out. The agency and the client need to understand that grasping complicated concepts to create high-level content requires a realistic timeline and two-way cooperation where both parties are free to ask questions and obtain important background and product information. Relationships with Experts Having the right questions is important, but agencies also must know the right people to ask. Many firms will only interact with the primary marketing contact on their clients’ teams, which may leave a wealth of useful expertise untouched. The client’s organization is brimming with experts who can provide their knowledge as a resource for various stages of the marketing program. Developing relationships with all stakeholders helps the agency draw from the experience available across many internal resources and to pull from and streamline the process of gathering input. In addition to contacts within the clients’ companies, agencies should form lasting relationships with experts from the field. Editors from trade publications are knowledgeable contacts, and relationships with them can provide the added benefit of more PR placements. If the client is willing to put the agency in contact with customers or other experts it has worked with, they can offer valuable information and credible content such as testimonials and articles from a third-party source. Influencers can also offer independent feedback on a product or category that will help round-out the information and data needed to clearly convey messages designed to inform and motivate audience members.

Taylor Brazell – Account Executive In marketing, being proactive is preferred to being reactive. Working with a full-service agency can offer you the best opportunity to implement proactivity into your business model, but finding the best way to work with a third party can be difficult to navigate. Whether you are running a quick campaign or developing a year’s worth of corporate communications, following the GPS (goal setting, planning and sticking to it) model is how you can make the most of your marketing agency collaboration. Goal Setting Just like a road trip, the first and most important decision you will make for our campaign is the destination. The first phase of marketing involves laying out the place (or places) you want to be at the end of the road, otherwise known as the goals. You’ve likely heard of SMART goals, or goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. These five qualities should be the building blocks of your marketing goals to give meaningful guidance to the work and allow for progress to be tracked along the way. Before meeting with your agency team to discuss goals, make sure to get input from stakeholders within your company. Marketing agencies don’t just support marketing departments. They help people in sales, leadership, customer service, internal communications and many other members of your team reach their goals as well. Bringing everyone’s needs to the table can help find the best possible destinations for your entire organization. Planning If a goal is the destination, the planning is the directions used to get there, but instead of distances and turns, marketing uses strategies and tactics. These two get confused for each other a lot, so to clarify: A strategy is a marketing method used to achieve our goals and objectives A tactic is a specific action we do that follows our strategies There are a few important considerations to keep in mind while building a plan. You may be tempted to focus exclusively on bringing in new customers, but retaining the ones you have is just as important. The plan needs to support every step of the customer’s journey. Balancing multiple interrelated tactics is also critical to achieving success. The best marketing plans don’t put all their eggs in one basket, but instead focus on many different channels offered by a full-service agency, such as advertising, social media, trade shows, earned media, etc. Each has its own strength that plays into strategies in a complementary way. To manage both these challenges and any other features of your unique marketing approach, communication is key. The more input your agency has, the better the team can plan. Even details that may seem insignificant could inspire an ad theme or an article topic, so do not hesitate to give them everything you have during the planning phase. Sticking to it Communication between teams does not stop being important once the plan is set. It needs to be constant and highly transparent to ensure everything can stay on track. If you have a direction in mind for a tactic, let your agency team know in as many details as possible. If you have critiques on a draft, give direct, specific feedback. These simple steps keep everyone on the same page and help save time and money by cutting extra rounds of edits, keeping both the budget and schedule in line with the plan. Just like a road trip, marketing plans can be thrown off course by unforeseen circumstances. Though agencies can’t predict the future and avoid all these situations, a team that is well-versed in your industry and understands your goals can anticipate detours and work with you to get your plan back on track.

