Blog › By the MyBriefy team · October 24, 2026
The first few weeks with a new client set the tone for the whole relationship. A clear onboarding process makes the client feel looked after, gets you the information you need to do good work, and avoids the slow start that makes clients nervous.
Here is a process that works for most marketing, design and web agencies. Adapt the steps to your services, then run it the same way every time.
1. Close the paperwork properly
Before anything else, make sure the commercial side is done: the proposal is accepted, the contract is signed, and the first invoice or deposit is sent. Starting work before this is the most common cause of awkward conversations later.
- Signed contract or accepted proposal, with scope and payment terms.
- First invoice or deposit issued.
- A named contact on the client side, and a named owner on yours.
2. Send a welcome message the same day
A short welcome email sets expectations: who they'll work with, what happens next and when, how to reach you, and what you need from them. Keep it practical. The client should know exactly what the next three steps are.
3. Send the brief before kickoff
Send the project brief straight after the welcome message, with a due date before the kickoff call. That way the call is spent on the gaps and the decisions, not on reading questions out loud.
Use a brief that fits the work: a general client brief for a new relationship, or a specific one such as an SEO brief or website brief for a defined project.
4. Collect access and assets in one go
Ask for everything you need at once rather than one request at a time over two weeks. Typical items:
- Brand guidelines, logo files and fonts.
- Access to the website, analytics, ad accounts and social profiles (invite your team as users rather than sharing passwords).
- Existing research, reports and past campaign results.
- Contacts for anyone else who will review or approve work.
Ask the client to invite your team to their accounts instead of sending login details. It's safer, and access is easy to remove when the work ends.
5. Run the kickoff call
- Walk through the brief and agree the open answers.
- Confirm the goal and how success will be measured.
- Agree the timeline, feedback rounds and approver.
- Agree how you'll communicate and how often you'll report.
- Confirm the first deliverable and its date.
6. Get the brief approved in writing
After the call, update the brief and ask the client to approve it. This is the step most agencies skip and most regret skipping. An approved brief is what you point to when scope or direction changes later.
7. Deliver something early
Aim to show real progress within the first couple of weeks, even if it's small: an audit, a first draft, a plan. Early momentum builds trust faster than any status update.
8. Hold a 30-day check-in
Book a short review a month in. Ask what's working, what isn't, and whether anything has changed on their side. Problems raised at day 30 are cheap to fix; problems found at renewal are not.
Free general client brief template. The questions to ask every new client about their business, goals, audience, competitors, budget and approvals. Copy them, or send the brief in MyBriefy.
See the templateMake it repeatable
Write the process down as a checklist and use it for every client. In MyBriefy you can keep the brief, approvals, tasks, contract and invoices for each client in one place, so the whole onboarding lives on the client's record instead of across email threads.
