Select the Right Creative Agency

Nearly every organization, regardless of size, contracts with creative agencies several times within its existence. There are countless reasons for this. Many agencies concentrate on specific areas that would be too costly for a brand to achieve on its own. For instance, some agencies are laser focused on only new ventures and or product launches. Agencies bring a breath of fresh air in the form of knowledgeable new ideas and varying perspectives across industries and current trends, not to mention know-how in generating numerous types of advertising content.

One of the first times I used an outside agency was for a campaign early on in my career. We launched a campaign around purchasing tickets for the high school football state championships. Seven games across three days. The campaign was specifically concentrated on local resident ticket sales. The agency helped us create a new strategy that ultimately translated to print media in more prominent local publications. We used recognizable business leaders in the campaign to show community interest and enthusiasm about our community’s pride in hosting the event. The campaign was very well received.

Though, I learned some difficult lessons that first time out. I learned that when working with an outside agency, I was still responsible for the campaign’s execution and how it was communicated across all channels. An agency may produce content on TV well, but it might not be as focused on how a TV strategy combines with other brand assets, such as on a website, or radio spots, etc.

Therefore, two crucial factors when working with an outside agency are to, first, ask are they the right agency for the goal, and second, how can you implement strategies to ensure you maximize their efforts?

What will your campaign consist of? Commercials, out-of-home advertising, social media? All to boost brand awareness? Draft key performance indicators (KPIs) and build a list of advertising platforms. These will help you create a request for proposal 9RFP) or request for qualifications (RFQ) that clearly summarizes your goals. Next, reach out to other clients and colleagues to discover recommendations for agencies that are best-in-class. Be sure to put your network to use and consider an agency’s size and type of campaign history. Not all agencies are a good fit, and you don’t want to burn your time or theirs.

Set clear expectations about your goals from the get-go. Doing so will allow you to achieve your desired goals.

It is simple to find creative agencies that have won advertising awards and landed internationally recognized brands as clients. Though one should discover an agency that is the right fit for company culture and that works well with your co-workers. No one hits a home run every time at bat. Same goes for campaigns. To place yourself in a better position going in we all need to understand what makes a campaign fail or succeed. Any business professional should possess the ability to objectively understand why mistakes happen and learn from those lessons when they do. Work to build a sense of how the agency approaches problems, whether they will take accountability, and resolve what may go wrong.

Finding an agency whose focus is to build something special together, rather than concentrating on using your brand to accomplish its goals is vital. If an agency displays an environment where it knows your brand better than you do and does not listen to your opinion, that’s a huge warning sign staring you in the face.

Follow this line of thinking with any vendor you contract with. What comes out of the relationship is only what you put in.

To be successful together, schedule weekly or biweekly check-in and forecasting meetings--which ever method you and your co-workers feel comfortable with to remain laser focused with the agency and your account representative. Particularly when working with a creative agency, it should seek feedback after each phase of a project. So, make sure you provide that thorough feedback in a timely manner, and be honest with the agency during the process. These actions will safeguard success and diminish the possibility of feeling dissatisfied at the end.