Month: June 2024

Kevin

Welcome to the Content Machine podcast. I’m Kevin Adelsberger, and this week we’re joined by Krista Hale. Krista is our project manager at Adelsberger Marketing, and I like to say she helps all the trains run on time. Krista, thank you for joining us today. I know that I forced you into this, so please forgive me later. All right. Krista, you wanted to talk about the onboarding process, and that’s something that I know that you’ve been working a lot on it for the agency, and we’ve made it a point to make it a better process since you’ve come on board. So what was the reason we started working on the onboarding process?

 

Krista

So one thing we noticed last year was that there was instances where we were either having to do rework or unexpected delays from the client. And so we decided that we needed something to change. And so I believe at the beginning of this year, we started reading Project Management for Humans by Brett Harned, just to help myself become better in my job. And so in Chapter 4, it talked about emphasizing getting to know the client. And so we do a really good job of doing that with our strategy sessions, getting to know the client as a business as a whole, getting to know their goals, and then seeing the opportunities that we can help them with. But we are missing the step in between the strategy session and getting the project started and just setting expectations from the very beginning to know how we work and to help them understand all those things. So then it just helped us be super clear on how we work with people so that they know what to expect from us.

 

Kevin

Yeah, absolutely. And so can you give us a brief overview of the onboarding process?

 

Krista

Yeah. So first off, I just start off with housekeeping things, questions of who’s the main point of contact. Probably my most important question that I ask just because it helps me know who I need to be always in touch with. And it’s helpful that there’s just one, because if there’s multiple points of contacts, then it can slow down the process and then not everyone responds or slow in responding. And so if there’s one person, it helps that just move along quicker. And then we just have other questions like, is there someone who’s going to be the final sign off for the project so that if not everyone’s deciding or coming to the same decision, that that person is just going to make the decision to go forward, basically. Then we ask about out of date, like out of office dates, whether or not they’re… So that we know, Okay, how do we plan, make sure that we get you the product or the projects beforehand, or how do we work that into our timeline? And then after we get through the housekeeping questions, then we talk about expectations for communication, what that looks like for me and our team, and then also what is expected from them.And then after we talk about communication, then we go through what their process is going to look like, how we handle our process, but then also what their specific project is going to look like. Every project is different, and so we try to make sure that we talk about their specific projects to give them an understanding of the big picture so that they know what to expect from us.

 

Kevin

Yeah. And I think that’s been really good, as we’ve seen. We’ve been testing that out over the last couple of months with new clients. So how important is the onboarding process in setting the tone for the client relationship?

 

Krista

Yeah. So the tone, I think a lot of it is it ensures that we’re both on the same page just to have a good outcome. But it also just strengthens our relationship with the client. A lot of times people know you, but they don’t necessarily know me. And with me being the main point of contact for most of the projects, you’re still involved. But it also helps me build that relationship with them so that we’re not just two people behind an email, we’re actual people. And so it just helps create that personal relationship. And then it just helps clarify expectations and just helps us know who the both points of contacts are. And it just helps us show them that they are committed to have an easy process for them.

 

Kevin

So everybody has to onboard a client one way or another? Yeah. So how do you feel like we’ve made this process feel like Adelsberger marketing?

 

Krista

So we wanted to make a slideshow just to help them visualize everything when I talk with them about it. One of our core values is fun professionalism. We wanted it to be something where, yes, you get the point across, but also it’s just visually fun. Katie Howardon on our team illustrated a lot of the fun elements and graphics for the slideshow video. I think it really added something to show just how much our team is not just this is the way it is, but we have fun while we do it.

 

Kevin

How do you communicate that process and set those expectations?

 

Krista

So we really just want to emphasize that each project is different. And so we go through each of their projects and we go by step by step so they understand the big picture. Obviously, it’s not going to be perfect. Every project has little different things happen. But we want to make sure that they have a big understanding and so that they’re not surprised on how the process is going to work. So I do that towards the end of the call. And then before that, we talk about the waterfall process, and that’s how we get everything approved. So the reason why we do that is so that after each step, we get the buy-in from the client so that it’s not just at the end of the project, oh, this is it. And they had no idea that that’s what it was going to be. And so for example, with our websites, we start out with just a black and white sketch of the home page, and we get that approved. And then work on the content, and we get that approved. So after each step, the client knows what to expect so that later at the end, they’re not surprised.

 

Krista

And so it also helps us know that we’re on the right track for them and that we’re doing the work that they like, because ultimately we want client satisfaction, but we’re also wanting to make sure that they like it.

