For a successful marketing relationship – digital or otherwise – taking care of the client is as important as securing them. Sure, groundbreaking campaigns are amazing. But they can never be born without a solid client relationship to birth them.
How to build a solid client relationship? With an account manager (AM) who cares.
Let’s dig into what good account management looks like and why it matters:
Firstly, What is Account Management?
Managing accounts is all about keeping clients happy. That means understanding what they want, and learning the best way to communicate with them. AMs connect the client with the agency to make sure everyone’s “getting” each other.
And in order to help the agency understand the client, the all-important AM needs to “get” the client. Just how important is this?
“It’s absolutely vital! It just makes your job and the client’s life so much easier when you understand the client and their needs because you’re able to establish a seamless and well-structured flow of working to maximise efficiency .”–Sedi Morudi, Digital Account Manager
The Role of an Account Manager.
An account manager (AM) is like the head chef, and with how much we trust and respect our AMs at Flume, we think of them as heading up something as in-demand, fancy, and, well, demanding as, say, a Marble Restaurant.
Our head chefs juggle every aspect of the client relationship, including:
- strategy, to facilitate the perfect recipe for success.
- project management, to make sure all the ingredients are prepped and ready to go.
- advocating for the client by tasting every dish to guarantee it’ll meet their requirements.
Ultimately, an AM ensures everyone leaves feeling satisfied.
Okay, but What Does That Actually Mean?
To understand a chef’s mastery, you have to understand the intricacies of how they got to “Marble status”.
What goes into “learning” a brand?
Our AMs have honed this skill and they know how to be proactive about understanding the client and their business. For example, what industry is the client in, who are the business’s competitors, and who is the brand persona trying to connect with?
But it goes beyond the brand. What about the client themself? When it comes to client services, Flume knows the importance of focusing on the client part just as much as the service part.
“Remembering the clients’ birthdays or any special celebrations is always a win. You can usually find this on their socials, but just stick to Linkedin (makes things less weird). Inviting a client for lunch or an in-person meeting also helps.”–Sedi, the one and only
When an AM understands the business and the client, they’re better able to give relevant advice that facilitates an effective marketing plan. When they’re in those all-important strat sessions and internal briefings and reviews, they can better advocate for the client’s needs:
“Remember: the better you ‘get’ your client, the easier it is to represent them when briefing and working with internal teams.” Well said, Rickey-Lee Burns, Account Director.
What about setting clear expectations?
How to set clear expectations? With good communication. This is crucial in account management. Managers need to talk openly with clients about what can be done, when it will happen, and what the results might be. They also need to be quick to solve any problems that come up.
“Maintaining consistent communication with the client throughout the entirety of the project is immensely important because it keeps both the AM and client accountable in case any hiccups occur.” Thank you, Sedi, for being the boss at remedying hiccups!
How do our AMs track progress?
As mentioned, constant comms are important. But aside from clear expectations, they’re also essential from a progress point-of-view. For a campaign to bring out the champagne, several factors should ideally be monitored and discussed throughout, such as:
- Resource allocation
- ROI calculation
- Real-time optimisation
- Goal alignment
- Competitive advantage
- Customer insights
(Thank you, Smartsheet, you took the words right out of our mouth.)
So much more could be added to that list – and the beauty of Flume is that we do it all. We are truly in-house. Our AMs keep a close watch on how well marketing plans are doing and they regularly share updates with their clients. They study the data, spot patterns, and suggest ways to make things better. How? By working closely with our Strat Team and SEO & Data Analytics Team.
Account Management and Client Retention.
What’s a major factor in a digital marketing agency not only surviving but also thriving? Knowing how to keep its happy clients happy. Let’s face it: It’s a lot easier to keep a client than to find a new one.
And we’re proud to say that our AMs are adept at making sure their client leaves the restaurant feeling satiated, time and time again. Here are some of the ways they do that:
- maintain the already established trust,
- provide value (like that helpful advice we mentioned) along the way
- be proactive
- manage expectations
- deliver results
Conclusion
Love what you do and do what you love, right? We asked our AMs what they love about their roles and this is what Rickey-Lee had to say:
“Personally, I love that every day is different and I am working on multiple clients. I work with many teams to make sure we are all delivering the best outcome… Each team plays a part in making the wheel turn, and I love being involved in all the aspects that lead to this.”
As you can see, by really understanding their clients, setting clear expectations, running projects smoothly, and forming strong bonds, our account managers are the bomb at making sure our clients know they’ve made the right marketing agency choice by choosing us!
Flume is an independent, full-service digital marketing agency providing services that include SEO, web design and development, public relations, media buying, client service, UX/UI, and creative production. For more information visit www.flume.co.za or email us a to say, well, “hello”.
