One of the most important things we do for our growing and thriving level clients is to schedule and hold regular monthly marketing meetings. These are a combination of performance review and strategy sessions and are vital to making sure we provide the best possible value to our clients and that their marketing ROI has constant improvement.
Surprisingly, the monthly marketing meetings are often a unique experience for our new clients – the business owner or marketing team is more accustomed to receiving an emailed report, which is full of data but light on knowledge. Data is fine, but knowledge is power, and teasing out the nuances of what we see and what our client is experiencing unlocks improvements that impact the bottom line.
The meetings have a structured agenda and consistent reporting that is optimized for each client’s needs – no cookie-cutter approaches for us. The meetings generally involve a review of the most recent 30 days’ activities and results, followed by plans for tactics for the next 30, 60 and 90 days. For some clients, the meeting frequency is every two weeks, or every week for heavy-use ecommerce clients where changes happen quickly.
If you are receiving canned emailed reports, there’s a good chance your account is being managed in “set it and forget it” mode. Reports are only as valuable as the knowledge you gain and the actions you can take based on solid recommendations. When you don’t get actionable knowledge from reporting, you are leaving opportunities for your competitors.
If you’re not meeting regularly with your marketing agency, it’s likely you have a vendor, not a partner. If that’s the case, there’s a good chance your marketing can be more effective and you can have a better understanding of what is working and what should change.