 

Kevin

So are there any strategies to help maybe others can see that helps us be implemented effectively?

 

Krista

So with Adelsberger Marketing, we have a policy that we call Texas Size 10.4, which you created from a TV show that I’m supposed to not watch. But we do this. It helps alleviate any concern for message, that it’s been delivered or that you’ve seen it, because we’re messaging through Slack, and so we’re not in person. And so that’s the same thing with the clients where we’re emailing. Majority of the time, sometimes we have Zoom calls or whatever in-person meetings. But what this looks like in application is I’ll send an email to a client, and we’re not necessarily We’re not necessarily looking for an answer for the question or whatever that I’m asking for, but we’re looking for, Hey, I’ve received this. I’m working on it. I’ll get it back to you in so many times. Some sign-up life.

 

Kevin

Some sign-up life, yeah.

 

Krista

Yeah. And so we want to help the client, but we need help from them in the sense of we need to know that they’re there and that they’re working on it so that I don’t have to constantly email you every week and get tired of me. So that’s something that we’ve implemented with the client just to help communication.

 

Kevin

What are some of the best practices that you believe are essential for a smooth and effective onboarding process?

 

Krista

I definitely think setting clear expectations, and that’s what we’re doing with the onboarding process. But being as super clear as we can and talking to them about it and making sure that they are in agreement.

 

Kevin

And we’re talking about things like how we communicate and timeline and the approval process, making sure that they’re 100 % understanding. If they don’t agree to these things, then we’ve got a problem with how this is going to work.

 

Krista

Exactly. And I think sometimes not all the time is it going to be exactly how… Sometimes we need to adjust, like with the client. Sometimes it can’t just be one point of contact because there’s multiple buy-ins and they need to all be involved. And so then the process helps us see, okay, how do we need to adjust for the client to make sure that it still works smoothly? And so we’re always trying to make it as easy as possible for the client, but also keep the project moving. And then I think it’s also like going along that line of listening and understanding what the client needs. So if they need to adjust in some way, we can try to accommodate as best as we can to help them feel like we are listening to them, but also that we’re wanting a good product at the end of the day.

 

Kevin

Well, Krista, thank you so much for the work you do at Adelsberger Marketing. You’re doing great as our operations manager. And thank you for joining us today on the episode. If you have any questions about project management, email Krista. Don’t email me. Email Krista. But we would recommend the book, Project Management for Humans by Brett Harn. It was a good conversation starter for us over the last couple of months as we worked on improving these processes. So we’ll stay tuned for future episodes of the Content Machine podcast. And once again, Krista, thank you for joining us. Thanks.

On this episode of the Content Machine podcast, we’re going to look at the five things you should update on your website right now. There might be more stuff you need to update, but these five things would be a great starting place to make sure you’re looking good online. Number one, dates and times. Do you have any dates and times on your website? Open hours, closed for the holidays. You might want to set a reminder to check these annually. And even if you don’t have any date or times on your website, is the copyright year in your footer up to date? Sometimes these are easy to forget about and are not updated. The second thing you should look at is meta tags. Are your meta tags up to date? If they are, are they still relevant for the terms for your business? Does it have the key terms that your business is trying to promote and potentially the location that you’re trying to promote in? And do you have meta tags on all the key pages of your website? When’s the last time you looked at your meta tags and made sure that they were relevant for your business? The third thing is if you have a lead generator on your website, and I think you should, which is some sort of a free download tool that will help people build trust with you because you’re providing free value through this content. When is the last time you updated it? Probably not since you launched this current iteration of your website. So take a look at it. Is it still relevant to your customers? Is it still a good representation of your business? Would a design–refresh make it feel more modern, or does it need to be torn down and built from the ground up? Use this as an opportunity to check out that resource. Number four, is the main message of your site targeting your current customers’ wants and needs, or is it out of date? We look at lots of websites for customers and their competitors, and sometimes people fail to update this messaging over time as their business evolves. When’s the last time you considered if your marketing messaging on your website is accurate? Number five, is your website using too many stock photos or using bad stock photography? Stock photography can hurt customer trust and distract from the point that you’re trying to make of who you are as a company. If you asked a couple random customers, would they think that your use of stock photos helps or hurts your website’s communications? Maybe try to look at your website with the eyes of an outsider and see if some new local real photography could help your customers appreciate your brand more. Now, here’s one as a bonus. Number six. And this one is probably the most widespread that we see. Are your staff up to date on your website? Are Are bios current? Are there photos within the last decade? All of these things change for people: how they look, what their qualifications are, who’s working somewhere. It’s really easy for people to forget about updating these or neglecting these over time. So maybe annually, if you haven’t recently checked, make a reminder to make sure that the biographies and the photos are relevant for the staff on your website. These are just a couple of things that we see on a regular basis that people need to update on their websites. If you need help updating your website or maybe creating new photography to go on there or dialing in your messaging to speak to your customers, we would love to help you. So feel free to reach out to me at kevin@adelsburgermarketing.com and see some examples of our work at adelsburgermarketing.com. 

