Your Marketing Agency Hates These 4 Things...

Things that can make or break your experience when working with marketing professionals? In my books, that list is quite long…

Hi! My name is Mitka and I’m a digital marketing agency owner. If you want to get things done smoothly with an agency… or a marketing professional…or any professional at all… here are some things that you as a manager or a business owner, probably want to avoid to get the best results.

A quick note: some of these things are inevitable. The idea is to get them to a minimum, okay?

Don’t Change Your Strategy All the Time

First up, let’s talk about changing your strategy. I get it—sometimes things don’t go as planned, and pivots are necessary. But changing your strategy every other week? That’s a recipe for confusion and underperformance.

Before you decide to switch things up, look at the data. Make sure your decision is based on solid facts, not just feelings. A clear and structured approach helps everyone stay on track. If you don’t know what to look for, ask your agency or teammates - this is exactly why you hired them in the first place!

Don't Micromanage

Next, let’s discuss micromanaging. If you’ve worked with several marketing professionals and none seem to get it right, it might be time to take a step back and reflect.

Micromanaging can take different forms. For example, clients who don't know what they want and give a very vague brief… and we are supposed to read their minds or find information on our own with no guidance.

Or, after executing a test with practice research on our side, the client is unhappy because this is not what they wanted. This leads to many unnecessary iterations and frustration for both parties.

Finally, the classic micromanagement playbook: a client who wants to control and approve every little detail. Of course, being on-brand is vital - but an ad, a post, an article, or a visual can be on-brand within certain creative freedom. There are multiple ways to get to a high-quality result, and marketing professionals need to have the creative freedom to decide which one is best.

If you’re constantly unhappy with deliverables, ask yourself if you’ve communicated your vision clearly. Without clear communication, it’s going to be an endless back-and-forth loop of frustration.

Don’t Start Off With Mistrust

Now, let’s talk about trust. If you start working with someone thinking they’re out to trick you, that partnership is doomed from the start.

Do your homework before hiring and check their references and past work. But once you’ve made your choice, trust them! Once I talked to a potential client who told me I couldn't trick her because she had read some marketing books and knows what's up. I thought to myself, “First, I'm not trying to trick you, and second, I have over 10 years of hands-on work experience which can't be compared to reading a few books”. Needless to say, this was a Good bye.

Avoid Last-Minute Tasks

And finally, let’s touch on last-minute tasks. If your marketing processes are all over the place, that chaos will show in the work your marketing agency produces.

Last-minute requests often lead to rushed work that just doesn’t cut it. To keep things organized, make sure your business operations are running smoothly too. Planning ahead makes everything easier and improves the quality of what you get. It’s really as simple as that!

Remember, good partnerships are built on trust and clear communication. I hope my rant sparks a productive discussion leading to better marketing decisions for your business. I’d love to be part of the process - as always, you can find a link to our free marketing audit in the comments below!