The time for your business to start outsourcing marketing has come. You have signed the dotted line and paid your first invoice to begin working with a marketer you have hired for your business. You are feeling excited, relieved, and a little anxious to move forward with this huge commitment, but what exactly should you expect in this process?
Every marketer has their own standard procedure for onboarding and welcoming a new client. This depends on what services will be delivered and whether you have decided to go with a freelance marketer or a full-service digital marketing agency.
At Lindsey Wagnon Marketing, we have a designated process for our clients that is designed to make onboarding as efficient and seamless as possible. Here is a look at what you can expect when you commit to working with LWM.
What to Expect with our Partnerships
Let’s start with our most popular and sought-after service, our partnerships. We offer full-service and partial partnerships, and both are designed to provide expert direction and guidance for your business. We operate as a member of your team which ensures that you are receiving the best leadership from an internal point of view. You can expect to have support in marketing planning, consulting, and strategy.
Our consulting partnerships are also offered to business owners who still want to execute their marketing but need additional leadership. You can expect to have a virtual CMO walking alongside you and your team, providing coaching to make sure your marketing operation is running smoothly.
Partnership Onboarding Process
Our onboarding process for our partnerships have been designed so we can smoothly transition into your business. We have organized this process into the following phases:
Phase 1 (1-2 Weeks)
After reviewing the interest guide, you will complete a brief survey so we can have a better idea of what you want to accomplish through our virtual marketing partnerships and learn more about your business. Shortly after we get this survey from you, we will schedule an introduction call so we can meet face-to-face and chat more about what you are looking for and if LWM would be a good fit.
Phase 2 (4-6 Weeks)
The next step is a partner digital marketing audit which is required for all our partnership clients. The purpose of this is so that we can take a deep dive into the current state of your marketing and can decide what the best approach will be moving forward. This also gives us both the opportunity to work on a project together and see what our working dynamic is like.
In full transparency, if this first project is a giant hassle or does not go well for some reason it’s a great indicator that the partnership should not move forward. I haven’t experienced this yet with my clients but I have heard horror stories and witnessed bad scenarios between other clients and service providers enough to know that this is a testing period. This is why I don’t consider my new clients “locked in” to a contract until after this stage.
Phase 3 (1-2 Weeks)
After having a clear plan for your marketing in your business, we will provide a proposal for partnership services followed by a contract. In other words, it’s time for us to officially get started!
Remember, no two businesses are the same, so no two partnerships are the same. We will decide on marketing methods that specifically make sense for your business based on our audit. There is certainly not a one-size-fits-all.
Our Marketing Partnership Standards & Etiquette
In each marketing partnership there is regular time built in for communication with the client. This may be between myself (your friendly virtual CMO) and the business owner or another leader on the team. This usually looks like one planning session a month or bi-weekly sessions if the work is considerable. Between these meetings are plenty of emails and in some cases project notes in our Asana project management platform.
I also include analytics reports and some time to update the client on the metrics as well.
Our consulting partnership includes a set number of meeting and training hours a month plus some project management support to guide the team through individual marketing tasks.
As far as etiquette with our client relationships, we do have boundaries around text communication (meaning we don’t offer it as an option), invoices are expected to be paid by the deadline and our team is committed to protecting the client’s private business information.
We expect and give understanding, patience, timeliness and kindness in our ongoing client relationships. There is plenty of flexibility too with our services and how we use our time but within reason. For example, if your custom partnership includes blogging and email marketing but one month you need more blog posts than emails, I can plan our team’s time accordingly and try to make it work without additional charges.
What to Expect with our One Time Projects
Not everyone is at the stage in their business where they are ready to commit to a long-term partnership, and that’s okay. This is why we offer one-time projects that are designed to set you up for long-lasting success by providing a solid marketing foundation without the commitment.
Each of our one time projects have a different approach because the inclusions are different. In general, however, there’s some consultation time, an audit of some sort and a contract involved.
Lindsey Wagnon Marketing FAQ’s
Are there any marketing services that you don’t provide?
As a full-service marketing agency, we will include any marketing methods that we think make the most sense for your business. If we don’t provide it in-house we will enlist one of our trusted vendors to do the service (With our virtual CMO oversight, of course!)
What If I have other marketers doing services for me already?
It is difficult for more than one sailor to steer a ship. In other words, marketing is best executed when it is under a singular direction. We recommend working with an agency like LWM that takes complete ownership, but we are more than happy to work with the providers that you already have.
What if I already have a few marketing tools set up or created?
We want to make sure that whatever you already have set up in your business makes the most sense for you and your goals. We will discuss in our initial call what tools you are currently using and if it fits in your new marketing direction. There are a few marketing platforms our agency has accounts with that we can use for our client businesses and these are a huge advantage to our clients!
Why do you require a 6-month minimum partnership?
Great question! First, it is difficult to get strong traction with marketing in fewer than 6 months. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint, so it takes ample time to see serious business growth from your marketing strategy. Also, we are an agency that truly wants to grow with your business and create a long-term relationship.
Outsourcing the marketing in your business is an important and exciting step, and we are here to guide you along the process. Whether you are looking to work with us for a one-time project or full-service partnership, you can ask for a proposal here.
If you have any questions or if you know you are ready to take the next steps in working with us, contact us today!
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