A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE




 How to turbocharge
 your marketing
 agency’s performance…
 with online collaboration software




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE   If it’s collaborative, it’s in Kahootz
                                                               1
Contents

About this guide	                             3

Let’s talk about communications	              4

Why online collaboration?	                    5

But what is online collaboration software?	   6

Improving client services 	                   7

Achieving business efficiency 	               11

Growing your business	                        13

What next	                                    15




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                       2
About this guide

This guide is essential reading if you’d like to:

•	mprove your communications with clients
  I

•	mprove client retention
  I

•	 evote more time to creativity and less to admin
  D

•	 iden your pool of creative talent
  W

•	ncrease productivity and margins
  I

•	 in new clients and service more accounts
  W

•	Deliver better campaigns




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                              3
Let’s talk about
communications
But why are communications so crucial?             When you get your communications
                                                   right, your clients are more likely to stay
A research by Reardon Smith Whittaker,             with you. You’ll also enjoy other major
which involved 184 client marketing and            benefits such as:
brand executives, uncovered the top
three reasons for clients leaving their            •  etter staff morale — clients will make
                                                     B
marketing agencies.                                  fewer objections
                                                   •  ore efficient workflow — you’ll need to
                                                     M
They were:
                                                     make fewer revisions

1.  nhappiness with their
   U                                               •  reater margins — increased efficiency
                                                     G
   agency’s approach                                 means your team can serve more clients

2. Dissatisfaction with creative work
                                                   They’re great results to aspire to. But how
3. Not being proactive enough                      can you achieve them?

The thread that connects them is                   Our ”How to grow your marketing
communication. That’s because                      agency” guide provides many ideas for
good communications:                               refining the way you communicate and
                                                   manage projects. In this one, we get a
•  elp clients understand your approach,
  H                                                bit more specific and look at the way one
  what is happening with their project and         particular solution can help.
  when – thanks to clear reporting and
  transparent working processes                    That solution is online collaboration.
•  elp clients understand your creative
  H
  direction and allows them to get
  involved in shaping it
•  re at the heart of being proactive,
  A
  allowing you to create a full picture of their
  requirements before any competitor does.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                         4
Why online
collaboration?
If you saw our last guide, you’ll remember    Keep it simple
research by a US software company that
                                              The insecurity of email, firewalls that
found 38% of clients have decided not
                                              block large attachments, and the admin
to give business to an agency for one
                                              time needed to circulate files also cause
reason — it didn’t have good enough
                                              communications problems and can damage
tools for managing the account’s work
                                              your relationship with your clients.
and communications.

                                              How do you solve
Don’t mix and match tools
                                              these problems?
A significant part of the problem may come
                                              The evidence suggests that clients prefer
from agencies using communications tools
                                              clear, simple tools to manage workflow and
on a mix-and-match basis. You might be
                                              communications. The US study we just
in this situation, using (for example) one
                                              mentioned also found that clients see online
application for sharing files with clients,
                                              collaboration software as a major part of the
another for managing projects, another for
                                              solution.
collaborating on strategy and so on.

                                              •  1% of client side marketers thought
                                                7
This can cause confusion that leads to
                                                online collaboration systems gave
problems with the client relationship. Even
                                                agencies an edge over their competitors
if you and your teams know how your
communications tools fit together, clients    •  pproximately 1 in 4 clients had
                                                A
rarely have the same insight.                   required agencies to offer an online
                                                collaboration system in order to keep
Streamline processes                            or be awarded an account.

Further problems can be caused by
                                              Ignore these stats at your peril — the CMO
your internal processes. File naming
                                              Council has found only 36% of clients are
conventions can cause problems and
                                              committed to staying with their current
misunderstandings. Commonly, agencies
                                              agency this year.
don’t have the systems in place to record
which team member has had contact with
                                              What are you offering the 64% who might
a client, when — and for what. This can
                                              be tempted to look elsewhere?
cause both misunderstandings and delays.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                   5
But what is online
collaboration software?
We thought you might ask that.          We’ll look at the details in a moment,
                                        but from an agency’s point of view
In a nutshell, it’s a cloud software    these tools allow you to achieve three
system that both you and your clients   essential objectives.
can access online.
                                        1)  ignificantly improve your
                                           S
Depending on the software you choose,      client services
it can give you secure access to any
                                        2) mprove your business efficiency
                                           I
combination of the following within a
                                           and profitability
shared workspace:
                                        3)  elp you target new and
                                           H
• Shared files                             bigger clients.

