Put 'er There

Why long-term partnerships are more impactful than short-term relationships

Hey, we've all been there. You meet a creative agency at a bar. They seem nice. You go out once or twice, the vibe seems vibey, but then it's over. Just like that, the project ends and you're left feeling cold and alone, wondering if there could have been something more.

Hey Siri, play "Rollin' in the Deep" by Adele.

The truth is, you really could have had it all. Rather than a short-term fling with a creative agency, you could have had a meaningful, long-term partnership built on mutual trust, understanding, and a shared creative vision.

These ongoing relationships are mutually beneficial for both the client and the agency, with solid business practices mixed in with the creative benefits. In this post, we're going to dig into why hiring agencies ad hoc is smothering your potential and driving your creatives crazy.

It's Not Personal, It's Just Business

Even if you don't have a constant need for a creative team, cultivating an ongoing relationship with an agency is a smart business choice. You're a smart business person, so you get that by building that long-term relationship, you'll:

• Save time and money by partnering with people who already know you, your brand, your goals, and your audiences.
• Maintain your brand positioning over time, building consumer confidence and solidifying your competitive differentiators.
• Know who to call when things are off-track or off-budget.
• Get collateral you trust from a team that respects your brand, your time, and your investment.

Get More for Your Money

Not to get all corporate on you, but at the end of the day, every creative agency is a business, and that means there are some savvy business-y type people working to build value. They told us that you can divide partnership value into four pillars.

1. Efficiency That Compounds Over Time — Don't glaze over here. That sounds fancy, but what it really means is that our processes and workflows become streamlined with the benefit of experience. The agency will start to anticipate your needs and understand your positioning, so you'll have fewer rounds of revision, saving you time and money.
2. Deeper Insights Drive Better Work — When we know better, we do better. There's only so much that can be contained in a brand book; everything else we learn on the job, with insight into your company culture, stakeholder personalities, and historical successes and failures.
3. Strategic Alignment Creates Proactive Partnership — Your creative agency has the skills and smarts to be a strategic advisor, not just a creative order-taker. Through a long-term partnership, we can start to chart courses for the future, invest in your ongoing success, and develop a positive culture of collaboration.
4. Brand Familiarity Ensures Consistency — Ad-hoc creative hires will have a limited understanding of your brand identity, which puts your brand at risk for inconsistency. Consistent brand expression is a cornerstone of building consumer trust, which comes from a deep knowledge of the brand's history, voice, and visual language.

The Results Will Speak for Themselves

For the creative agency, the benefits of a long-term partnership are just as important. Having deep, personal relationships with brands creates a sense of ownership for creative teams — they feel responsible for protecting and maintaining the brand positioning, and for helping ensure the future success of your company.

And through that sense of responsibility comes some incredible concepting and collaboration.

Here's a real-world example: Say you own a company that makes fire extinguishers, and every year you make new campaign collateral to take with you to the national fire extinguisher convention. Your creative agency will anticipate that you're going to be going to see the other fire extinguisher people, and they'll be able to do competitor research, conduct consumer surveys, ideate some out-of-the-box approaches, and create massive success for you at your fire extinguisher party.

If you just hired an ad-hoc team to create your assets, they wouldn't have the runway, historical knowledge, or personal investment in your success to bother with all the extra steps required to make something you'd be truly proud of. It might be less costly, but it will certainly look and feel less thoughtful.

If You Like It, Put a Ring On It

Committing to a creative agency can feel like a big step. Before you make the leap, we recommend interviewing several teams. Let them buy you coffee or lunch, hear their ideas and get a feel for their culture.

The right agency for you will understand your brand — even if they're not experts in your industry — and will share your goals. Your visions will align in a natural way, so that you don't have to force the relationship to grow and develop.

Be prepared to shift your mindset from managing a vendor to cultivating a partnership, and watch out for these red and green flags along the way.

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