In the recent past, having too many conference calls and meetings to attend was an ongoing general complaint from the office-based workforce. It’s a topic regularly converted into humorous memes that elicit chuckles from anyone who has ever spent their days in an office environment. With the sudden onset of COVID-19 and unprecedented work-from-home mandates now the new normal, that same workforce has replaced groans about yet another meeting, with cravings and appreciation for any and all communication from the home office. Employees we’ve talked to are placing a very high value on communications during this quarantine period. Overwhelmingly, many companies from a variety of industries including software, insurance, sales and marketing have really raised the bar on connectedness and creativity - and employees are taking notice. For companies who are doing everything possible to frequently communicate with their employees, it is an investment in both their talent and the overall company. Boosts to morale, clarity regarding the organization’s health or challenges, and camaraderie that retains team bonds, are all benefits of maintaining consistent communication with employees during shutdowns related to the COVID-19 crisis. Communication for the Win Communicating with employees during a crisis is really a win-win situation as the company-employee relationship is a symbiotic one. What is good for employees, is ultimately good for employers. Valued employees are more motivated and reliable and therefore, will do their best to help their companies successfully navigate through this challenge. This is not a situation affecting only one division or department in a company – or even one industry – everyone has a stake in this crisis. To ensure your employees maintain their productivity and dedication to your organizational mission and vision, consider different communications strategies to help their work feel less remote at a time when every other area of their lives is isolated. How you choose to communicate with your employees is entirely up to you and what feels right for your organization based on resources available and your organizational culture as a whole. If you are not sure how or what to communicate, consider the following insights as you craft your messages to employees. What Not to Do In the first week or two of national social distancing protocols, a few companies including a well-known nationwide retailer, endured an onslaught of bad PR based on little communication and guidance for their public-facing employees. When the retailer finally did communicate with employees, the messages were insensitive and failed to address employee concerns. During this crisis, some company leaders and managers might resent stay-at-home mandates and feel like they are giving up control of their operations. They may also suspect that some employees will abuse a work-from-home arrangement or worry that less disciplined individuals, new to working from a home office, may find it hard to focus. These are valid concerns. Company leaders need to clearly convey their expectations. Likewise, employees must understand their employer’s perspective, they still have a business to run. However, it’s important that managers remember that employees were thrown into this situation nearly overnight – just as they were. Most employees would much rather be working in their office buildings away from their kids and pets. Some have even restructured their home layout and are utilizing personal resources to make sure they are conducting business as usual in a not business as usual economy. Tone Simple touchpoints with your employees go a long way. For internal communication, it’s ok to lighten things up and ease regular formalities. Like you, employees are going through a lot at no fault of their own. Worries about their investments, job, immediate finances, how their kids are performing in virtual school, their own health as well as their loved ones, are weighing on their minds. For those working from home, they want their employers to trust that they are still performing at a high level despite their environment. Some employees feel like a fish out of water right now. Regular positive messages and feedback keep them swimming forward. Frequency Because the pandemic situation is rapidly evolving, many companies are communicating with employees daily. Most of the employees that responded to an informal survey we conducted indicated that they are being addressed at least once a week by a company leader (CEO, CFO) and on average, nearly every day by a manager or other coworkers. At the minimum, once-per-week overarching communication from corporate leaders about the state of the business or shifting strategies due to pandemic influences is recommended to keep employees informed and on-task. One employee we spoke to reported that their company hasn’t communicated with them at all. It’s adding to their already heavy stress load and morale is low at the company. The consensus among employees at that company is that they are unappreciated, feeling uneasy and left in the dark. Channels Employees are taking note of any type of communication now. With several weeks of virtual communicating under our belts, preferences for communication channels are emerging. Eighty-six percent of corporate, nonprofit and government employees recently surveyed by Ragan, publisher of Ragan’s PR Daily, cite e-mail as the most effective channel for crisis-related messages. According to the study, video conferencing comes in second, but not far off from other channels such as team messaging apps like Slack or traditional teleconferences. Approach Some employers want to be transparent and communicate better with their employees but are not quite sure what or how to communicate – especially when there may be a work slowdown or they simply are not sure what is around the corner with each new week of quarantine. A simple conference call on alternating days, or weekly, to inquire how everyone is doing and sharing team updates may suffice for some workgroups or smaller companies. There might not be much to share during some calls but at least the lines of communication are open. Besides weekly leadership calls, blog posts or e-mails about the state of the business, employees of some larger corporations we talked to have reported creative approaches that really demonstrate supportive empathy and appreciation for employees. These workers have reported home deliveries of office supplies, gourmet popcorn baskets or new corporate swag, as well as stimulus checks from their companies. Some enterprises have distributed surveys to employees to ascertain how management can help make this period better for employees as well as emailing support tips for remote workers. Almost everyone we talked to has participated in morale boosters such as quarantine photo contests, virtual company spirit days, coffee breaks and happy hours. We are in a whole new world where worktime may be the only social outlet for some people, so these activities are engaging and exciting for them to participate in. Employers who execute a strong communications effort with their workers during this unprecedented downturn will find that these employees will remain loyal and productive long-term. Well-informed employees will understand what exactly is needed from them in order for their companies to have the best chance at a successful recovery. It is not lost on them how lucky they are, when so many across the country are either not working safely or not working at all. Employees who feel communicated with and valued by their companies will keep working their hardest to ensure there is a profitable company with a job remaining for them when the dust settles, and the masks come off.