Running an agency doesn’t have to be chaotic. These strategies make it easy.
Dav Nash
14 min read
I mean, it sounds obvious, doesn’t it?
But with the excitement of starting your own business, creating noise, designing sick branding, and getting the word out, it’s easy for the finer details to get a little overlooked.
But agency management is going to be a huge part of your role as an agency owner.
It doesn’t matter if you plan to be a very involved CEO and you still have your heart in campaigns, marketing agency management will be at the core of what you do.
If you’re just starting up and you’re brand new to running a business, I’m going to break down some key parts of it for you here.
Let’s get into it.
Before we get going, I just want to add a quick note on agency management.
Maybe you’re thinking what actually is agency management?
Because it’s not managing a bunch of agencies as an agency, nor is it just being a manager.
It encompasses so much more than that.
From overseeing the day-to-day running of the business to setting the company culture to streamlining the way you do things, there’s a lot to focus on.
But nailing it can hugely influence the success of your marketing agency in general!
Before you dive too deep into the idea of mastering agency management, you need to know exactly what it looks like.
It’s not just about choosing a leadership style and playing CEO.
In fact, agency management is more than just leadership – that’s just one part of it.
(And if you want to attract the best talent, you do still need to do that part exceptionally well!)
Looking to run your marketing agency well means you need to have a good grasp on all of the elements that go into it.
Let me run through six of the most important here.
Let’s face it, without clients you don’t actually have an agency.
So your first and arguably the most important role of all is client acquisition.
How you do this is entirely up to you.
It could be your focus. You could hire a sales team. You could do it collaboratively.
But networking, pitching, and signing clients have to be up there.
Once again, without clients, you really don’t have an agency.
So your next area to focus on once you have secured those all-important clients is keeping them!
Client retention is something that isn’t just done once and dealt with. It’s an ongoing process.
Establishing and maintaining excellent relationships with your clients should be your bullseye.
Going through excessive client turnover and having to constantly seek new clients to keep the business afloat is exhausting and unnecessary.
Focus on keeping your clients happy and agency life will be so much easier.
Then we have your team.
It would be great if your team could kind of take care of themselves (and honestly, in a lot of cases this can happen – especially if you hire the right people), but people management is a huge part of agency management.
Overseeing your team, ensuring they have what they need to have in place to do their jobs well, and developing them so that they do well for the business is key.
Once again, we’re back to clients.
(I hope you’re sensing a pattern here…)
Planning your client projects and campaigns is such a large part of your day-to-day job.
Even if you, the CEO or Director, don’t take part in the daily management of campaigns, it will be something you either oversee or are aware of.
If you don’t take responsibility here, your agency is likely to suffer.
Just sayin’!
Okay, now we have some of the more functional stuff.
But without it – you’ve guessed it – no agency!
There’s the financial side of things you need to either oversee or be aware of, then the operational.
Ideally, you’ll bring experts in here.
You don’t want to be CEO and CFO and COO and all of the things.
Yes, you may wear many hats in the beginning, but to establish and grow a successful marketing agency, establishing the right agency management in every area is quite literally essential!
And finally, we have business development.
Sure, this can kind of fall under acquiring clients – but that’s referring to pitching and signing clients more specifically.
Here, we’re thinking of business development as a whole.
Your own marketing (remember, your agency should always be your own client).
Your own sales.
Your own PR.
You’ll want to be actively working on all three to build your brand, increase your visibility, and support your client acquisition process.
Now you know the key elements that go into efficient agency management, let me run through why this matters.
You might be thinking – ‘but Dav, that’s a lot…’ – and you’d be right.
But with the right marketing agency management structure in place, everything clicks.
Here’s a drill down of how:
Without the right management in place, your agency could be all kinds of chaos!
But when you look to have not only the right management structure in place, but every area of the business streamlined, everything is a lot easier.
Rather than things feeling all over the place, they’ll be organised.
Everyone will know their roles.
Clients will be taken care of.
Results will be achieved.
And yes, all because you’ve approached the structure of your marketing agency in the right way.
That first one seems a bit soft, but seriously makes the day-to-day running of the agency easier.