• Multi-author files anyone can edit
                                        How? Let’s take a look.
• Calendars
• Task lists
• Polls
• Surveys
• Databases
• Web pages
                                           Collaboration software can
• Blogs                                    help you achieve three big
…and more                                  ‘wins’ for your agency.
                                           1. Improved client services
So far, so good. But what can you
use these things for?                      2. Efficiency and profitability
                                           3. New and bigger clients




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                         6
Improving client services

The principal reason for adopting an online     Ideally it should send automatic email
collaboration system should always be to        updates each time a task is completed —
improve your service to clients.                these are essential for setting the pace of
                                                the project, stimulating quicker action and
As a marketing agency, there are many           faster project completion.
ways you can do this. Once you and your
clients share the same online workspace,        2. Project collaboration
you can use it for a whole variety of
                                                As a marketing agency, you want to
purposes — from the productive to the
                                                work more effectively with clients on their
highly innovative.
                                                individual projects.
Every agency is different, and each one
                                                As well as keeping progress on track, a
will use its chosen software to innovate in
                                                collaboration system allows you to work as
its own ways, but almost every agency will
                                                close partners with your clients on every
benefit by offering the following.
                                                project. It’s a huge advantage — clients
                                                feel they’re more closely involved with the
1. Project progress                             process, and it eliminates many of the
management                                      frustrations that go hand-in-hand with
Cloud collaboration software often              inconsistent communication.
has tools that are ideally suited for
project management.                             To get it right, though, you need to
                                                match the right collaboration system to
Every time you or your clients log into a       the demands of your projects. The most
workspace, you will all have access to a        effective way of doing this is to compile a
shared calendar, task list and other tools      checklist of the ways you want to share
that help you to monitor work and keep it       information with clients, and then opt for
on track.                                       a collaboration system that offers the
                                                right tools.
If your projects involve a number of creative
teams, or it is a complex one, opt for a        These are some of the most common things
collaboration system that lets different        to look out for, but never assume they are all
teams work on individual workstreams.           available in any particular collaboration tool.
                                                Compile your own checklist first!




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                      7
•	 ile sharing — every agency will need
  F                                               •	 ommenting. While multi-author
                                                    C
  to share briefs, creative work and other          documents are extremely useful, you
  documents with clients. Unfortunately,            and your clients may simply want to
  methods like FTP and email can make it            add separate comments underneath
  difficult to keep track of your documents,        documents that have been uploaded.
  and they aren’t necessarily secure or             Choose a system that allows you to
  even effective (for example, some                 comment on copy, visuals, video
  corporate firewalls will block large              and other files without altering the
  email attachments).                               files themselves.

	 overcome these difficulties, choose a
  To                                              •	mage folders. If you need to share
                                                    I
  collaboration system that allows you to           images, some collaboration software
  keep all project files in a single workspace,     offers specialised image folders that allow
  gives you access to earlier drafts of the         you to make simple edits and crops on
  same documents, and provides an audit             the fly. These can be really useful to speed
  trail of activity — allowing you to track         up communication and ideas.
  both your teams’ and your clients’ activity.

