One would think that it wouldn’t be necessary to build a great relationship with top SEO companies. These companies got to be in the upper echelon due to their skill and experience, right? But it’s crucial that you as CEO of your company take the reins in the agency – client relationship. Doing so will help you maximize your online marketing investment. So whether you are interviewing online advertising companies in search of a good fit, or you have already signed on with an agency, it is always possible and important to set the tone and be proactive. Here’s how you can build a great relationship with any of the top SEO companies:
- Be proactive: So many CEOs think that once they find a top SEO company, they can sit back and let the agency handle all marketing activities. While the agency should create the strategy and execute it, the client has a definite role to play in the campaign. It’s important to leverage your internal resources to assist the agency. For example, you may introduce a new product. Your internal team can write and publish a press release about the product launch. It can then provide all details (including any visual or web assets) to your agency to use in various marketing pieces, such as e-newsletters, social media, and banner ads. The point is to not wait for your agency to ask you about what’s happening at your company. Always keep the lines of communication open so they can help you make the most of your online marketing investment.
- Keep your agency accountable: Start with these questions, then have the agency put the answers down in writing. Then you will be able to go back and point to this in your contract:
- How can I quantify the work that you are doing?
- What specific work and/or activity is expected to be done every month?
- After the first phase of implementation, what are the things that I’m going to be receiving on an ongoing basis?
- Attend meetings with your agency regularly and have questions ready. Everyone is busy these days, but the scheduled times for meetings with your agency should get priority over other appointments. Ensure that key members of your team are present so you can delegate tasks and keep everyone on the same page.
- Involve your internal staff in your marketing efforts. This is a natural outgrowth of the previous point. Not only should key internal staff members attend your marketing calls with your agency, they should be assigned roles to help keep the campaign moving forward. These roles may change over time but they should be established at the beginning of the campaign.
- Learn how to leverage the agency’s breadth and depth of knowledge. Ask these questions of your account manager so you can glean the most from the agency’s experience and expertise:
- What are the best practices for this type of work?”
- What are you seeing that is working with your other clients?
- What trends do you see emerging in the last couple of months that are relevant to our business?
As you can see there is much that you can do to ensure that you receive the very best quality work from top SEO companies. The best online advertising companies got that way because they are good at building and maintaining client relationships, but there is always room for improvement.
You can take the first step to developing a great relationship with your agency. Find more tips on relationship building in our free e-book; it’s a #1 Amazon best seller.
-Grow Team