How to supply amends to a creative agency

Share as much relevant information as you can

It’s always preferable for agencies to have as much background information on a project as possible. It can also help to keep them in the right frame of mind for crafting compelling creative that is relevant to you.

Treat the agency like an extension of your team

Remember that your agency is there to work with you, not just for you. Work with your agency to find a way that is both convenient for you and is also the most straightforward (and cost effective) way to implement amends for that particular project. Our approach at Eleven is to work as an extension to your marketing team, making the whole process as easy and enjoyable as possible for our clients.

Try to avoid adding comments in handwriting

9 times out of 10, handwriting is quite difficult to read and a fair amount of time can be spent by the marketing agency trying to interpret it. This can often lead to mistakes being made, creating frustrations for both the client and the agency. It’s best to provide any amends typed up exactly as you want them (e.g. capitals, punctuation) to save any potential confusion for your agency during the amends process.

Track your changes

Marking up a PDF or adding tracked changes to a word document is often the most straightforward way of communicating your changes with a designer or copywriter. These are the most usable formats for both parties and also ensures that any changes you would like to make are communicated in the clearest and most understandable way. If you’re unable to mark up a PDF then adding comments to a Word document including references to which page in the PDF they refer to is a great alternative.

You can find further advice on marking up a PDF document here, and information on adding tracked changes to a Word document here.

Don’t leave internal conversations and questions in your supplied amends

Any internal conversations and comments in your amends document will likely cause confusion for your agency and will either be misinterpreted or questioned by the account manager. Each of these things could cost you time and money, so make sure that the amends you supply the agency with are both clear and easy to follow.

Avoid sending changes in lots of small batches

A creative agency will usually outline how many rounds of amends are included in the initial quote, so anything beyond that will likely incur an additional charge. The best way to avoid this is to ensure that you collate all of your amends in one go, rather than in several separate emails.

Trust your creative agency

Surrendering a project that is close to your heart can be daunting. As a creative agency to purpose-driven organisations, we regularly come into contact with projects of this nature and building trust is crucial. Once you have discussed your brief and given a clear direction, trust in your marketing agency’s expertise to deliver the right solution that answers your needs.

If you have a creative project that you’d like to discuss with us, get in touch with a member of our team and we’d be happy to help.