Check out 6 tips on how to show results to clients and increase your marketing agency’s retention
The ability to show concrete results while simultaneously elevating the perceived value of services is crucial for the success and growth of any marketing, advertising, or paid traffic agency.
However, if you still face common obstacles in client relationships, such as alignment of expectations, irregular communication, and even more efficient reporting, don’t worry.
In this article, we will explore 6 practical and effective tips to show measurable results and, more importantly, translate them into value perceived by clients. Follow along!
Why do marketing agencies struggle to demonstrate value to clients?
According to the 2024 Agency Census Survey developed by Operand, which interviewed over 600 advertising and digital marketing agencies in Brazil, the primary reason for client loss in these companies is the difficulty in demonstrating value in the services provided to clients.
This option overwhelmingly topped the ranking, with 58.02% of participants choosing it, followed by competition – which took second place with 10.86% of the votes.
This analysis shows that the quality of the service, results presentation, and customer service delivered by the agency weigh much more in client retention than external factors, such as competition and the creation of an internal marketing department.
Thus, when there is no clear demonstration of results and a lack of alignment with the business objectives of the client, it is common to create a strain that complicates the relationship and, ultimately, leads to contract termination.
Moreover, client retention is not always a focus for most interviewed companies. The majority regularly dedicate efforts to such actions (35.01%), while 28.69% dedicate little, and only 27.88% (just over a quarter) are really developed in this area.
However, the good news is that it is possible to overcome this situation, add greater value, and scale your marketing, advertising, or paid traffic agency, as we will show next.
6 Tips on How to Show Results and Add Value to the Client
As mentioned earlier, demonstrating value to the client comes from both the quality of the service offered and the ability to demonstrate results to achieve business objectives.
Therefore, we have selected below 6 tips to assist in this process, make the project more strategic from the beginning, and maintain good communication with clients. Shall we?
(1) Set Clear Goals from the Start
One of the fundamental strategies to demonstrate tangible results and add value to a marketing agency’s clients is to establish clear goals from the beginning of the project. After all, when goals are well-defined and aligned with the client’s business objectives, it opens the door to more precise and measurable actions.
Depending on the service provided, goals may include increasing website traffic, generating qualified leads, improving conversion rates, or increasing brand recognition on social media.
But beyond providing direction, goals also allow the agency to track progress over time and adjust its strategies as needed. This demonstrates to the client a commitment to tangible results, showing that the team is focused on helping achieve their business objectives.
(2) Customize Strategies
Customizing digital strategies is essential to add value to a marketing agency’s clients. That is, instead of adopting generic approaches, projects should be tailored according to the specific needs and characteristics of each client.
For this, it is essential to understand what values the brand conveys, the persona it aims to reach, and the digital services that truly impact its results and communication with the audience.
In this way, you place the client at the center and demonstrate that the agency is dedicated to offering tailor-made solutions that boost the growth and success of the company.
(3) Transparent and Regular Communication
Having an open channel of communication with clients not only keeps them informed about the progress of the campaigns but also strengthens the relationship by demonstrating commitment and professionalism on the part of the marketing agency.
By creating a transparent channel with the contractor, it is possible to share relevant information clearly and honestly, including detailed reports on campaign performance, data analysis, and achieved results.
But for this to happen effectively, maintaining regular communication is crucial. According to the 2024 Agency Census, the majority of agencies (68.56%) have a routine of presenting reports with well-defined periods, such as weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
However, there is still a considerable portion that does not present results (17.02%) or does so only when the project ends or is in a renewal period. This leaves clients in the dark about their results and even about the insights gained from them.
Therefore, more than creating and sending reports, it is ideal to establish periodic meetings so that the client is always updated and involved in the process. This frequent interaction not only avoids unpleasant surprises but also allows for quick and strategic adjustments as necessary.
“We have noticed that the practice of presenting monthly reports is already common in agencies. However, the presentation meeting is often left out. This represents a missed opportunity for re-engagement and strengthening of the client-agency relationship. Report meetings should not only review the past but also plan for the future, adjusting strategies based on client feedback. Showing the value of the agency’s work through qualitative and quantitative data during these meetings increases transparency and trust. We encourage agencies to evolve from a culture of ‘Sending reports’ to ‘Presenting and discussing reports’, a differential that increases client retention and the quality of projects.”
Comment from our CMO, Renan Caixeiro, for the 2024 Agency Census Survey.
(4) Focus on Long-Term Results
When an agency commits to long-term results, it directs efforts to build a solid and lasting online presence for its clients.
This may include, for example, strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), creating relevant and high-quality content, building relationships with the audience, and developing a base of loyal customers.
From this, the agency not only demonstrates a strategic vision but also conveys trust. After all, this approach allows working consistently to achieve business objectives, such as increasing brand authority, achieving higher positions in search engines, and generating sustainable growth in sales.
(5) Educate and Empower the Client
Another effective approach to add value to a marketing agency’s clients is to invest in educating the client about the principles and benefits of marketing. With this, the agency not only strengthens mutual understanding but also promotes a more solid and productive partnership.
This process involves explaining marketing concepts in an accessible and relevant way, such as detailing the importance of SEO, content, paid media, email marketing, and other strategies that are part of the project. By providing this knowledge, the agency empowers the client to make more informed decisions aligned with their business objectives.
Moreover, education allows the contractor to understand the expected results and the timelines involved in each action. This contributes to realistic expectations and helps avoid misunderstandings throughout the project.
(6) Generate Efficient Reports and Analyses
Although we have discussed above the importance of communicating results to clients through reports, it is worth reiterating that creating the document—with analyses that consider the past, present, and future of the project—is also an essential part.
After all, marketing reports are not just made to record the main data from each channel, but also to provide insights for new campaigns and function as a guide for achieving goals.
However, many agencies still face difficulties in how to make an efficient report. According to the Operand survey, 38.74% of participants see not having a person focused on this demand as an obstacle, while 34.52% find the process manual and time-consuming, and 34.2% see obtaining information from various different platforms as a challenge.
Despite the many challenges, there is the possibility of relying on a good report automation tool, such as Reportei, to capture metrics from different channels in a single document and facilitate a more precise analysis of results.
In addition to giving the freedom to customize reports and dashboards according to the needs of each project, our platform also offers various other features that help add value for agency clients, such as:
- Creation of a timeline to record important milestones in a story format, with dates and events relevant to communication with the contractor;
- Automation of reports, which can be sent directly to the email of the analyst or the client;
- A panel to monitor your marketing/sales indicators and the budget of your campaigns;
- Artificial intelligence resources to generate automatic analyses of your marketing data and insights for improvements in projects. In total, there are more than 20 channels that can be integrated with Reportei, such as Instagram, Facebook, Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn, RD Station, Pipedrive, HubSpot, Youtube, GA4, among others.
With this, you have access to a complete structure to achieve the best results with digital strategies, from the moment of capturing metrics to decision-making. Request a free 3-day trial to experience all the features and overcome the challenge of generating more value for clients!
