How to Build a Successful Relationship With an Agency – Nicole Wojno Smith of Tackle

To be successful in any industry, you need people, processes, and tools. But not all companies, especially at the beginning, have enough resources to do everything in-house. Therefore, they turn to agencies and freelancers to help them fill in the gaps. In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Nicole Wojno Smith, VP of Marketing at Tackle, joins our host Daniel Weiner to discuss company-agency/freelancer relationships. Nicole shares her professional background and makes a comparison between working for an agency and being in a position that requires partnering with agencies. They also talk about the value of timely communication and how outsourcing — when well-thought-out — helps generate new perspectives and ideas. Guest-at-a-Glance 💡 Name: Nicole Wojno Smith 💡 What she does: Nicole is the VP of marketing at Tackle. 💡 Company: Tackle 💡 Noteworthy: Prior to joining Tackle, Nicole built and scaled the marketing team at two SaaS companies. 💡 Where to find Nicole: LinkedIn Key Insights ⚡ Your employees and partners are your brand's best advocates. It's clear why more and more companies invest in a culture that promotes collaboration, open communication, and trust. After all, if an employee or a partner feels valued and sees that their efforts matter, they will be motivated to devote themselves to a shared goal and spread the good word about your business. ''It's more important than ever that people build strong brands and [have] even stronger advocates who will talk about you and have a good experience with them. That's so valuable because people talk in these dark social communities, and you could lose a deal before you even get a chance to get to the plate.'' ⚡Communicate, communicate, communicate. It may sound like a buzzword, but communication is key to fruitful collaborations. Regardless of the industry, whenever you — as an agency — work with a new client, you must ensure timely communication and availability via as many channels as possible. Nicole shares one of her team's best experiences with a certain agency to confirm this claim. ''They created a Slack channel for us. So we quickly communicated. They would do email updates and weekly calls. And when things got off track, it was flagged immediately, whether it was at our end or theirs. So they didn't wait for a call to tell us, which helped reduce friction.'' ⚡Growing a business is exciting but demanding. Most business owners agree; but, it’s not just them. Everyone working in an executive position in a startup/early-stage company knows the pressure that comes with it. Here's what still keeps Nicole awake at night. ''I'm always thinking about the pipeline. We need more. How do we look at this across marketing, sales, and partners and think about everything we're doing and how can we grow this effectively? We have a big focus right now on developing more integrated campaigns. [...] It comes down to prioritization, efficiency, and how we all look at this across the board — so we can maximize our ROI and everything.''