•	 ulti-author documents. If you need
  M
  to develop briefs, copy or concepts
  in collaboration with your clients, opt            Tip: One size doesn’t
  for a system that offers multi-author              fit all, so opt for a
  documents. These allow both you and                collaboration system that
  your clients to edit the same copy within          allows you to tailor your
  the same file, ensuring your combined              workspace to your clients.
  thinking stays within one document —               Some systems allow you
  and that you don’t have to waste precious          to apply your clients’
  time compiling feedback from multiple
                                                     corporate branding and
  files into one master document.
                                                     instantly create templated
                                                     workspaces with the
                                                     functionality you and your
                                                     clients prefer and need.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                      8
3. Offering your clients a                     4. Working as an extension
wider pool of talent                           to your clients’ marketing
You don’t have to limit your use of            departments
collaboration to project management.           The same remote working techniques also
You can bring added value to your clients      open up new ways of working with your
by using your chosen software to link in       clients. With a secure workspace offering
to additional talent.                          shared files, project management tools and
                                               the opportunity to collaborate on briefs,
For example, if you are working on an          creative work and more, your agency can
integrated marketing project for a client      position itself as an ‘always on’ resource to
that requires advertising, online and email    complete any tasks needed by your clients’
marketing, direct mail and social media        marketing departments.
marketing, you can use online collaboration
to link up with specialist partner agencies    All your client needs to do is assign the
or freelance talent anywhere in the world      work to you using the system, and you
— all they should need is a browser and        can use the same project management
an internet connection.                        tools to make collaboration effective and
                                               keep it on track.
If you want to present third part talent
as part of your own team, white labelling      Working in this way has two big bonuses
their services is simple. All you need to do   — clients quickly come to rely on you, and
is give chosen individuals access to the       it becomes much harder for competitors to
project workspace, allowing them to share      displace you.
and upload relevant files, work to task
list deadlines and act as a fully integrated
member of your team.

And if you need to brief them for multiple
projects, you can set up a separate
workspace to allow your agency to
manage and monitor their overall
workload and progress.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                    9
5. Creating better-researched                 6. Create dedicated
campaigns                                     client extranets
Some collaboration software allows            Some collaboration software will allow
you to conduct surveys and polls,             you to create intranets for each individual
automatically generating reports and          client, complete with their corporate
graphs from the results.                      branding. You can use these to manage
                                              all work you undertake for an individual
This functionality can give you a major       client, creating dedicated teams and
advantage when designing campaigns            workspaces within the portal as needed.
— it allows you cheaply test creative         It also ensures the benefits of online
concepts and ideas on a sample audience.      collaboration remain at the heart of the
All you need to do is invite them into your   client relationship — using the system
research workspace and ask them to            becomes second nature for all parties.
complete questionnaires, comment on
creative work or give you feedback on the     While usually inexpensive to set up in
usability of webpages. You can then use       this way, a client extranet not only
the results to shape your campaign and        streamlines your communications with
give clients confidence that you are          clients, but also sends out a powerful
heading in a tried, tested direction.         signal that you are willing to invest in
                                              your relationship with them.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                    10
Achieving business
efficiency
Once you make online collaboration the          deliver much bigger savings — you
core of your project working with clients,      may be able to reduce the size of your
you can extend its use to help you achieve      premises by replacing permanent
greater business efficiency and improve         workstations with a smaller number of hot
your margins.                                   desks for occasional use.

These are some of the ways you can do it.     •	 educing admin support. One of the
                                                R
                                                great benefits of online collaboration
1. Cutting your costs                           software is that it reduces the amount
                                                of administration time needed for any
and overheads
                                                given project. Because workspaces have
You can not only use cloud software to          centralised calendars, co-ordinating
collaborate with your clients, but you          diaries takes less time. Because multi-
can use it to create shared networks for        author documents allow agency staff
your employees.                                 and clients to collaborate on the same
                                                version of a file, there’s no need to
Once your staff can contribute seamlessly       gather and compile feedback from
to agency business and client projects          multiple documents sent via email. And
from any place that they have an internet       because some collaboration systems
connection and a browser, it allows you to      send automatic updates each time there
reshape the way your agency works —             is activity in your workspace, there’s no
and potentially quite radically.                need for anyone to email new files or
                                                spend time summarising recent work.
To give just a few examples:

