Client care should be a key part of every company – what’s a business without its clients? – but more and more, the term ‘client care’ is getting thrown around without any real meaning. At Passion Digital, being ‘client focused’ is one of our core values and we’re always looking for ways to go above and beyond customer expectations. From creating tailored campaigns for each client, to account management training for our Passionistas, we’re proud of the level of service we can guarantee our clients.
Back in November 2021, we stepped out of the office for an agency away day to review all things digital marketing including the latest technologies, how companies should put themselves on the map and, of course, how to deliver the best client care. Demi, one of our Passionistas, led the client care presentation and in this blog post she’s going to summarise exactly what client care looks like at Passion Digital – as well as some exciting new plans for 2022!
Why Is Client Care Important?
Great client care is a win-win for both the business and the client. By providing excellent customer support, clients have a positive experience which encourages a positive company reputation (just check out our Clutch reviews) which results in a proud workforce and increases the chances of clients referring us to other businesses.
COVID-19 changed the way we all view the world, including our relationships and daily interactions. More than ever, people are looking for security and trusted relationships which good client care can provide. In fact, 67% of customers would pay more to get a better customer service experience – these stats just can’t be ignored, right?
From providing more value to your clients, to increasing your chances of getting more positive reviews and so on, there are a huge range of benefits to having great client care in place.
So, What Do Clients Actually Want?
Understanding what clients want and need is half the battle to delivering successful customer support. You can’t provide excellent client care without understanding what your clients are looking for. You may be thinking, “well, the bottom line is that clients want results” and you wouldn’t be wrong!
As a performance marketing agency we are results-driven, but by taking a step back and using the wealth of experience across the agency, we discovered there were six key categories that define good client care and ultimately lead to us driving results.
Active Listening
Clients want to know that their ideas are being taken into account and applied in the most appropriate way to meet the goals of the campaign. At Passion, we like to ensure that our clients feel listened to by arranging regular client meetings, whether that’s face to face or over zoom, as frequently as is effective and at times that suit both parties. Although many of our clients have wonderful ideas, we aren’t afraid to voice our opinion if we disagree – we are of course being paid to give our expert opinion, and we love to do it! Active listening should involve some sort of action by the listener, be that acceptance or alternative opinions.
Productive conversations are key for clients to ensure they are in the loop at all times and prove we’re working in a partnership.
Clear Expectations
Lots of agency client relationships break down due to a lack of understanding of expectations on both sides, so we think it’s vital that there is clear communication at all times.
Stay organised, realistic and communicate. We heard these words over and over again when we asked our Passionistas how they ensure they provide clear expectations to clients. By having an organised workforce that communicates efficiently and helps each other improve, we’re always ensuring that projects run smoothly at Passion. We also like to stay realistic and manage our clients expectations – after all, it’s always better to over-deliver, right?
Agency life can be very busy, and juggling client workloads difficult at times, but we use a range of fantastic tools to ensure that we never let any client work fall through the cracks.
A top tip from our Account Managers: “Ensure all phone calls are followed up with email communication to guarantee that expectations are formally set on both sides.”
Proactiveness and Creativity
In competitive markets, standing out from the crowd has never been more important for our clients. Often, we see new business enquiries looking to replace their current agency due to a lack of proactiveness and creativity. It’s something that’s so key for clients, so not providing it could lose you the account!
Digital Marketing is our passion and we’re constantly learning the latest in our ever changing industry. Whether it’s attending workshops or shadowing other colleagues, our Passionistas are always engaging in the marketing community to stay on top of trends. This, in turn, allows us to be more creative in the campaigns we run for clients and ultimately drive better results.
Professionalism
Our clients are paying for a service, so they expect a certain level of professionalism in our dealings. Being professional involves fulfilling obligations, being available for client queries and being punctual to meetings – alongside a host of other requirements.
Luckily, our Passionistas are always on hand to help and technology means we can keep agency and client in constant communication. We even have standardised processes in place, such as our Account Accelerator Course, to ensure all Account Managers understand how to act in a professional capacity with our clients.
One of our core values is respect, which is something that we take seriously at Passion. We respect our clients’ time, turning up punctually to meetings, and we respect our role as an agency, to be fulfilling our obligation to the client to deliver results to the best of our ability.
Well-Defined Roles
Working in marketing – both client and agency side – can be hectic, so knowing who to go to for a particular query for the client is super important. At Passion we work as an extension of our clients’ Marketing teams so if they have a query about the CPV on a YouTube campaign they’re running with us, for example, it should be as easy as knowing who to go to if we’ve run out of milk at Passion HQ.
Having an organised workforce from kick-off ensures a consistently smooth journey for customers. When we start working with new customers, we always arrange an introductory call so that everyone knows who will be working on the account, who to contact and set clear goals for moving forward. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to understand more about the client’s industry, how they like to work and set early R&Rs.
Should there be a change in personnel, all employees make a thorough handover to ensure there are always smooth transitions in place. We’ve got it pretty well covered here, if we do say so ourselves.
Knowledge
It’s fair to say all of our clients require our agency’s knowledge and expertise to deliver on their campaigns. More and more clients are demanding a holistic approach to marketing challenges, which requires an agency knowing the full length and breadth of the marketing spectrum, instead of just one particular part of a marketing jigsaw. We noticed this so much that we actually had an agency makeover to fulfil this client need.
To ensure Passionistas are exposed to all areas of digital marketing, we have a cross-department buddy system to informally encourage learning and collaboration. We have a wealth of internal resources and training courses to ensure that all staff are up to date with marketing trends and always aware of new features within their specific industries and beyond. Passion Academy – a bespoke training programme for all staff – is going to be coming into full swing this year, so we can expect even more knowledge growth to help us remain digital marketing experts. Watch this space…
All this knowledge gained within Passion HQ not only helps our clients get the results they want and more, but also helps our Passionistas achieve their career goals and be part of an environment that encourages learning and development.
What’s New for 2022
As we’ve seen so far, there’s lots of things we do at Passion to provide the best possible client care. Despite that, we know that there’s always room for improvement and that’s why we’ve already planned lots of new and exciting things for 2022 to take our support to the next level.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
We LOVE giving back and, as it turns out, our clients do too! We work with lots of sustainable and ethical brands who are increasingly wanting to ensure that the partners they work with follow similar practices. We’re glad that companies are being held to high standards and we’re keen to increase our CSR efforts this year.
We’ve partnered with four local charities in and around Brixton to carry out some pro bono marketing projects to help increase donations, recruit more volunteers or whatever their goals may be. Our Paid Media team has already got stuck in and there are some exciting plans in the works for later in the year.
We’re also hard at work trying to make Passion HQ more environmentally friendly. Our wonderful UX Designer in the Web Performance team, Helena, has even put up signage around the office to guide us in our recycling efforts. And there are lots more exciting plans to level up our efforts in the coming year!
Industry Talks and Virtual Roundtables
Arranging more industry talks is certainly on the agenda for 2022. These talks are engaging, innovative and extremely helpful for our clients as we can tailor the events to suit their exact needs. It’s also a fantastic networking opportunity as well as a great chance to receive first hand marketing insights. Plus, who doesn’t want a free breakfast?
There’s one thing in particular that makes us stand out from other marketing agencies. Our people. A Passionista embodies our company values, one of which is being ‘client focused’. Solving challenges for our clients is what gets us out of bed in the morning. We are passionate about the brands we work with, the performance we achieve for them and working as a team to deliver results – while of course having fun to boot! Get in touch if you need some digital marketing assistance from an agency that puts clients first.