On Ep. 2 of the Advice From The Hart, Chris explains the pitfalls and opportunities for a brand when someone in the agency or brand leaves.
He provides insights into how different types of leaders are ideal for different types of projects. Find out what opportunities present themselves when the point of contact is off the project.
When an agency person goes in-house and leaves the agency, there’s the potential for, relationship issues. But there’s also an opportunity to show flexibility and oversight that the handoff will be smooth and seamless. Potentially, the next person up will be even better than the previous.
Inevitably, the one-to-one bond is lost. This is especially likely when there’s only one point of contact between the agency and brand. iPullRank brings an entire pod to client conversations so that relationship is not too dependent on one person. There’s redundancy built-in to address a loss.
There are so many questions that present themselves:
You’re entering an annual business review or sales process all over again. When a new person has entered, they need to be re-briefed on deliverables, conversations, decisions, and the path. That’s why project trackers, call notes, and reporting is so important.
Whenever there’s one gatekeeper on the client-side that does not inform their team or document their project, the passing of the baton is a disaster.
Managing the project by committee is problematic as well. You still need a leader, they just cannot be an information black hole.
As an agency, one of our focuses through any client relations follows:
How well can we as the agency help the person we’re engaged with internally look good and move their career forward?
When we do good work for the project and the person on that side of the relationship. Their world gets better because they have a win underneath their day-to-day.
On our side, we work with a large bank. They have two separate decisions. Two big projects that we were on. Two different leaders and teams. One team was very junior to digital marketing. The leading woman educated her team and removed all of the barriers. The project has been wildly received by the org.
The other project has a complex problem around audience personas. 6 audience reports with 8 personas that were Venn diagramed to find overlap. The leader made it clear how to present in-depth in a way that his team could receive it effectively. We created layers of decks for different levels of the organization. Without that type of leader, it would have been a great exercise, but not something that delivered value.
The change can either kill a project or it can add new energy and drive to a project.
Christopher Hart
Title: Executive Director of Client Strategy at iPullRank
Bio: Interactive marketing veteran specializing in strategy, operations, business development, client services, project management, and leadership of Search Engine Optimization “SEO” for digital/social/mobile/content marketing campaigns that enable clients & organizations to drive measurable returns while consistently exceeding expectations.
Leveraging 20 years of interactive experience, he has optimized integrated programs across all channels in the Publishing, Entertainment, Insurance, Finance, Banking, Energy, Legal, B2B, and B2C industries.
Host: Garrett Sussman
Title: Demand Generation Manager
Garrett loves SEO like the 90s loves slap bracelets.
Every other week he interviews Chris about the world of enterprise brands and their agency relationships.
Enjoy this series? Check out Garrett’s video show round-up of everything search engine optimization: The SEO Weekly
iPullRank is a pioneering content marketing and enterprise SEO agency leading the way in Technical SEO, Audience-Focused SEO, and Content Engineering. People-first in our approach, we’ve delivered $2B+ in organic search results for our clients.
iPullRank is an NMSDC-certified Black-owned business. We support the NMSDC network in its mission to reshape the diversity landscape.
iPullRank is a pioneering content marketing and enterprise SEO agency leading the way in Technical SEO, Audience-Focused SEO, and Content Engineering. People-first in our approach, we’ve delivered $2B+ in organic search results for our clients.
iPullRank is an NMSDC-certified Black-owned business. We support the NMSDC network in its mission to reshape the diversity landscape.