This one? Well, this one is all about getting stuff done!
We all love to be productive.
Not in a crazy cranking-it-out-like-a-machine kind of way. But the good kind.
Work is flowing. Results are building. Everyone is on the ball.
When the agency is organised and running well, everyone can just get on with what they need to do without any issues.
Heaven!
With a great marketing agency management structure in place comes clarity.
And clarity is seriously underrated!
Your agency is a business first. This means it needs clear objectives in place.
You want to know what you’re working toward, how you’re doing it, and what needs to get done.
When you’re nailing the management side of things, all that is crystal clear.
But the same goes for everyone in the business being clear on what they’re working toward, how they’re doing it, and what they need to get done too!
And as a result, communications within the company get to be crystal clear too!
Next is the idea of everything running like clockwork.
Which, when you have a million things to do as an agency owner, is music to your ears, right?
With the right marketing agency management in place, you get to seriously streamline all of your systems and procedures.
You won’t have anyone going around the houses to get things done.
Instead, you can implement key standard operating procedures (SOPs) as part of the overall management so that the way the overarching running of the business is done, is seamless!
Touché!
And let’s not forget efficiency.
Closely linked with everything being organised, streamlined, and clear – we all love a bit of efficiency, don’t we?
When you really want to focus on getting your clients’ results, the last thing you want is for that to take a million years.
That sounds expensive and like it’s going to cut into your profits, doesn’t it?
(Hint: it will!)
So when you’re nailing your agency management, your whole operation is going to be a lot more efficient (and yes, you’ll all be getting better results too).
At this point, I hope you’re nodding along.
Although you might want to just focus on getting more clients or actually delivering those results – it’s hard to let go of your love of marketing, even when you start your own agency – you might want to turn your attention to your agency management skills.
But if you’re thinking you have no idea how don’t worry.
Let’s look at what this actually looks like in practice.
I promise it’s not as big and scary as it all sounds.
Okay, so we’ve circled back around to the one that you might think would be on here – working on your management style.
If you’re going to run the agency well, you need to be a good manager.
No, not good – a great one!
To lead your team to success, you need the skill in place to do it.
So if you’re a bit new to managing people or you think you suck at it, your first port of call is to become a better manager overall.
Next, you need support.
It’s true what they say – it gets lonely at the top.
And like I said earlier, you’re not here to be CEO, CFO, COO, and whatever else. You’re here to run the agency (and do whatever else you like to do too).
When it comes to having the right agency management structure in place, you need people under you.
How you design this is entirely up to you.
Whether you want a Head of Finance, Head of Marketing, Head of HR, and so on…. Or whether you want to have different people heading up different teams with different remits – the choice is yours.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what your senior team looks like – just that they’re there (and doing a good job at it too).
Next up, you’ll also want to become invested in developing your team.
A huge part of running an agency is understanding that the business is only ever as good as its people.
If your people aren’t at their best, how can they be the best at their work?
In order for your agency to deliver in-sane results for clients, you need the top talent working on them.
And because the nature of our industry is very dynamic, this means learning and growing faster than a rat up a drainpipe!
Back to the organisational structure again, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re bringing in key processes that make sense for the business.
If things are going to run smoothly, the right things need to be in place.
This is something that you might want to work with your operational head on.
From having set systems in place for how you carry out certain activities to important procedures covered off that tick all of your legal-requirement boxes.
This one doesn’t sound that sexy, but the way it facilitates that kind of laidback agency lifestyle you’re looking for?
Priceless.
And then you’re going to want to finish off by having these two beauties in your back pocket.
First, outsourcing.
You may not want to have your own financial department in place, but you can outsource taxes and bookkeeping to an accountant.
Maybe you don’t want to deal with customer service? That’s cool, you can hire in help for that too.
And yes, businesses and brands do outsource their marketing to you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t outsource it.
If you need to bring in contractors from time to time to get the job done, do it.
Sometimes, this is the only way to work with the talented people you’d love to hire but can’t because they’re freelance and that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Then, tech.
We live in a world where there’s so much tech to help us get done what we need to get done – too much in fact.
But it’s beautiful.
