Your agency sends you a report, you pay your invoice, and that’s it. This is a vendor relationship.
It’s simple, but it’s not what helps your business grow 10x.
This article shows you the true meaning of a client-agency relationship.
And it enables you to see the differences between a vendor and an advisor so you can choose wisely.
The most important features in a client-agency relationship are transparency and a relentless focus on tangible business outcomes.
GroXcelent is a strategic partner that helps small businesses solve complex digital marketing challenges and achieve their revenue goals.
Key Takeaways:
- An advisor relationship involves a deeper partnership. The agency provides strategic guidance and insights that align with your business goals.
- A strategic partner is invested in your growth rather than just delivering a service.
- A vendor focuses on deliverables that have no impact on the bottom line.
What’s the Difference Between a Vendor and an Advisor?
TL;DR: A vendor does tasks you ask for. An advisor empowers you to tackle marketing hurdles and achieve your company goals.
Think of it like this: a vendor is a service provider. They give you what you pay for, like a plumber who fixes a leaky faucet.
They use terms or expressions like ‘our services, ’ ‘our solutions, ’ ‘we specialize in,’ and ‘our company.’ It’s all about what they can offer you, not how they can collaborate with you to understand your business.
An advisor is more like a business coach. They’re laser-focused on the big picture that allows them to make smart choices for your SME.
And the statistics on business coaching don’t disappoint:
- 46% of SME founders reported an increase in revenue due to business coaching.
- Some companies gained an average ROI of 5.7 times the coaching fees. (Manchester Institute Study (2001).
- Others revealed a return of $7.90 for every $1 invested—a 700% increase. (MetrixGlobal LLC Study).
This doesn’t mean you should hire a business mentor. It means an agency with a business coaching mentality puts you front and center of its marketing efforts.
And you stand to benefit from an advisor with a business-coaching mindset.
This means your business goals matter to the partner when they create a marketing strategy. And when they interact with you, they demonstrate how the partnership helps your brand generate revenue.
According to Constant Contact, 23% of SMBs don’t know what’s working. As a result, an advisor is more important than ever to help you overcome marketing obstacles.
Strategic partners differ from traditional service providers in that they:
- Build long-term relationships focused on achieving your company’s objectives.
- Are invested in understanding your unique challenges and opportunities.
- Provide personalized guidance and support.
- Advisors offer ongoing actionable insights and mentorship to drive sustainable growth.
As a result, the working relationship gives you more rewards in terms of time management, strategic planning, and sales growth.
Let’s recap on the Advisor vs. Vendor Roles:
| Advisor | Vendor |
| Zeroes in on your business goal. Gives you ideas without you asking for them. They’re proactive. | Focuses on tasks and reacts to your requests. They’re reactive. |
| Measures outcomes like how much money you made. They care about your success metrics, such as customer acquisition costs (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), conversions, revenue, and ROI. | Measures simple things like how many blog posts were published. Chases vanity metrics such as follows: likes and comments. |
| Go beyond deliverables and empower you with strategic planning, time management, and sales growth strategies. | They get paid for their services or deliverables, and that’s the end of it. |
An advisor is more like a business coach who’s interested in your success. They focus on strategic planning, sales growth, and time management.
That’s why GroXcelent has dedicated marketers who get attached to your business.
You partner with professionals with years of experience in SEO, content marketing, email marketing, PPC ads, and digital PR.
GroXcelent’s passionate marketers are relentlessly focused on improving your search performance. They work closely with your small business to tailor marketing campaigns based on specific goals.
The team provides practical insights and recommendations to optimize visibility and conversions.
This ensures that the marketing strategy contributes to the overall success of your brand.
What Does a Real Partnership Look Like?
TL;DR: An agency acting as an advisor is interested in your entire business, not just your marketing.
A true advisor goes beyond marketing. They want to understand your business, customers, and challenges. This is the key that unlocks your success.
As a result, the outsourced partner can remain on track and concentrate on what matters most to your brand.
In fact, they should hold strategy workshops before a full SEO roll-out to align marketing efforts with your aims.
This is what happens at GroXcelent. We take your SME through a 6+ month predictable growth plan.
It looks like this:
In the first weeks, you get to engage with the marketing team. It ensures everyone sings from the same SEO hymnbook. We can have the same expectations and goals from the partnership. This minimizes misunderstandings and conflicts.
GroXcelents (the team):
- Ask about your sales process and how you get new customers.
- Give you ideas for your whole business, not just your marketing plans.
- Help you solve business problems, not just marketing challenges.
- Aren’t just following a plan. They’re always looking for innovative ways to improve it based on your business’s progress.
How Can You Create a Partnership With Your Agency?
TL;DR: You have to be a partner to get a partner. Be open, share information, and talk about your business goals.
You can encourage this new approach by changing how you interact with your agency. It’s a two-way street. It takes two to tango to win in a business partnership.
I like what Juliette Saez-Lopez at Furious says about the importance of openness:
No business relationship can endure without transparency, as this is the only way to build trust between two organizations. Clear, honest communication also helps to manage expectations effectively.
For example, expect to answer these vital questions when you jump on a discovery call with our marketing experts. They help us understand your brand, customers, and focus.
| Understanding Your Business: ‘How do you make money?’ ‘What are your organization’s mission, vision, and values? ‘What are you known for, or what do you want to be known for?’ ‘Can you describe your ideal target audience?’ ‘Who would you say are your main competitors?’ ‘Why would someone choose you over your competitors?’ Setting Expectations and Goals: ‘What are your targets?’ ‘How would you see SEO contributing to this target?’ ‘What is your budget for SEO?’ Collaboration and Workflow: ‘What do you want to get from this SEO engagement?’ ‘How would you define success?’ ‘What does the internal team look like from a resource and expertise perspective?’ ‘Are there any possible constraints, such as dev queues or sign-offs?’ Previous Experience and Reporting: ‘Can you tell me about the SEO that has happened to date?’ ‘Who are your stakeholders?’ ‘How do you currently report, and how would you prefer us to report?’ Bonus Question: ‘What’s the most important thing to you about an agency?’ |
How You Can Develop a Meaningful Partnership With an Agency
- Become a Partner: Share internal data, sales results, and customer feedback.
- Talk About Strategy: Go beyond basic reports. Schedule meetings to discuss your business goals and challenges.
- Empower Your Agency: Give them the freedom to suggest new ideas and try things out.
- Show Appreciation: Thank them for their role in your business growth when you see a good result.
FAQs on Client-Agency Relationships
| What is a client-agent relationship? A client-agency relationship is a contract between an organization (the client) and the outsourced company (the agency) offering marketing functions such as SEO, content, social media, email, digital PR, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and other Internet services. |
| What makes a great client-agency relationship? An ideal client-agency relationship is where the agency acts as an advisor/a strategic partner. They must understand the client’s business, goals, customers, and challenges. The client must be transparent about their sales data and objectives and provide clear project briefs to improve relations with the agency. They should give the third party the freedom to implement new ideas. |
Change Your Mindset About a Client-Agency Relationship
The old way of using a marketing agency as a vendor isn’t the best way to expand your brand. By working with a strategic advisor, you can make more money, spend your budget more wisely, and build a stronger business.
GroXcelent is an SME growth agency that integrates SEO, content, social media, digital PR, email, and paid search strategies to increase revenue consistently. We’re obsessed with three things: your business, customers, and sales.
Ready to save time and increase your business revenue with GroXcelents? Get your free SEO audit now to find high-growth opportunities.
