Working with an agency is a huge time-saver as it allows you to focus on your expertise instead of jumping through hoops to do everything by yourself.

But it takes patience to find the right agency to join forces with. In this episode of the YouShouldTalkTo podcast, our host Daniel Weiner welcomes Bulbul Hooda, the CMO of Vella Bio, to discuss the benefits of working with an external partner. They talk about the importance of trust, why you should always prepare project briefs, and what not to do at your first client meeting.

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Bulbul Hooda

💡 Title: CMO

💡 Company: Vella Bio

💡 Noteworthy: As a Chief Marketing Officer, Bulbul is in charge of driving multimillion-dollar top-line growth for beauty and wellness startups by championing brand identity development, global product launches, and strategic channel partnerships. She also expands the scope of marketing operations by fostering customer-focused brand cultures.

💡 Where to find Bulbul: LinkedIn

Key Insights 

⚡Never compromise on your brand DNA. Every brand is unique, and so is yours. Your brand identity is how you position yourself in the market. And if you want to go far, you can't ever compromise on your branding. Bulbul talks about the importance of staying true to your brand DNA. She explains, "What we do is that we find methods to sort of go around all the restrictions. What we will not do and did not do is compromise on the language and the aesthetic of the brand because there has been so much misinformation about the category. So many nicknames given to anatomy that shouldn't have been, and we realized that, ‘Guys, we are in 2021, this is no way to talk about it.’ If we can't talk about it, how are we going to sell this?"

⚡An agency is the backbone of a brand's success. Working with an external agency can skyrocket your business and allow you to focus on what you do best. Instead of taking on too much responsibility, you can find a skilled agency to support you. Bulbul says, "I like this analogy a lot. Think about medicine. So if your stomach is upset, you're going to go to a gastro. If you have a heart problem, you're going to go to the cardiologist. If your mental health is not good, you're going to see a psychiatrist. And that, to me, is the specific job of agencies in the brand and marketing side of things. They are experts in their specialties."

⚡No two customers are the same. It's safe to say that your customers are your top priority. Your business wouldn't exist without them; it’s as simple as that. So, it's important to treat every single one of them the same. As Bulbul points out, it's all about personalization in business. Give every customer a personalized experience. She says, "For us, as marketers, no two customers are the same. It's the world we live in. It's customization and personalization. And I feel it's the same from an agency's perspective. No two companies are the same. They're definitely not looking for the same solutions."

To be successful in any industry, you need people, processes, and tools. But not all companies, especially at the beginning, have enough resources to do everything in-house. Therefore, they turn to agencies and freelancers to help them fill in the gaps.

In this episode of YouShouldTalkTo, Nicole Wojno Smith, VP of Marketing at Tackle, joins our host Daniel Weiner to discuss company-agency/freelancer relationships. Nicole shares her professional background and makes a comparison between working for an agency and being in a position that requires partnering with agencies. They also talk about the value of timely communication and how outsourcing — when well-thought-out — helps generate new perspectives and ideas. 


Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Nicole Wojno Smith

💡 What she does: Nicole is the VP of marketing at Tackle.

💡 Company: Tackle

💡 Noteworthy: Prior to joining Tackle, Nicole built and scaled the marketing team at two SaaS companies. 

💡 Where to find Nicole: LinkedIn


Key Insights

⚡ Your employees and partners are your brand's best advocates. It's clear why more and more companies invest in a culture that promotes collaboration, open communication, and trust. After all, if an employee or a partner feels valued and sees that their efforts matter, they will be motivated to devote themselves to a shared goal and spread the good word about your business. ''It's more important than ever that people build strong brands and [have] even stronger advocates who will talk about you and have a good experience with them. That's so valuable because people talk in these dark social communities, and you could lose a deal before you even get a chance to get to the plate.''

⚡Communicate, communicate, communicate. It may sound like a buzzword, but communication is key to fruitful collaborations. Regardless of the industry, whenever you — as an agency — work with a new client, you must ensure timely communication and availability via as many channels as possible. Nicole shares one of her team's best experiences with a certain agency to confirm this claim. ''They created a Slack channel for us. So we quickly communicated. They would do email updates and weekly calls. And when things got off track, it was flagged immediately, whether it was at our end or theirs. So they didn't wait for a call to tell us, which helped reduce friction.''

⚡Growing a business is exciting but demanding. Most business owners agree; but, it’s not just them. Everyone working in an executive position in a startup/early-stage company knows the pressure that comes with it. Here's what still keeps Nicole awake at night. ''I'm always thinking about the pipeline. We need more. How do we look at this across marketing, sales, and partners and think about everything we're doing and how can we grow this effectively? We have a big focus right now on developing more integrated campaigns. [...] It comes down to prioritization, efficiency, and how we all look at this across the board — so we can maximize our ROI and everything.''

Episode Summary

Collaboration between a company and a creative agency or a freelancer is inevitable these days. But finding a high-quality and trustworthy agency or an individual can be challenging. Thus, it is critical for any business to look for a team that invests in client-agency relationships. After all, a good relationship results in the desired end product. 

In the first episode of YouShouldTalkTo, our host Daniel Weiner welcomes Cristy Garcia. Cristy is the CMO of impact.com, the leading partnership management platform supporting the full life cycle of any partnership.

Cristy and Daniel discuss what makes a good client-agency partnership, why big companies should consider partnering with smaller, independent agencies, and the most notable challenges marketers face today. 

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Cristy Garcia

💡 What she does: Cristy is the CMO of Impact.

💡 Company: impact.com

💡 Noteworthy: Cristy's job as a CMO involves, as she explains, “driving pipeline bookings and brand awareness for the company, globally.''

💡 Where to find Cristy: LinkedIn