•	 ome and remote working. With a
  H
                                              2. Internal communications
  system that allows simple, auditable file   Online collaboration really comes
  sharing and allows you to track progress    into its own as an effective internal
  of all employees’ progress, home and        communications tool. As long as you
  remote working become much more             choose a solution that allows you to
  effective and viable for agencies of all    create different teams of people, each
  sizes. This allows you to cut overheads     with different access privileges, you have
  such as electricity use, and can even       flexibility that allows agency staff to work
                                              together in any configuration.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                     11
These are just some ways you can use             3. Reduce turnaround
online collaboration to transform your           and billing time
internal communications.
                                                 This is one of the best internal results of
                                                 using online collaboration software for
•	 gency intranet. Why use an intranet
  A
                                                 client projects. Because it speeds up the
  system that’s the electronic equivalent
                                                 project process and reduces ‘dead time’
  of a neglected and dusty notice board?
                                                 by providing instant, actionable updates,
  By using collaboration software to power
                                                 you can take clients from initial concept to
  your intranet, you open the door to two-
                                                 delivery in much less time.
  way feedback, giving staff a voice and
  helping to keep communications open
                                                 This allows you to boost client satisfaction
  and morale high. And because you can
                                                 with fast, quality work — and give your
  keep tabs on details and progress of all
                                                 accounts department reason to cheer by
  client projects within the portal, it’s easy
                                                 delivering a shorter billing cycle.
  for any staff member to see what work
  and communication has been completed
  for any client, easing internal project        4. Service more clients
  handovers significantly. In this way, you      Faster project turnaround has another
  can easily create and support an agile         benefit — you can use the same teams to
  working environment within your agency.        service more projects or clients, increasing
                                                 your profitability. As your agency grows, so
•	HR. You can create secure workspaces          do the economies of scale.
   for each individual staff member and           
   use it as a collaborative area for HR
   matters, including appraisal documents,
   performance data and more.

•	nternal projects. Revamping the
  I
  website? Refining your own marketing
  strategy? Organising the Christmas party?
  Whatever the project, use the same
  functionality that you offer clients to keep
  your internal projects on track, on time
  and in budget.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                    12
Growing your business

You’ve seen how to use online              1. Attracting bigger clients
collaboration to improve the service you
                                           Intelligently used, online collaboration
give clients, and you’ve got an insight
                                           puts you in pole position to attract
into ways it can improve your internal
                                           larger accounts.
communications and profitability.

                                           Do you remember the research we
But are there ways you can use cloud
                                           mentioned at the beginning of this
collaboration to grow your business?
                                           guide? It found about 1 in 4 clients had
                                           required agencies to offer an online
In short, yes. Here are some of them.
                                           collaboration system before entrusting it
                                           with their account.

                                           That proportion is only going to rise
                                           as online collaboration within agencies
                                           becomes the norm rather than the
                                           exception — so it’s a good idea to provide
                                           it before your competitors do.

                                           That aside, major clients are also going
                                           to demand specific expert knowledge
                                           within your team, are more likely to ask
                                           you to work with other agencies, and will
                                           be sticklers for progress reporting and
                                           updates. They will also want evidence of
                                           sound campaign research. As we saw in
                                           an earlier section, these are all benefits
                                           you can deliver with intelligent use of
                                           online collaboration.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                13
2. Partnerships and mergers                    3. Tender management
Agencies often grow and sometimes              If you need to put work out to tender, you
even merge because of the partnerships         can invite potential suppliers to submit their
they foster.                                   bids using a dedicated tender management
                                               workspace. This will allow you to give all
If you want to work closely with another       suppliers relevant information without having
agency, but need to negotiate the details      to email it, and will let you answer questions
securely, or if you need to collaborate on a   in one place — knowing that all suppliers
shared project or sensitive merger process,    will be alerted automatically.
online collaboration software can act as a
secure deal room.                              If you require suppliers to fill in a
                                               questionnaire, you will want to ensure that
Situations like these require security and     your software generates instant reports that
accountability, so be sure to choose           allow you to see results at a glance.
software that offers you a full audit trail     
— allowing you to see who has logged on
when, for how long, and to do what.

                                                



                                                




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                  14
What next?

Throughout this guide, we’ve                    2.  njoy a free trial of Kahootz — it’s
                                                   E
explored practical ways of using                   online collaboration software that helps
online collaboration to improve client             marketing agencies deliver more for their
communications, make projects more                 clients on a daily basis. Simply log on to
efficient, introduce efficiencies to the way       www.kahootz.com to claim a free trial
you work and deliver high-achieving,               that gives you full-featured access for
well-researched and creative campaigns             up to 10 people, allowing you to put it
that deliver the results your clients need.        through its paces in the real world.

