How Agencies Prep For Monthly Meetings

By Caylee Hanna, Expio Intern

Monthly meetings are a way for Expio Digital Marketing to show clients their successes, as well as analytics from clients’ social media profiles. We sat down with Digital Marketing Coordinator Grace Ensor to discuss how Expio prepares for monthly meetings with clients and how clients benefit from the information presented to them.

What steps does Expio take to prepare for monthly meetings?

Grace: First, we complete the reports to go over with the clients. Our reports are due the 15th internally every month, and we try to get them all set out on the 15th no matter when we meet with the client. While I am working on the reports, I like to take notes about things that I want to mention to the client, or any issues or things that we think we should bring up to the client. We want to get ahead of any issues that we see, and even if we don’t see any issues, we are still wanting to come up with new tasks and tactics to keep things going in the right direction. I keep a big list of notes with thoughts that I have as I do the reports. Before the meeting, I typically go through our tasks that we have done to see what was completed, what we can update the client on if we haven’t already, and if we have anything in the works or upcoming tasks that will be complete, so they feel included and they feel like they know what’s going on. 

Planning is also a crucial part of preparing for monthly meetings. We don’t want to show up and have nothing to say to our clients. We go over our monthly reports, but there are a lot of other things to discuss with our clients. Throughout the month, when we don’t talk to our clients in person or on Zoom, we have running notes in our project management software. For example, if we see something that we need access to from the client, then we can ask them about that during the monthly meeting. Or,  if there are some user experience suggestions, we ask for client approval at our meeting. It is a month-long process to prepare for these monthly meetings. 

What do clients gain from having monthly meetings with Expio?

Grace: The main point of monthly meetings is to reassure the client that things are going well and that we are doing whatever they need us to do. We want the client to feel confident in us and trust that we are doing great work toward their digital goals. We want to connect with the client and maintain a good relationship with them. Retaining trust with our clients is crucial so that the client can be confident in us and what we are doing. 

A second key focus of our monthly meetings is making sure our clients feel like they’re becoming experts in their statistics. We don’t simply read through their report. We digest it with easy-to-understand language, so the client can go to his/her superiors and deliver the great statistics and analytics knowing they have a full understanding of what the numbers mean.

Any final thoughts?

Grace: Expio client reports are due internally on the 15th of every month, but we might not meet with the client for a couple of weeks, so it’s important that we thoroughly look over the reports before each meeting. During this review, we take additional notes so the meeting will be organized, efficient and meaningful. It’s also important during our meetings to see if the client has any issues on their side. We like to ask the client if he or she has experienced any complaints or confusion from website users. Our monthly meetings are a great time to get back-and-forth feedback to learn more about user experience and ways to enhance the services we’re providing. We already know our clients and maintain a regular connection with them, but we can’t always be at their physical business, and we don’t know all the feedback customers are giving them in person.