For many corporations, working with a content agency is the dream: access to a fully vetted team of writers and best practice processes that can deliver a steady stream of quality content.
As an agency owner and project manager, I’ve enjoyed working on new launches and new distribution channels with corporate partners—and their many diverse product teams. (There’s never a dull moment!)
But while our agency flourishes with generous monthly or yearly retainers, we face a distinct challenge: the complex labyrinth of bureaucracy that can weigh down processes, often referred to as red tape.
Navigating the Complexities of Fortune 500 Enterprises
Major corporations, particularly those operating in industries like SaaS, manage multiple products, each with its own dedicated product teams, potentially further divided into specialized teams or regional branches.
Some time ago, my agency formed a partnership with a prominent SaaS company, becoming their content marketing vendor for the full spectrum of needs. SEO compliance support? Yes. Website copywriting? Check. Email campaigns? You bet. Downloadable lead magnets like case studies and ebooks? Check and check.
Collaborating with various product teams, I worked with:
- Global product marketing leads
- Product marketing managers
- In-house SEO leads, managers, and strategists
- In-house content marketers
- Editorial team members (copywriters and editors)
I was pumped. It was exciting to be part of a big, global brand’s content strategy!
However, a few caveats surfaced:
- Friction is almost inevitable when numerous stakeholders are involved.
- Awareness gaps among product teams working on simultaneous projects are common.
- No two product teams ever have the same needs or marketing plans.
- Project timelines often shift unexpectedly.
- Unproductive meetings consume a lot of valuable time.
- The multitude of stakeholders and diverse teams can impede efficiency.
These unforeseen challenges gave me a crash course in navigating intra-company bureaucracy.
Here’s My Best Advice:
1. Appoint a Liaison Between Product Teams.
Recognize that a new partnership will require at least two main points of contact to keep projects moving forward seamlessly. On your end, you’ll need a resourceful person with communication and project management skills.
On the other side, you might find that the agency point of contact serves as a helpful liaison—sharing process-streamlining expertise, keeping projects moving along, and clearly communicating standardized procedures or messaging themes across your diverse teams.
For instance, in my case, I pioneered case study workflows—setting up interviews with the product teams, recording and transcribing the interviews, determining a strategic narrative, writing the drafts, and coordinating feedback. Now, we seamlessly apply this process across all product teams within the corporation to construct a comprehensive case study library.
2. Understand the Hidden Value in an Upsell.
By now, it’s clear that engaging with an agency goes beyond merely securing additional content; it represents an effective strategy for scaling your business without the concerns of staffing up during busy periods or downsizing during slower times. While your initial engagement with an agency might be centered around a particular project or product team, there’s often untapped potential within the agency that you might not be fully leveraging.
Consider this: if you require a European market ebook, collaborating with the same team of copywriters who crafted the domestic market ebook could expedite the content creation process compared to starting from scratch with a different agency.
Similarly, if you’re initiating a new SEO content section for the company blog, it’s beneficial to explore who is responsible for the product-led content section. Existing relationships within the agency can be harnessed not only to streamline the workflow but also to maintain a consistent messaging and tone of voice for a unified brand presentation across channels.
When you enlist an agency to collaborate with multiple internal teams, it’s a win-win situation: the agency’s scope of work expands, and you, in turn, gain from partnering with experts already acquainted with your brand and procedural preferences.
3. Empower Your Partner to Act as a True Extension of Your Teams.
Agency partnerships benefit corporations tremendously. It’s important to recognize where blind spots or bottlenecks exist and explore how a partnership can solve these common organizational challenges.
For instance, you might:
- Involve your partner in high-level, strategic content planning to brainstorm new ideas.
- Use the agency as a central liaison, ensuring that all departments are on the same page regarding content initiatives, timelines, and objectives.
- Organize cross-team collaborative workshops to share best practices, align messages, understand each team’s unique content needs, and reduce redundancy.
- Create documents that unify brand voice, tone, and messaging campaigns across channels and teams.
- Leverage performance metrics to refine content strategies for engagement and impact.
- Schedule regular strategy reviews to assess ongoing initiatives, discuss challenges, and ensure that the collaboration remains dynamic, responsive, and aligned with evolving corporate priorities.
Serving as a robust communicator, liaison between different departments, and procedural coordinator, an agency partner becomes the indispensable glue that holds projects together, streamlines content production, and propels your company’s progress.
Author Bio: Marc Schenker is an SEO who runs The Glorious Company, a content marketing agency. The Glorious Company works with SaaS and fintech companies of all sizes and increases their organic traffic, conversions, and revenue.