But perhaps the most compelling reason          And of course — if you have any queries or
for introducing online collaboration is         questions about online collaboration, simply
that clients are increasingly asking for        visit kahootz.com or give us a call.
it — either by demanding better project
communication, or specifically asking their
agencies to offer online collaboration.
                                                Find out more…
If your agency doesn’t yet provide an           The advice in this guide is based on the
online collaboration platform for your          real-world challenges faced by modern
clients, it’s a highly cost-effective way       marketing agencies.
of turbocharging the way your agency
operates, and of staying abreast or             It is brought to you by Kahootz, the UK
ahead of your competitors.                      online collaboration software experts who
                                                have been working closely with a wide
But how do you choose                           range of clients since 2002.
the right tool?
                                                It’s our mission to help creative businesses
To get started, follow these two
                                                to transform the way they work, and to
simple steps.
                                                continue refining our software in the light
                                                of the challenges they face.
1.  ownload our short, simple guide
   D
   Choosing the Right Online Collaboration
                                                Find out more about our work.
   Tool to make sure you match your choice
                                                Visit kahootz.com today.
   of collaboration tool to your clients’ and
                                                 
   your agency’s needs.




A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                                                   15
1 Weston Court, Newbury Road, Weston, Berkshire RG20 8JE
t. +44 (0)1488 648 478 e. info@kahootz.com
kahootz.com          @Kahootz




For more information about Kahootz
and to sign up for a FREE trial please visit:
kahootz.com

A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE                                   If it’s collaborative, it’s in Kahootz
                                                                                              16

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Guide to turbocharging your marketing agencies performance with online collaboration

