How To Onboard A New Client in Your Digital Marketing/Advertising Agency

Pitching and winning contracts can be hectic, however your onboarding process sets the tone for the partnership.

It's like sitting at a restaurant you have always dreamt of visiting, only to experience bad service. Disappointing right?

Your onboarding process creates the first impression in your client's mind. It also reflects your organizational skills and structure as an agency. Sending welcome emails late, not creating scope of work document or even skipping feedback meetings can negatively impact your business.

To create an excellent onboarding experience for new clients, it's best to have a checklist on hand that outlines what should be done.

Onboarding Checklist

If you are like me, your onboarding checklist can be a simple to-do list that has basic steps outlined. To ensure your team also understands what the onboarding should look like, you can use a spreadsheet with steps listed alongside relevant details, links or templates for each.

Establish The Relationship

The first step is to establish the relationship. At Socianet, I often start with a welcome email and then a call to introduce key members of the team to the client.

Ensure your initial email is short and to the point. Begin with an introduction, especially if the client is not acquainted with you, then introduce the account manager and the rest of the team who will be interacting with the client. You can include essential information as the partnership commences. This is also an opportune moment to finalize any pending legal documentation related to the partnership. After the email, be sure to schedule a meeting for everyone (virtually or physically).

An uplifting and positive tone helps to set the client at ease. It's all about setting the tone.

Collect Important Resources

The resources needed usually vary based on the type of project or brief your agency is managing. They include brand logo, brand guide, photos and social media login details. You may also require data such as competitive analysis, market research, etc. For example, a pre-launch marketing campaign would require you to collect important details including market research, insights on target audience, brand logo, guideline, social media policy, and access to socials for a start. It's important to outline the resources you need and explain why you need it to the client. To keep these data secure, you can create a password management system with the files stored in restricted folders.

Resources are client's data. Keep it confidential.

Create A Scope Of Work Document

Once the agreement is signed, this step can be taken.

A scope of work document should clearly outlines what project is about, expected deliverables and out of scope items (tasks that are not covered in the contract). Ensure you align with the client on the deliverables and what falls into the Out-Of-Scope category. This will serve as a reference during the partnership and will help manage expectations on both sides.

Ensure the Scope of Work document as detailed as possible.

Define Communication & Reporting Style

Communication and reporting styles should be tailored to what your clients prefer.

Define your communication channels and identify key decision makers early on, this will cut down on tedious back-and-forth for approvals. A good tip is to set mutually agreed revision deadlines to manage the entire project timeline. Onboardings are also a good time to set the frequency of your reports. While some clients prefer weekly meetings to catch up on the progress of the campaign, a number of them might choose emails twice a month. Outlining communication and reporting structure can reduce time wastage significantly.

Stay consistent in communication

Create Project Document

Documentation is crucial in a successful onboarding process.

The project document should contain timelines, deliverables, milestones, review and launch dates. An accessible project document promotes transparency and allows your client to track the project as well. The first draft of your project document should be shared with your client to align on review and launch dates. Your project document should also be updated consistently to highlight progress or any latest developments.

Always add in extra days when setting deadlines to accommodate unexpected disruptions.

Having an onboarding checklist allows you to showcase your agency's structure to your client. Moreso, engaging the client in the onboarding sessions makes them more confident in your work.

You know what they say about client-agency relationships, "It's like marriage". It requires a high level of commitment to understand, grow and respond to each other’s needs and an excellent onboarding experience sets you up for success.