In the public relations industry, there are often times when you work with a client that has multiple agencies or vendors, whether that means multiple PR agencies handling different tasks, or PR agencies working with creative agencies or digital/marketing agencies. With so many partners, it can often cause stress due to miscommunication or lack of awareness, causing friction between the two partners that can ultimately cloud your relationship with the client. By playing nice in the sandbox, you are guaranteed a cohesive relationship that your client can’t help but notice.
At Trevelino/Keller, we have been very fortunate to work with several different partners, many of those who we work with on multiple clients. In order to create a collaborative marketing and communications strategy, it is important that both parties meet one-on-one or via phone to provide insight into to their strategies. Whether that is a meeting in person, or participation in client calls/updates on a monthly basis, it’s important for each agency to be brought up to speed on the direction that these various teams are going in. That way, no efforts are duplicated and each agency knows where the client stands on creative ideas and concepts that have been presented on both ends.
In addition, it’s important to communicate any relevant deadlines to any other partners to ensure your execution timeline matches and that the client is receiving final materials when expected. Often times, collaborative projects are the most successful because clients can work with both parties on a common goal. However, these collaborations can go sour if there is a lack of communication about expectations from the beginning. Setting expectations up front is key to a successful project.
Please share your tips for working with other agencies/vendors.
-Kelly Ronna - @karonna