The Swash Labs “Co-Lab Session”
Originally published February 10, 2020
You know what’s not fun?
Hiring a company to do work for your business, and – at some point, for some reason – you start to feel like they are taking advantage of you. Don’t you feel gross and angry just thinking about that? Not only does it not feel good, it also doesn’t lead to a productive working relationship.
One of our key quality service standards is “Clarity,” which means that if we’re not communicating honestly and transparently to our clients, we’re not doing our job.
That’s why we developed the Co-Lab Session.
Co-Lab Session is our cheeky name for the “collaborative”¹ monthly meetings we have with clients in which we discuss the work that’s happened over the past 30 days or so, and chat with them about what’s important to focus on next.²
¹ Get it? ColLABorative. Swash LABs. :)² Generally, Co-Lab Sessions are automatically scheduled for clients that are running paid media campaigns. If monthly in-person/in-video meetings are important to you, please tell us in early talks leading up to a contract estimate! We customize each contract to meet the needs of our clients.
What’s so great about these Sessions?
Well, for starters: Co-Labs are an accountability system that benefits both parties.
Our clients should always know about the good work we’re doing for them. We, in turn, benefit from real-time updates and anecdotal feedback about how the business/project/etc. is running on their end.
Here’s a hypothetical example: Say we’re running a digital advertising campaign for a client, and one of the campaign objectives is to increase appointment bookings. Well, we can see in the data that the number of contact form submissions and phone calls are increasing, but what we’d love to hear more about from our client is if those submissions are of good quality, and what percent of them ultimately results in a confirmed booking. It is a benefit to both of us when we can discuss what they are experiencing offline that we can’t otherwise track digitally.
Our Co-Lab Sessions help us form a true partnership with our clients and their advertising endeavors rather than being just a business vendor to whom marketing is outsourced.
More than just accountability, these monthly meetings can act as a safety net, ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks.
Look, people are busy. Our clients are busy – running their businesses, running their households, volunteering for local committees, or any other number of other things. We have the privilege of working with many small family businesses – true 21st Century Mom & Pop operations – and nobody wears more hats than those folks. In some cases, it takes time for them to get back to us when we have questions, requests, or whatever we need to make our work for them as valuable and effective as it can ideally be.
The Co-Lab Session is a good time to get in a room with our clients and run through a punch list, in whatever form it may be. And the same goes for the client – they can ask questions, tell us about a big promotion they want to do in 3 months, and hand over that marked-up draft brochure they’ve been promising.
It’s a monthly catch-up that helps everyone keep track of all the spinning plates.
The Co-Lab is an opportunity to get face-to-face with each other.
Whether you’re meeting one-on-one with our trusty Account Manager, Joan Wells, or discussing click-through-rates with Director of Media & Planning Stephanie Delk, or touching base with a copywriter or designer on a certain matter – we want you know that we hear you, and we’re putting our brains and expertise to work for you.
Sometimes it’s just really nice to talk to other human beings about matters that are really important to you, ya know?
FAQs
If I’m your client, do I have to go to Co-Lab Sessions?
Not at all. Like most everything we do, we customize our services to your specific needs. Some clients can’t commit to monthly meetings, and that’s fine. Other options include meeting quarterly, or every other month. (If you are a digital paid media client, we will send you your Media Spend/Data & Insights Report* each month, whether you join us for a Co-Lab or not.)
* A what-now? Take a look at an anonymized sample of our Media Spend/Data & Insights Report.
What exactly do you talk about in the Co-Lab Sessions?
It depends. We generally follow a Where We’ve Been/Where We Are/Where We’re Going format, but we will change that up to best suit the client or project. If you are a paid media client, we will almost always start off the meeting discussing your Media Spend/Data & Insights Report for the previous month. (Read: we are gonna tell you how much you spent on what, and what happened as a result.)
Do I need to do anything before coming to my Co-Lab Session?
It’s helpful to have looked over your Media Spend/Data & Insights Report before we meet and prepare any questions you have. But if that’s not possible, that’s okay too!
If you had a Co-Lab Session the previous month, it never hurts to look over Action Items from that meeting to see if you’ve completed everything on your To Do list.
What happens after the Co-Lab Session?
During the meeting, Account Director, Joan, will take notes on everything we talk about. Then, she’ll organize an outline of Action Items for both you (the client) and Swash Labs. After the meeting, she will email you those Action Items so that we all know we’re all on the same page about what was promised and what happens next.
What if I need to talk to someone outside of a Co-Lab Session?
That’s great! Yes, talk to us. Account Director, Joan, will be the first person you need to talk to about any questions/requests you have or anything you need to know. If she doesn’t have an immediate answer for you, she talks to the appropriate Swasher and gets back to you ASAP.
Do you have more questions about Co-Lab Sessions or what it looks like to work with us? Get in touch. We can walk you through all of it.