Great partnerships don’t just happen. They’re built, brick by brick, over time. And when it comes to financial marketing, the agency-client relationship is one of those partnerships that can either drive major momentum or quietly drain your resources.
It’s not just about the deliverables. It’s about scale. Agility. Expertise.
A strong agency brings a full team of specialists to the table (strategists, creatives, tech pros, media buyers, etc.) often for less than the cost of hiring one full-time senior marketer. And that frees up your in-house team to stop chasing the small stuff and focus on strategy.
Plus, a good agency isn’t just bringing ideas. They’re helping you unlock your own.
I recently sat in on a panel session (along with one of our very own partners, Ryan Stone from Harding Loevner!) called “Partnership Success: The Right Marketer-Agency Relationship in Financial Marketing,” and the discussion hit on some truths we’ve seen play out time and time again.
Whether you’re on the brand side or the agency side, these are the non-negotiables.
The panel boiled it down to six elements that make or break a financial marketer-agency partnership:
Collaboration – You’re working toward the same goal
Transparency – Say what needs to be said
Empathy – Understand each other’s challenges
Innovation – Don’t settle for average
Communication – Keep the lines open
Proactivity – Anticipate what’s next
Every strong relationship stands on communication. If that breaks down, trust goes with it. One misstep, one missed expectation, and suddenly you’re not partners—you’re pointing fingers.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to trust. Without it, nothing else matters. With it, you can take risks, push boundaries, and actually do work that moves the needle.
So what works? Frequent, honest, two-way communication. When something goes wrong (and it will), own it. Sit down. Talk it through. Fix it. Then make sure it doesn’t happen again. Those conversations are where real trust is built.
Empathy is one of the most powerful tools a partner can bring to the table, especially in financial marketing, where pressure and pace are the norm.
Empathy means taking the time to understand how your client actually works. What’s keeping them up at night? Are they navigating internal politics, shifting priorities, or pressure from the executive team? Are they carrying more weight than what’s visible in the kickoff meeting?
When an agency leads with empathy, it changes everything. You anticipate what they’ll need before they ask. You recognize when they’re stretched thin and step in without being asked. You see the person behind the project brief.
You’ve got to understand the seat your client is sitting in. That might mean adjusting how you communicate, rethinking timelines, or simply listening more closely. Because once you understand the context, you can move beyond checkboxes on a to-do list and instead offer real, meaningful support.
In the end, empathy turns a service provider into a strategic partner. It builds trust, strengthens collaboration, and lays the foundation for long-term success. And in our world, that’s the kind of partnership that lasts.
Bottom line: great agency-client relationships don’t just deliver; they evolve. The best ones feel less like a contract and more like a team. That’s the goal. And when you get it right? That’s when the real marketing magic happens.
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