[Free Sample Report] Why Most Agencies Fail & Video Reports

In 10 years I’ve worked for 1 really big agency, another decent size agency and opened my own. I’ve seen clients come and go, big and small. And what I’ve learned over the years is that you need to provide 2 things to keep clients around for a long time.

1. Results and 2. Relationships

I’m not going to dive into results because you already know that all businesses want results. But what I will dive into is communication with clients and building a relationship. And how I create that trust and relationship with video reports. TADA!

You don’t want your client to become your friend but they should feel VERY comfortable with your company and trust you.

When I worked with the agency that had 60+ SEO clients and hundreds of PPC clients take a guess on how many we had solid relationships with? Probably about 10. These were the ones spending a ton of money each month. And that makes sense. You don’t want to lose one of those cash cows. But what the company didn’t realize is that those smaller clients made up the majority of their revenue. These clients spent around $500-2000/mo. We did have account managers that talked to the smaller clients but not that often. Most received some type of report each month and that was it. And some didn’t receive any report.

For the medium size agency I worked for it was similar. We had a monthly report and phone call with the client. But the problem was most didn’t want that monthly call so we never built up those relationships. I used to book appointments to talk with clients and had many no shows.

The problem with both the big and medium size agency I worked for was that the average life of a client was around 3-6 months. Yes they had longer ones but most did not stick around. This could be a result of many things (getting the wrong type of clients, not producing the best results, ect.) but communication with the clients sucked for both agencies.

Now let’s look at my own local agency. I’m small, not like the big guys but I rarely get a client that doesn’t stick around for at least a year. I’ve had clients that have been with my agency for 5+ years. That is unheard of in this industry.

How do I keep clients around for a while?

A few things. Of course I get them results. I rank them on Google, provide them with amazing websites and kick ass PPC campaigns. But I’m also a master communicator and one of the tools I use are video reports.

Video Reports = Happy Clients

Each month I use a tool (used to use RavenTools but now looking at Agency Analytics) and spin up their report. I then use one of my favorite tools UseLoom and record a quick 3-5 minute presentation about the report and explain what the numbers mean. I do them around the 10th of the month for the previous months data.

Yes I’m saying mostly the same thing each month.
Yes it’s not the funnest thing to do.
But YES this helps my clients stick around for years!

These video reports build a relationship with my clients for two reasons:

1. They see that I actually care about their company. And I do. What marketing company takes the time to send them a video report each month? Not many.

2. I build a relationship with them through these reports each month because they get to hear me. After getting these month after month they feel like they know me.

Guess how many emails and phone calls I get from clients each month? Usually 0, maybe a handful. I tell them what’s going on with their campaign in the video report so they don’t need to talk to me. They trust me and know that I have them covered.

My Process For Creating Video Reports

I’ve been literally doing these video reports for years. I’ve done hundreds of them. Trust me and start doing these for your clients. Use my exact process for your agency:

1. Spin up a monthly PDF report in the software of your choice for the previous month and open it up.
2. Open the UseLoom video recorder (download it here if you don’t have it).
3. Go down the report and explain what the numbers mean.
4. If you can, add what you’re doing this month or something other than the report. Maybe it’s something new in the industry.
5. Email them the report and a link to your UseLoom recording.

Don’t worry about editing them. They don’t need to be pretty. A majority of your clients might not even look at them each month but at least they know they have them. Also if you want, in UseLoom you can include a recording of yourself in the report. I do that for newer clients but after a few months, I don’t include myself in the video.

And that’s it! Let’s say you have 20 clients. Once you run through the process a few times, each report should only take about 3-5 mins but let’s say 5-10 minutes. That’s 2-3 hours a month to keep your clients happy as heck and to build rock solid relationships. 2-3 hours a month! These few hours will help:

• Prevent annoying phone calls.
• Prevent countless emails.
• Keep your clients around for years.
• Keep the stress out of your business (at least some of it).

If you have any questions on how I’m doing these video reports, comment below.