  • 1. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE How to turbocharge your marketing agency’s performance… with online collaboration software A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE If it’s collaborative, it’s in Kahootz 1
  • 2. Contents About this guide 3 Let’s talk about communications 4 Why online collaboration? 5 But what is online collaboration software? 6 Improving client services 7 Achieving business efficiency 11 Growing your business 13 What next 15 A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 2
  • 3. About this guide This guide is essential reading if you’d like to: • mprove your communications with clients I • mprove client retention I • evote more time to creativity and less to admin D • iden your pool of creative talent W • ncrease productivity and margins I • in new clients and service more accounts W • Deliver better campaigns A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 3
  • 4. Let’s talk about communications But why are communications so crucial? When you get your communications right, your clients are more likely to stay A research by Reardon Smith Whittaker, with you. You’ll also enjoy other major which involved 184 client marketing and benefits such as: brand executives, uncovered the top three reasons for clients leaving their • etter staff morale — clients will make B marketing agencies. fewer objections • ore efficient workflow — you’ll need to M They were: make fewer revisions 1. nhappiness with their U • reater margins — increased efficiency G agency’s approach means your team can serve more clients 2. Dissatisfaction with creative work They’re great results to aspire to. But how 3. Not being proactive enough can you achieve them? The thread that connects them is Our ”How to grow your marketing communication. That’s because agency” guide provides many ideas for good communications: refining the way you communicate and manage projects. In this one, we get a • elp clients understand your approach, H bit more specific and look at the way one what is happening with their project and particular solution can help. when – thanks to clear reporting and transparent working processes That solution is online collaboration. • elp clients understand your creative H direction and allows them to get involved in shaping it • re at the heart of being proactive, A allowing you to create a full picture of their requirements before any competitor does. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 4
  • 5. Why online collaboration? If you saw our last guide, you’ll remember Keep it simple research by a US software company that The insecurity of email, firewalls that found 38% of clients have decided not block large attachments, and the admin to give business to an agency for one time needed to circulate files also cause reason — it didn’t have good enough communications problems and can damage tools for managing the account’s work your relationship with your clients. and communications. How do you solve Don’t mix and match tools these problems? A significant part of the problem may come The evidence suggests that clients prefer from agencies using communications tools clear, simple tools to manage workflow and on a mix-and-match basis. You might be communications. The US study we just in this situation, using (for example) one mentioned also found that clients see online application for sharing files with clients, collaboration software as a major part of the another for managing projects, another for solution. collaborating on strategy and so on. • 1% of client side marketers thought 7 This can cause confusion that leads to online collaboration systems gave problems with the client relationship. Even agencies an edge over their competitors if you and your teams know how your communications tools fit together, clients • pproximately 1 in 4 clients had A rarely have the same insight. required agencies to offer an online collaboration system in order to keep Streamline processes or be awarded an account. Further problems can be caused by Ignore these stats at your peril — the CMO your internal processes. File naming Council has found only 36% of clients are conventions can cause problems and committed to staying with their current misunderstandings. Commonly, agencies agency this year. don’t have the systems in place to record which team member has had contact with What are you offering the 64% who might a client, when — and for what. This can be tempted to look elsewhere? cause both misunderstandings and delays. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 5
  • 6. But what is online collaboration software? We thought you might ask that. We’ll look at the details in a moment, but from an agency’s point of view In a nutshell, it’s a cloud software these tools allow you to achieve three system that both you and your clients essential objectives. can access online. 1) ignificantly improve your S Depending on the software you choose, client services it can give you secure access to any 2) mprove your business efficiency I combination of the following within a and profitability shared workspace: 3) elp you target new and H • Shared files bigger clients. • Multi-author files anyone can edit How? Let’s take a look. • Calendars • Task lists • Polls • Surveys • Databases • Web pages Collaboration software can • Blogs help you achieve three big …and more ‘wins’ for your agency. 1. Improved client services So far, so good. But what can you use these things for? 2. Efficiency and profitability 3. New and bigger clients A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 6
  • 7. Improving client services The principal reason for adopting an online Ideally it should send automatic email collaboration system should always be to updates each time a task is completed — improve your service to clients. these are essential for setting the pace of the project, stimulating quicker action and As a marketing agency, there are many faster project completion. ways you can do this. Once you and your clients share the same online workspace, 2. Project collaboration you can use it for a whole variety of As a marketing agency, you want to purposes — from the productive to the work more effectively with clients on their highly innovative. individual projects. Every agency is different, and each one As well as keeping progress on track, a will use its chosen software to innovate in collaboration system allows you to work as its own ways, but almost every agency will close partners with your clients on every benefit by offering the following. project. It’s a huge advantage — clients feel they’re more closely involved with the 1. Project progress process, and it eliminates many of the management frustrations that go hand-in-hand with Cloud collaboration software often inconsistent communication. has tools that are ideally suited for project management. To get it right, though, you need to match the right collaboration system to Every time you or your clients log into a the demands of your projects. The most workspace, you will all have access to a effective way of doing this is to compile a shared calendar, task list and other tools checklist of the ways you want to share that help you to monitor work and keep it information with clients, and then opt for on track. a collaboration system that offers the right tools. If your projects involve a number of creative teams, or it is a complex one, opt for a These are some of the most common things collaboration system that lets different to look out for, but never assume they are all teams work on individual workstreams. available in any particular collaboration tool. Compile your own checklist first! A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 7
