How to Prepare for a Digital Project

Any digital agency will tell you that getting involved in a new project is an exciting and enjoyable time.  At Cite we love the initial thrill of reading a brief, trying to come up with creative solutions, and figuring out how we can best meet our client’s needs.

Some of our greatest work has occurred when our clients have come to us prepared with the right information.  So, if you are thinking about meeting with a digital agency, here are some things you should keep in mind:

1. Know your Goals: In order to develop the right digital project for your company’s marketing campaign, you should have goals put in place for what you want to achieve.  Knowing these goals will help your agency come up with the best possible solutions and will improve your overall online marketing strategy.
2. Prepare a Brief: Not only does a brief help the digital team figure out exactly what you are looking for, but it also ensures that you’ve thoroughly thought about the project and what you want out of it.  The more information you provide, the more focussed your agency can be in coming up with a solution.
3. Know your budget:  Before speaking to an agency make sure you know how much you are willing to spend on the project.  This will prevent you from overspending, and will also help the agency come up with solutions that you can afford.
4. Brand Guidelines: Does your company have a set of brand guidelines that need to be followed?  Whether its size, colour, layout, etc, inform the agency at the beginning of the process.  This way designs can be created following your brand guidelines so time and money does not have to be spent redoing it.
5. Writing Content: Determine from the start whether you will be providing your digital agency with written content or whether you would like them to write it for you.  If you are going to do it yourself, make sure you adhere to the project’s timeline so you don’t hold back the process.
6. Be Realistic: While you may have an idea of how you want your digital project to look or function, you need to be reasonable on if it can be delivered.   Timelines should be long enough, budgets should reflect what functionality you are looking for, and expectations of how the project will impact your marketing strategy should be realistic.
7. Appoint a Project Manager:  In order for a project to run as smoothly as possible, appoint one person in your company to be in charge of overseeing the project from your end. Likewise, make sure your digital agency has one specific point of contact for you to speak to.  With information being filtered this way, communication will improve and you’ll avoid confusion and extra work.
8.  Listen to Your Agency: While it’s great to know exactly what you want in a website, your agency will know what is feasible and realistic.  So if they offer advice or suggest one option over another, you should take it into consideration.  Flexibility is key, so while there may have to be a few tweaks to your initial idea, you will end up with a website that works far better and reaches the marketing goals you set forth.
9. Get Involved: The planning process should be the time when major issues are ironed out so make sure you give your input then.  Also, stay in regular contact with the agency throughout the process so that you are aware of what is happening and if any problems arise.
10. Know your Current Statistics: Knowing the status of your marketing campaigns is important so you know what goals to set for the new project.  It’s also important information to have so you can track the progress made by the new project once it has been launched.

These useful tips will prepare you for meeting with a digital agency and starting a new project.  Let us know what you think and feel free to comment if you’ve got anything to add.

The next time you’ve got a digital project, contact us and test out these tips!