Budgets are not secrets, but clients are often reticent to share them with agencies. Here’s five reasons you should:

1. It saves time.
   There’s nothing more disheartening than coming up with ass-kicking ideas that are going to set the world alight only to be told – that they are way above the budget. We’ve wasted your time, we’ve wasted our time and the project stalls. Rarely can a campaign that’s been tailored to one price be done as successfully for less. Creative ideas and campaigns are worked out to suit your budget, going back and redoing the creative and cutting the budget by half will simply end up as a bodge job. 

2. You get the best results.
   Just as an architect will build a house to suit a budget so creative agencies build a campaign based on the budget. Your architect won’t waste money on things that can’t be included, (gold taps), but he will optimise the solution to get the maximum impact for the budget – saving you money where he can and thinking of ways to save costs but delivering the best solution. We work on getting the biggest bang for your buck – making impact within the budget. Looking at cost savings on production or distribution.  Understanding the budget constraints will result in a well-honed campaign or project being delivered that will deliver the optimum results.
3. You build trust.
   Being up front and honest about costs and budgets allows for the relationship between agency and client to be completely transparent. If an agency has had to undercut their prices to win work at the fear of getting the budget wrong, you can bet that they will be looking for ways in which to claw back the costs that will actually occur. They’ll charge for minor amends and alterations, mark-up imagery or print more than usual. leaving you cheesed off that the budget was never kept. The circle of distrust goes around again. If a fair and honest budget is set out at the beginning the agency can decide if they wish to work on a project and everyone starts on a level playing field.Once you have that trust installed the relationship can start to build and both of you can benefit. You can even consider talking about results-based remuneration – where the level of pay is based on a sliding scale linked to the results. This can only happen once you have trust on both sides (after all an agency will want to see proof of sales/returns as a result of their work).
4. You keep control.
   The fear that by giving away the budget you are letting go of the tight reigns is untrue. You still have control. You can still put in a couple of failsafes to ensure you keep control.

• If you’re dealing with a new agency and you’re unsure of their ability to keep to set budgets, drop the actual amount that you have to play with to cover unexpected costs.
• If you’re dealing with someone you know and trust then believe in them and give them the honest budget (you’ll be surprised what can be done with an extra 10%). Ask their advice about what can delivered and talk about your long-term plans so that the project falls in line.
• Suggest a flat rate fee – explain that the budgets are preset and that there cannot be any overspend. As long as the brief is clear and the project does not veer from the outlining scope then an agency will be receptive to this.

5. They are not your enemy.
Poor results and return on your investment are your enemy. Working with designers you trust and who know your business will get you better results (see point 2) but also will work towards your long term objectives. It should even be a little fun along the way!

Related posts: The Dangers of revealing your marketing budget

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