There are various types of marketing companies, such as boutique agencies, niche agencies, corporate agencies, nonprofit agencies, and more. The purpose of this article is to provide clarity and insights into the main differences between account maintenance and account management in the field of marketing. This information will help companies better understand how to prepare for both types of collaborations.
At Alchemi, we have accumulated over 30 years of combined experience in the industry and are well-versed in account maintenance. We’ve found that account maintenance is a common solution for companies seeking assistance without relinquishing too much control over their marketing processes.
This is essential to highlight because many companies feel overwhelmed when working with agencies that specialize in account management. The constant need for approvals, meetings, and clarification often results in more chaos than productivity.
What is Account Management?
Account management involves the marketing company taking complete control of the account or platform, rather than working as an integrated part of the client company’s team. While this approach is suitable for companies that prefer a more “hands-off” approach, it often leads to dissatisfaction and a disconnect between the hiring company and the marketing agency. Marketing teams in an account management structure are not as involved in internal meetings as an in-house marketing team would be, leading to a lack of critical information.
This results in the hiring company having to repeat information multiple times, which can disrupt the marketing strategy. Additionally, the need for constant approvals in an account management structure puts more workload on the hiring company, causing stress over deadlines, timelines, and results. This can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction when collaborating with marketing companies.
The question arises: How can anyone effectively manage an account without having an in-depth understanding of the company’s dynamics, business structure, and partnerships?
Furthermore, the constant need for approvals in an ‘account management’ structure often creates more work for the hiring company, as revisions, corrections, and creative launches take time. This leads to stress and dissatisfaction with marketing companies as a support option.
What is Account Maintenance?
Account maintenance is better defined as “optimizing accounts and analyzing performance to guide an overall marketing strategy.” This is a more suitable solution for most hiring companies because they retain control over the account, ensuring that marketing aligns with the company’s structure and goals.
By working closely with an in-house marketing leader or administrator, maintenance helps alleviate tasks for in-house employees, allowing them to focus on content scheduling and launching initiatives. Maintenance teams handle tasks such as setting up A/B testing, list cleaning, creating blog content, and developing content calendars for social media and email campaigns.
With this model, companies maintain control over campaign timing, and the need for approvals is significantly reduced. By providing calendars, templates, systems, and testing, companies save time and increase performance through a collaborative marketing effort.
How to Prepare Your Team for Account Maintenance
To work effectively with a company that provides account maintenance, it’s crucial to designate a professional in-house who will manage scheduling and receive reporting information from the maintenance team. This role is typically held by a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Director of Marketing, Executive Administrator, or Marketing Assistant.
This person is responsible for tasks such as scheduling monthly email campaigns, social media post scheduling, publishing or scheduling blog articles, creating social media event content, and providing raw creatives for social media, advertising, and email initiatives.
A marketing maintenance team, on the other hand, handles tasks like updating SEO keywords, monitoring ad performance, campaign creation and optimization, A/B testing, content calendar recommendations, data analysis, and creating branded templates to support company efforts.
Hiring company ideally will be responsible for:
- Scheduling email campaigns each month
- Schedule social media posts each month
- Publishing or Scheduling Blog Articles
- Event Creation (social media)
- RAW creatives for social media, advertising, and email initiatives
An outsourced maintenance team may handle:
- Updates to SEO keywords (web, social media, Google profile)
- Monitoring Ad performance (Search, Social)
- Campaign Creation and Optimization
- A/B Testing & Reporting
- Content Calendar Recommendations
- Data Analysis of marketing efforts
- Branded Template Creation to Assist Company Efforts
Conclusion
Understanding the differences between sole account management and account maintenance is crucial. Our team offers maintenance support, reducing the workload for in-house representatives and providing expertise to make relevant recommendations, create templates, and install systems. Our goal is to empower companies to play a role in their overall marketing processes while our team assists in directing marketing strategy.
For more information on this topic, please contact us using our web form. We are proud to offer a VIP Day for brands seeking 1:1 expert help with their accounts. Please visit VIP DAY for more information on what this workshop includes and how it will benefit you.
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