We are Christina and Peter Pilarski, founders and leaders of CIPR Communications.

We have previously discussed how to set up an agency for success. In this episode, we talk about how to get your staff ready for internal success. This is an area where a lot of business owners struggle, and one where a couple of key points should be kept in mind as you begin your collaboration with an agency.

Make sure all team members are included from the start

It is not uncommon for management to make high-level decisions with the agency, from creating marketing strategies to deciding what tactics to use, excluding their staff from the discussions. They then expect team members to be on board and push forward with implementation. If you do this, your staff have to catch up with the decisions you have made and relate them to their goals and processes. They may be left feeling confused and excluded. It is better to include all relevant staff in the process from the very beginning.

Similarly, if you are a staff member tasked with bringing in an agency, and you need buy-in from the higher-ups in the company, bring them along from the very beginning. Wherever you are in the hierarchy of your business, make the process of hiring and working with an agency collaborative all the way.

Just like your relationship with your digital agency, trust is an important element. If you are a manager who has delegated the responsibility of working with a digital agency to one of your staff, give them the freedom to do so, and trust them to do their job.

Collaboration is the key to success – both with your agency and internally. Everyone involved in the project, from your staff to the people at the digital marketing agency, should be willing to work with everyone else, each bringing their particular skill sets into the mix towards a set of common goals.