Tag Archive for: integrated agency

Five ways to maximize your agency spend

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Spending hard-earned money to hire a creative or public relations agency is a big decision for many small business or franchise owners. If you are paying someone else to help you build your business (especially when you might not be paying yourself) you need to make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

Here are five ways to ensure you are getting the most out of your agency spend.

1)      Get your agency to manage the liaisons and marketing collateral with designers. There are some good designers out there but there are also many who will chew up your precious time and consistently fail to deliver. Agencies only use designers they can rely on as their livelihood depends upon it. Agencies are also skilled at handling erratic creative types, so give them the brief, then hand over the responsibility to save time and money. Don’t attempt to do your own logo unless you are a graphic designer.

2)      Let your agency be creative. You hired an agency to help you build your brand, obtain publicity and to generate awareness. Agency staff  know what they are talking about and are results and service orientated. Trust them to do their job to help deliver you the best outcome. If you aren’t going to let them have any creative reign, don’t hire them in the first place.

3)      Attend agency functions and events. If your agency puts on an event to show gratitude for your business make sure you turn up with an open-mind and ample business cards. Agency events, whether social or educational, provide excellent opportunities to network with other results-orientated businesses and can be a great way to expand your network. It can also be a great opportunity to learn something new and enhance your skills.

4)      Be open to new ideas.  What’s the point in hiring people to help you grow your brand if you are going to shut down everything they say? Some of the best ideas have come out of agencies. Listen and give them a chance to prove their worth.

5)      Get your agency to negotiate media buying and advertising for you. As well as having strong relationships with designers, most agencies will also have excellent relationships with advertising representatives. This means they have more power when negotiating deals and know how much they can push ad reps to obtain maximum value.

An introduction to the wire frame

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Working in an integrated agency, the team at Ignite PR & Marketing are more than ‘just’ PRs. We have to be able to offer our clients the whole she-bang and recently I’ve been working closely with one client to redevelop their website.

Working in an agency you will always learn along the way. Collecting skills as you develop in your role. One thing I’m eagerly learning more about, but am by no means a pro at, is web design. For this particular client project I have been working with a local Brisbane web design agency to bring the client’s website to life again. Following lengthy conversations with my client we were able to form a very definite idea about how the new website should look – from the colours, messages conveyed and the site’s navigation.

And this is where I introduce the wire frame.

Wikipedia states a website wireframe is:

A website wireframe is a basic visual guide used in interface design to suggest the structure of a website and relationships between its pages. A webpage wireframe is a similar illustration of the layout of fundamental elements in the interface. Typically, wireframes are completed before any artwork is developed.

Image via Mike Rohde (Flickr)

This visual guide has been a god send and is, I believe, one of the simplest ways for a project / account manager and designer to work together effectively and without butting heads !

Sometimes in an integrated agency we fall into the trap of thinking we can do it all. We become generalists not specialists. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is important to remember to identify opportunities to learn and develop new skills. This project was one such opportunity.

I’ve learnt a lot from this project about how I can better communicate my expectations and ideas and the use of a visual guide such as a wireframe is one way. It allows all parties to clearly see what is being proposed and provides a point for discussion and collaboration.  As a person driven by visual identifiers it, for me, is an easier way to demonstrate to others involved how I ‘see’ a project being developed rather than writing a lengthy project brief.

In collaboration between myself, the client and our web design team we have been able to present a refreshed website that combines design sensibility while checking the boxes of what the client wanted from their online presence.

We’re in the process of finalising the website for an early February launch so, like an Oral B ad, I cannot show you it just yet. In the mean time, check out some wireframe inspiration here.

– Lani Pauli, Account Manager