There’s an app or software package or AI program for just about anything – so use it.
And if you want some advice, here’s a list of the tools I personally love.
If you feel like you’ve dived in deep into agency management and you’re not 100% sure how to handle it, you’re not alone.
Going from marketer to managing owner is… a lot!
So next we want to uncover some of the most effective ways to approach your agency management journey.
Best practices can seem official – but there really is no right or wrong way to do this.
It’s all about how you want to set the tone and energy of your agency.
But here’s a couple of starting points to send you on your way…
As with any business, you need a goal.
Or, ideally, a handful of them.
To come up with super clear goals, it can help you to think about the below questions:
When you put in a few overarching goals that feel like a bit of a stretch, it can then shape the way you build and run the agency.
To reach any goal, you need visibility.
Yes, you need to take action to actually achieve a goal, but you need to track your progress along the way.
The same goes for getting client results.
So next, you want a setup that gives you a topline view of what’s going on in the business at all times.
If you have a tech team, you can get them to create this for you.
If not, look into white-labelled software that will allow you to create your own custom version of this.
Honestly, if I had one piece of advice from my many years in marketing, it would be that communication is everything.
When you want people to deliver their best or you want to keep your clients happy or you want to know exactly how the business is doing at any moment… communication is key.
But it’s not just about holding (often – let’s face it – pointless) meetings, checking in on your live chat software, or keeping each other informed.
It’s about communicating effectively.
When everyone is on the same page, the agency runs smoothly.
Going back to the idea of all the hats (I’m hoping at this point you know you shouldn’t be wearing them!).
Not only do you need a team of people to wear them, you need to actually allocate them responsibility.
And even then – you have to trust them to deliver.
A huge part of marketing agency management is building the right team and trusting them to handle it.
Building your delegation muscle and being able to focus on your zone of genius is key here.
When it comes to clients, of course, you always want to be signing more (as long as you have the space).
However, your number one goal should be retention.
Keeping your clients happy will cost you less and earn you more in the long term.
The lifetime value of a client is always invaluable to an agency.
Consistent retainers and the ability to upsell in the future are what you’re aiming for her.
So again, communication is key – but so is delivering results and building trust.
Next, you’re going to want to make sure that you are nailing your client reporting.
This is a key part of agency management.
It also links up the idea of communicating efficiently with your clients and delivering on results.
They’re paying you to do a job (and mostly get results) – so they want to trust that you’re doing that.
Developing your way of tracking, reporting internally, and sharing findings with clients is huge.
Again, you may want to do this your way and have your own tech to do it.
So we’ve seen what agency management does, what it encompasses, the benefits, and just how to nail it.
But now I want to finish off by letting you know why nailing this really matters.
Because when you can solidify your marketing agency management, a lot can happen.
A lot like:
When you start an agency, you might have a few things in mind.
1. You want to do your own thing and be your own boss.
2. You want to do a good job and disrupt the marketing industry.
3. You want to make money.
But one thing you may not initially think when you toy with the idea of launching your own thing is likely to be ease.
Ease and simplicity don’t tend to have the kind of same sex appeal as success and wealth.
But knowing that your agency runs well is undoubtedly one of the most mindblowing and appreciated things you could ask for.
With success and wealth in mind, strong agency management also improves results.
With the right structure, team, systems, procedures, and communication, everyone can focus on doing their job well.
And when you do a good job, results come.
We’ve all worked for an awful manager.
We’ve all loved the work we do but wanted to leave because of company culture.
But when you start your own agency, you get to be different.
If you run it well, your company culture will be… *inserts chef kiss here*.
If you value efficiency (and I mean, why wouldn’t you?), you will want to prioritise agency management.
When you have a clear structure, you’re able to streamline every part of the business.
With the right systems, tech, and procedures, this is pretty easy to do.
And again, when everything has been streamlined, agency life just feels a whole lot easier!
Finally, it’s going to facilitate your success!
And what more could you want?
When it comes to the bottom line of marketing agency management and why it matters, that’s it.
That’s the post.
Agency management will enable your success.
So start to bring the right elements in, work on your management approach, and see what it can do for you.