 

In April, I had the opportunity to attend the Agency Builders Retreat in Florida. This is the second year that I’ve been able to attend this conference, and it’s targeted towards agency owners and agency leadership. It’s a small group of 50 to 80 people, and most of us have some shared values around a common good besides our own agency. Being a part of this group last year and being involved with the Slack group over the last year has allowed me to build relationships that made this year’s conference even more meaningful. I want to share a few of the takeaways from the conference that I think are relevant, even if you don’t own a marketing agency. Number one, community is important. When you have an opportunity to spend time with peers in your industry or people who have similar experiences as you, there can be tremendous value in that time. The interesting thing about everybody in that room at the conference is that we all had similar problems and that some of us had solutions to some of those problems. Also, Also, we all carried the shared burden of leading our companies. Business leadership can be lonely, and being able to be with people who are like-minded and aiming towards the same goals helps you feel more confident in what you’re doing and helps you see solutions to problems that you might have that you haven’t thought about yet.

The second big takeaway is that AI is going to continue to change our world. Ai is already deeply affecting the marketing industry, and it will eventually affect all industries. Hearing from other agencies how they’re being proactive active about implementing it was really interesting. It’s given us a few tools to explore and some guidance on how to try to pivot to use those tools. We want AI to not replace the creativity or the work that our team does, but to make our team more efficient within their creativity. The third thing that I wanted to highlight is that sales is the lifeblood of any business. And so we spent some time thinking about how we can be excellent at the sales process. The speaker compared sales to sports. It’s as close as many of us will get to being paid to be in sports because what it has in common with sports is that it’s live, you don’t get a second chance, and you are dealing with a lot of competitive elements that you’re not necessarily aware of. And so we talked about how to have a really good sales process. I haven’t been able to get through my entire to-do list from the conference, but one of them is to build a sales playbook and increase my ability to close the leads that come into the company.

I know that revenue allows for good things to happen in the company, and if we make good business deals, we’ll have more revenue and more profit, which allows us to care for our people better and build a better product for our customers. Building an entire sales playbook is something that I plan to drill deeper into. Clarity is something that we have focused on before at Adelsberger Marketing. But it hit home at this conference that clarity not only brings power, but it is also kind. Having transparency allows everyone to be on the same page. It builds trust and allows for action and gives people a pathway to success. Forcing you to be clear on what the situation is and what the problems may be or what the solutions may be can really cut to the meat of the issue and move you to action. It’s really kind for someone to know where they stand in an organization and what they need to do to be successful. Another thing is, delegation should make things better for everyone. For me to delegate properly, I have to communicate what I need done. But, delegation also creates several side effects for the organization and the people that are being delegated to.

For example, it gives someone the freedom to focus on that thing. Any given day, I’m pulled in many different directions. If I’m able to delegate a task to someone that that becomes their focus for that period of time, it’s a win. It also gives someone an opportunity to grow, not only in that skill set, but in their effectiveness in the company. And then it gives me more time back to work on the things that are my highest value tasks and that I have to do to help lead the company. And finally, accountability is key. If you really want to grow, accountability is the thing you need. You may say you have a goal to run a half marathon, for example. But when the race deadline is coming up, it really does focus you on achieving that goal. You’re going to run a lot more the weeks before the marathon than you may have if you didn’t have that goal set. Having a weekly meeting where you go over the products that you’re working on or talking about what you’re supposed to be doing in front of the company forces you to be more honest and get more stuff done because you don’t want to report nothing in front of everybody else.

And we’ve seen that accountability helpful in our company when we’ve talked about our quarterly goals. But it’s been interesting to see how other companies have used that similar mindset to stimulate growth. I am thankful for groups like the Agency builders that give me a community to be a part of, where it is more about collaboration instead of competition, and being able to be friendly with people who do the same things that our company does, but just not in our local area or that we’re in competition with. And so it gives me a lot of insight in how to do my job better. I look forward to attending next year, and if you’re in the agency world, you should think about it, too. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Content Machine podcast. We’ll be back with more episodes, so be sure to subscribe and check us out on YouTube.