Focusing on Communication

When it comes to working with anyone in order to grow your business, it is important that you not only trust them, but that both sides lean on communication. This includes during times that things aren’t going as planned, as much as when things are going as intended.

Having an open channel of communication allows both sides to stay informed, and be able to make critical decisions with as much information as possible. This is important when you’re working with companies and marketing is involved. There are two situations where having open communication can benefit the situation.

The first situation is when marketing is going well. For example, if you have a campaign and you are hitting the estimated click through rates (CTR), Cost per clicks (CPC), and conversions. Some companies may sit back and relax, because they know that the client will be happy with these results. However, it is important to express these goals being met as soon as possible to the client, because you may find out that they are willing to spend more and that can make the campaign even more successful. It is important that the client is continuously aware of how they are performing at all times. The more you can deliver for the client, the more likely they are to continue business, thus, improving the relationship on both sides. This can be extremely powerful, especially if you were to hit a bump in the road and something doesn’t perform as expected. The client will appreciate this transparency and trust that you are doing everything in their best interest.

The second situation is when marketing isn’t going well. Let’s say that you are seeing a higher than expected CPC, a low CTR, and little to no conversions. This is a situation where communication is so important between the client and marketing company. Unfortunately, it is very common for the marketing company to panic and rush internally to try and “solve the issue” without telling the client, in hopes that things will be trending up before the next update meeting. What people don’t think about is that there may be other options or opportunities that are discovered when you discuss the situation with clients. You may find that after reviewing the data with the client, together, you can make connections that will benefit the overall marketing goal. You might be able to better consolidate marketing dollars to another campaign that is finding more success. The biggest thing to realize is that not all bad news is actually bad news. Many times, you will find that it is as much about finding out what doesn’t work, as it is finding out what will work. At Bahlr, it is never about forcing something to have success, it is more about finding out what will bring long-term success.

In conclusion, whether you are finding success or running into trouble, it is important to be as transparent as possible with your clients in order to be as successful as possible. Building trust is not an easy task, but having open channels of communication will make it a lot easier. People appreciate the truth, even when it isn’t easy. Something that we acknowledge at Bahlr is that yes, we are being paid as experts in marketing, but that doesn’t mean we are experts in each field of our clients. The reason we acknowledge that, is that it is important to understand that both sides of a relationship need to work together in order for both sides to succeed. Collaborating with clients can be far more beneficial when it comes to solving problems with campaigns.