How to Improve Your Agencies Workflow (Made Simple)

The saying goes 'time is money' and for agencies, this particularly rings true. In fact, the amount of time spent on any process or task is arguably one of the biggest contributing factors that determine profitability. With so much resting on time, a review of the overall workflow has got to be one of any agency owner’s priorities.

When we talk about 'workflow' throughout this article, we're talking about all the processes in your agency that help get a client's work from the first step through to the last. Let's now have a closer look at how you can improve your agency's workflow in just a few simple steps.

Step 1: The first review

The first step to improving anything is identifying where the problems are. 

When it comes to your agency's workflow, you need to have a clear understanding of where it is that issues are arising. Identifying time delays in your workflow aren't the only thing to look out for, other challenges can cause your workflow to be less efficient like processes that affect motivation, create confusion or information silos. Take for example a complicated sign-off process for social media posts - does the marketer have to get sign-off on design, copy and posting times on separate occasions? That complex process could be both frustrating and time-consuming.

So, how can you go about identifying those bottlenecks in your workflow? The first (and cheapest) thing to do is to just talk to your team. This sounds very straightforward we know, but it's something that is so commonly overlooked in the busy day-to-day of your agency. Ask each member of the team what they spend the most time on, and if they are struggling with any of the processes they are involved with. Communicating with your team will give you insight into what they’re struggling with. With most agencies we work with, we've found one of the largest areas making their workflow inefficient is that jobs are being assigned to people who don't have the experience needed because the agency is struggling to meet demand. For example, in most cases, digital marketers aren't trained graphic designers. So when they are being tasked with all the crucial graphic design work needed to get clients the results they expect - it simply isn't working. Those digital marketers are instead spending hours on Youtube and in Illustrator trying to recreate a template they were inspired with from Pinterest, or they're rushing through the design work by using template design available through free online design programs that all your competitors are also using. In either one of those common scenarios, the output is low quality and you're putting your agency at risk of churning clients regularly and limiting your referrals.

Another way to spot bottlenecks is by using a project management tool to see where tasks are up to and the most common steps in which the tasks are being held up. I.e is it feedback from the client that is delaying deadlines, or is your team waiting on marketing collateral that is taking too long to complete? Only when you know that important information can you take steps to improve upon it.

Step 2: Play to your strengths

We know that in a busy agency setting it can be tempting to have the attitude of 'all hands on deck', meaning that anyone and everyone can get involved to get a task done as fast as possible for a client. This is a damaging attitude for two main reasons… 

1. Your client came to you as an agency because you had the expertise they needed, so they expect the team working on their account to be specialists who can deliver the results you promised you could. When you don't assign tasks to those most qualified in your agency to do them, that quality begins to slip. 

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2. You just don’t have enough in-house capacity for the demand. This is something really important to keep an eye on as it will lead to your agency staff becoming overworked and your clients noticing late deadlines and lower quality work across the board.

Your agency's staff produce the very best work when they're working on what they are most qualified in. That's also when they can feel the most passionate and content in their job role. Making sure that people in different departments or roles aren't picking up tasks they shouldn't to meet looming deadlines is also crucial so that you can continue to build an environment your staff love to work in and so you'll find recruitment easier down the line.

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That being said, having your staff feedback where they feel they need extra support so they can get back to the tasks they were hired to do is vital so you can streamline your agency's workflow. It will also help you out with the next step, namely, building your agency's hybrid structure.

Step 3: Adopt a hybrid agency structure 

The subscription workforce is a term growing in popularity as more and more agencies across the UK adopt a hybrid structure. The basic premise of the subscription workforce is to give your agency more capacity, without having to commit to a long-term employee and to access support for a more affordable cost. For example, some agencies use Design Cloud to build an entire design team that is flexible around their demands. When they need more design work completed to meet additional demand, they simply add another designer to their plan. By adopting this way of working, you give your agency staff the helping hand they need to get more work completed in a shorter time. The reduced costs compared to hiring in-house also mean that you can significantly improve margins in your agency overnight.

To improve your agency's workflow, compliment your existing team with outsourcing tools that give them the power to do their jobs better and faster.

If your marketer needs design support and you need a more affordable way of accessing support from a pro graphic designer, Design Cloud is your solution. You’ll just need to sign up for one flat rate monthly fee on a rolling 30-day monthly contract, and you can get daily design support from a UK-based professional graphic designer. You can scale up design support as and when you need it by simply adding more designers to your plan, perfect for busy agencies that need to meet fluctuating demand. Learn more about our plans here. 

Another example of complimenting your team with the right outsourcing tools to enable productivity could be teaming your marketing team with a tool like Copify to free up the time spent writing long-form content that is necessary for reaching SEO goals.

Step 4: Assign outsourcing service leaders

If you've opted for a hybrid agency structure and your team is consistently outsourcing services and tools that help boost productivity, it's good practice to assign an outsourcing service leader. That means a member of your team who is the main point of contact and who manages how efficiently that service or tool is being used. For example, your marketing manager might take the lead in prioritising and adding new users to the Design Cloud queue to keep a clear overview of all current graphic design work being completed. By having one key communicator within your team who works closely with the service provider, you can make communication as smooth as possible and therefore improve the ease with which your entire team can access the support they need. The result? A better workflow with fewer delays due to miscommunication.

Step 5: Encourage a culture of communication

Make sure that you encourage open communication cross-departmentally as well as within teams in your agency. For example, encouraging better communication between your sales and marketing teams will help you to generate better quality leads faster. How? Your sales team will be able to ask for the marketing collateral they need to close a deal, rather than the ones your marketing team presume might work. A great example of this is a marketer who thinks a better-designed presentation deck is crucial, whereas the salesperson on the front line talking to customers every day knows it's case studies that they desperately need. Until there's better communication across both of those departments, those issues won't get solved and your agency won't be as efficient as it could be in generating and converting leads.

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How can you encourage communication both internally and across departments? At Design Cloud, even though our UK-based team is currently working remotely, we love having a full team meeting on Slack every morning. Additionally, we encourage better communication by having department Slack channels as well as a full group for everyone to take part in. Other ways to encourage better communication in your agency include 1:1 meetings and internal company-wide newsletters to keep everybody updated across the business. Using productivity tools like Asana, Click Up or Monday.com will give your staff great visibility on what every member of their team is working on, which is another fantastic way to help a team communicate the help they need to reach objectives.

In this blog, we've talked about some ways you can help to make your agency's workflow more efficient that won't break the bank and that are fast improvements you can implement today. From improving communication to finding the right outsourcing tools, there are so many ways you can help processes run more smoothly throughout your agency and encourage better feedback from clients as well as happier staff.

If you'd like to work with Design Cloud on any future projects, just get in touch here.