Why Would I Ever Work with an Outside Consultant to Manage My Marketing Agency? Isn’t That My Job?
As a marketing leader, managing your agency relationship might seem like a natural part of your role. After all, who knows your brand better than you? But managing an agency effectively requires a unique blend of time, expertise, and focus—resources that are often stretched thin.
Bringing in an outside consultant to manage your marketing agency isn’t about adding another layer of complexity—or cost. If managed correctly, working with a consultant doesn’t need to increase your budget. In fact, it often pays for itself through improved performance, business results, or by reallocating a small percentage of your agency’s fees to cover the cost.
Let’s explore why partnering with a consultant can benefit you as a marketing leader and how it can enhance your agency relationship without breaking the bank.
How a Consultant Benefits You as a Marketing Leader
1. Frees Up Your Time
Agency management is a full-time job in itself. Reviewing deliverables, tracking timelines, addressing challenges, and ensuring alignment with business objectives can take hours each week.
By delegating this responsibility to an outside consultant, you free up your time to focus on strategic initiatives that drive growth, leaving the day-to-day management to a dedicated expert.
2. Provides Specialized Expertise
While you’re an expert in your brand, managing an agency relationship requires a different skill set—one that includes understanding agency operations, creative processes, and contract nuances.
A seasoned consultant brings deep experience in agency management, ensuring that deliverables meet expectations, budgets are optimized, and opportunities for improvement are identified and acted upon.
3. Ensures Alignment with Your Goals
A consultant ensures your agency is working in lockstep with your business objectives. Their role is to bridge any gaps between strategy and execution, ensuring creative solutions are not only compelling but also aligned with your goals.
4. Acts as Your Advocate
Agencies, like any business, are driven by revenue goals and billable hours. A consultant is solely focused on what’s best for you. They serve as your advocate, ensuring that new recommendations or upsells from the agency are genuinely in your best interest—not just an effort to meet internal sales targets.
This objectivity ensures every decision made pushes your brand forward and aligns with your overall strategy.
5. Creates Accountability and Transparency
One of the most challenging aspects of agency relationships is maintaining transparency and accountability. A consultant keeps everyone honest, ensuring deliverables, timelines, and budgets are clearly defined and adhered to.
They are also able to address challenges head-on, providing solutions and fostering collaboration to strengthen the relationship between you and your agency.
But My Budget Doesn’t Allow for an Additional Line Item for a Consultant…
A common misconception is that hiring a consultant adds an unmanageable expense to your budget. The reality? It doesn’t have to.
In many cases, the cost of a consultant can be covered by reallocating a small percentage of your agency’s fees. Instead of your agency using that budget to hit billable hour targets, those funds are directed toward ensuring your agency relationship operates at peak efficiency.
Additionally, the improved performance and business results achieved through expert management often outweigh the cost. A well-managed agency relationship can lead to stronger campaigns, better ROI, and a more streamlined partnership—benefits that more than pay for themselves over time.
By viewing a consultant as an investment in success rather than an added expense, you can unlock the full potential of your agency partnership.
Why EKG is the Right Partner for You
At EKG, we understand the complexities of agency relationships—and we’re here to make them work better for you. With decades of experience managing agencies across industries, we provide the expertise, advocacy, and strategic alignment you need to get the most out of your agency partnership.
We Have Your Back: Our sole priority is your success. We act as your advocate, ensuring every decision aligns with your goals—not your agency’s billable hour targets.
We Save You Time: Let us handle the day-to-day agency management so you can focus on what matters most.
We Deliver Expertise: With a deep understanding of agency operations and creative processes, we ensure your agency delivers the best possible results.
We Drive Accountability: From budgets to deliverables, we bring clarity and transparency to every aspect of your agency relationship.
Partnering with EKG means you’re not just getting a consultant—you’re gaining a trusted advisor dedicated to helping you achieve success.