  • 8. • ile sharing — every agency will need F • ommenting. While multi-author C to share briefs, creative work and other documents are extremely useful, you documents with clients. Unfortunately, and your clients may simply want to methods like FTP and email can make it add separate comments underneath difficult to keep track of your documents, documents that have been uploaded. and they aren’t necessarily secure or Choose a system that allows you to even effective (for example, some comment on copy, visuals, video corporate firewalls will block large and other files without altering the email attachments). files themselves. overcome these difficulties, choose a To • mage folders. If you need to share I collaboration system that allows you to images, some collaboration software keep all project files in a single workspace, offers specialised image folders that allow gives you access to earlier drafts of the you to make simple edits and crops on same documents, and provides an audit the fly. These can be really useful to speed trail of activity — allowing you to track up communication and ideas. both your teams’ and your clients’ activity. • ulti-author documents. If you need M to develop briefs, copy or concepts in collaboration with your clients, opt Tip: One size doesn’t for a system that offers multi-author fit all, so opt for a documents. These allow both you and collaboration system that your clients to edit the same copy within allows you to tailor your the same file, ensuring your combined workspace to your clients. thinking stays within one document — Some systems allow you and that you don’t have to waste precious to apply your clients’ time compiling feedback from multiple corporate branding and files into one master document. instantly create templated workspaces with the functionality you and your clients prefer and need. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 8
  • 9. 3. Offering your clients a 4. Working as an extension wider pool of talent to your clients’ marketing You don’t have to limit your use of departments collaboration to project management. The same remote working techniques also You can bring added value to your clients open up new ways of working with your by using your chosen software to link in clients. With a secure workspace offering to additional talent. shared files, project management tools and the opportunity to collaborate on briefs, For example, if you are working on an creative work and more, your agency can integrated marketing project for a client position itself as an ‘always on’ resource to that requires advertising, online and email complete any tasks needed by your clients’ marketing, direct mail and social media marketing departments. marketing, you can use online collaboration to link up with specialist partner agencies All your client needs to do is assign the or freelance talent anywhere in the world work to you using the system, and you — all they should need is a browser and can use the same project management an internet connection. tools to make collaboration effective and keep it on track. If you want to present third part talent as part of your own team, white labelling Working in this way has two big bonuses their services is simple. All you need to do — clients quickly come to rely on you, and is give chosen individuals access to the it becomes much harder for competitors to project workspace, allowing them to share displace you. and upload relevant files, work to task list deadlines and act as a fully integrated member of your team. And if you need to brief them for multiple projects, you can set up a separate workspace to allow your agency to manage and monitor their overall workload and progress. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 9
  • 10. 5. Creating better-researched 6. Create dedicated campaigns client extranets Some collaboration software allows Some collaboration software will allow you to conduct surveys and polls, you to create intranets for each individual automatically generating reports and client, complete with their corporate graphs from the results. branding. You can use these to manage all work you undertake for an individual This functionality can give you a major client, creating dedicated teams and advantage when designing campaigns workspaces within the portal as needed. — it allows you cheaply test creative It also ensures the benefits of online concepts and ideas on a sample audience. collaboration remain at the heart of the All you need to do is invite them into your client relationship — using the system research workspace and ask them to becomes second nature for all parties. complete questionnaires, comment on creative work or give you feedback on the While usually inexpensive to set up in usability of webpages. You can then use this way, a client extranet not only the results to shape your campaign and streamlines your communications with give clients confidence that you are clients, but also sends out a powerful heading in a tried, tested direction. signal that you are willing to invest in your relationship with them. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 10
  • 11. Achieving business efficiency Once you make online collaboration the deliver much bigger savings — you core of your project working with clients, may be able to reduce the size of your you can extend its use to help you achieve premises by replacing permanent greater business efficiency and improve workstations with a smaller number of hot your margins. desks for occasional use. These are some of the ways you can do it. • educing admin support. One of the R great benefits of online collaboration 1. Cutting your costs software is that it reduces the amount of administration time needed for any and overheads given project. Because workspaces have You can not only use cloud software to centralised calendars, co-ordinating collaborate with your clients, but you diaries takes less time. Because multi- can use it to create shared networks for author documents allow agency staff your employees. and clients to collaborate on the same version of a file, there’s no need to Once your staff can contribute seamlessly gather and compile feedback from to agency business and client projects multiple documents sent via email. And from any place that they have an internet because some collaboration systems connection and a browser, it allows you to send automatic updates each time there reshape the way your agency works — is activity in your workspace, there’s no and potentially quite radically. need for anyone to email new files or spend time summarising recent work. To give just a few examples: • ome and remote working. With a H 2. Internal communications system that allows simple, auditable file Online collaboration really comes sharing and allows you to track progress into its own as an effective internal of all employees’ progress, home and communications tool. As long as you remote working become much more choose a solution that allows you to effective and viable for agencies of all create different teams of people, each sizes. This allows you to cut overheads with different access privileges, you have such as electricity use, and can even flexibility that allows agency staff to work together in any configuration. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 11
  • 12. These are just some ways you can use 3. Reduce turnaround online collaboration to transform your and billing time internal communications. This is one of the best internal results of using online collaboration software for • gency intranet. Why use an intranet A client projects. Because it speeds up the system that’s the electronic equivalent project process and reduces ‘dead time’ of a neglected and dusty notice board? by providing instant, actionable updates, By using collaboration software to power you can take clients from initial concept to your intranet, you open the door to two- delivery in much less time. way feedback, giving staff a voice and helping to keep communications open This allows you to boost client satisfaction and morale high. And because you can with fast, quality work — and give your keep tabs on details and progress of all accounts department reason to cheer by client projects within the portal, it’s easy delivering a shorter billing cycle. for any staff member to see what work and communication has been completed for any client, easing internal project 4. Service more clients handovers significantly. In this way, you Faster project turnaround has another can easily create and support an agile benefit — you can use the same teams to working environment within your agency. service more projects or clients, increasing your profitability. As your agency grows, so • HR. You can create secure workspaces do the economies of scale. for each individual staff member and   use it as a collaborative area for HR matters, including appraisal documents, performance data and more. • nternal projects. Revamping the I website? Refining your own marketing strategy? Organising the Christmas party? Whatever the project, use the same functionality that you offer clients to keep your internal projects on track, on time and in budget. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 12
  • 13. Growing your business You’ve seen how to use online 1. Attracting bigger clients collaboration to improve the service you Intelligently used, online collaboration give clients, and you’ve got an insight puts you in pole position to attract into ways it can improve your internal larger accounts. communications and profitability. Do you remember the research we But are there ways you can use cloud mentioned at the beginning of this collaboration to grow your business? guide? It found about 1 in 4 clients had required agencies to offer an online In short, yes. Here are some of them. collaboration system before entrusting it with their account. That proportion is only going to rise as online collaboration within agencies becomes the norm rather than the exception — so it’s a good idea to provide it before your competitors do. That aside, major clients are also going to demand specific expert knowledge within your team, are more likely to ask you to work with other agencies, and will be sticklers for progress reporting and updates. They will also want evidence of sound campaign research. As we saw in an earlier section, these are all benefits you can deliver with intelligent use of online collaboration. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 13
  • 14. 2. Partnerships and mergers 3. Tender management Agencies often grow and sometimes If you need to put work out to tender, you even merge because of the partnerships can invite potential suppliers to submit their they foster. bids using a dedicated tender management workspace. This will allow you to give all If you want to work closely with another suppliers relevant information without having agency, but need to negotiate the details to email it, and will let you answer questions securely, or if you need to collaborate on a in one place — knowing that all suppliers shared project or sensitive merger process, will be alerted automatically. online collaboration software can act as a secure deal room. If you require suppliers to fill in a questionnaire, you will want to ensure that Situations like these require security and your software generates instant reports that accountability, so be sure to choose allow you to see results at a glance. software that offers you a full audit trail   — allowing you to see who has logged on when, for how long, and to do what.     A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 14
  • 15. What next? Throughout this guide, we’ve 2. njoy a free trial of Kahootz — it’s E explored practical ways of using online collaboration software that helps online collaboration to improve client marketing agencies deliver more for their communications, make projects more clients on a daily basis. Simply log on to efficient, introduce efficiencies to the way www.kahootz.com to claim a free trial you work and deliver high-achieving, that gives you full-featured access for well-researched and creative campaigns up to 10 people, allowing you to put it that deliver the results your clients need. through its paces in the real world. But perhaps the most compelling reason And of course — if you have any queries or for introducing online collaboration is questions about online collaboration, simply that clients are increasingly asking for visit kahootz.com or give us a call. it — either by demanding better project communication, or specifically asking their agencies to offer online collaboration. Find out more… If your agency doesn’t yet provide an The advice in this guide is based on the online collaboration platform for your real-world challenges faced by modern clients, it’s a highly cost-effective way marketing agencies. of turbocharging the way your agency operates, and of staying abreast or It is brought to you by Kahootz, the UK ahead of your competitors. online collaboration software experts who have been working closely with a wide But how do you choose range of clients since 2002. the right tool? It’s our mission to help creative businesses To get started, follow these two to transform the way they work, and to simple steps. continue refining our software in the light of the challenges they face. 1. ownload our short, simple guide D Choosing the Right Online Collaboration Find out more about our work. Tool to make sure you match your choice Visit kahootz.com today. of collaboration tool to your clients’ and   your agency’s needs. A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE 15
  • 16. 1 Weston Court, Newbury Road, Weston, Berkshire RG20 8JE t. +44 (0)1488 648 478 e. [email protected] kahootz.com @Kahootz For more information about Kahootz and to sign up for a FREE trial please visit: kahootz.com A MARKETING AGENCY GUIDE If it’s collaborative, it’s in Kahootz 16