Agency Life Archives - Page 8 of 8 - McLellan Marketing Group

How to choose an agency: Meet & Greet (part 2)

March 3, 2007

You’re hiring an agency because you want results.

This is not about making your ads look prettier. This is about doing more business, smarter.

So, how do you choose the right partner? Eenie Meanie Mienie Moe?

Well, if you read my earlier post you know I don’t think it should be an RFP. But on the other extreme, it shouldn’t be just because your cousin works there either.

Following a simple process (simple to understand, but will take discipline and time to execute) will protect you from making an expensive mistake.

The phases of the process are:

Know what you want (ask yourself questions)
Do your homework (ask the prospective agencies questions)
The meet and greet (get together and ask questions)

There’s only one step left. But it’s probably the most important step of all. At this stage, any of your finalists are most likely more than qualified to do the work. That’s the easy part. But are they the right fit for you, specifically?

Let’s assume that all three agencies did a good job on their presentation. (If one bombed — eliminate them before this final step.) After the presentations, tell them you want to schedule an on-site visit. (Or you can schedule their presentations there.) Much like walking through someone’s house will give you an incredible amount of insight into their life and personality, you’ll find the same is true of agencies.

Take a tour. Ask to meet everyone who would touch your account, from the front desk staffer to the accountant and everyone in between. What does it feel like to be there? What does the environment tell you? Does it all feel authentic or are they putting out the good china because company is coming? There’s a fine line here. You want to be treated as though you’re special. But, if you can’t sit on the sofa without a slip cushion — yikes!

Here’s the leap of faith. After you have visited all of the finalist agencies on their home turf — you need to trust your gut. Any of them would be more than competent or else they shouldn’t have gotten this far. But that’s sort of like saying your prom date was okay. You want (and deserve) WOW! Who was most engaging? Who seemed to "get you and your team" the most? Who did you trust? Who felt like they were blowing smoke up your skirt? Who felt genuine?

Who feels right. Remember — every buying decision is based on emotions. And this one is no different. At a certain point in time, you have to close your eyes, trust your gut and leap off the cliff!

Voila — you have a new agency. Congratulations to you both.

Of course — now the hard part begins. Building and maintaining the relationship!

The rest of the How to Choose An Agency Series:

Flickr photo courtesy of PeeJ0e

More

How to choose an agency: Meet & Greet (part 1)

March 3, 2007

You’re hiring an agency because you want results.

This is not about making your ads look prettier. This is about doing more business, smarter.

So, how do you choose the right partner? Eenie Meanie Mienie Moe?

Well, if you read my earlier post you know I don’t think it should be an RFP. But on the other extreme, it shouldn’t be just because your cousin works there either.

Following a simple process (simple to understand, but will take discipline and time to execute) will protect you from making an expensive mistake.

The phases of the process are:

Know what you want (ask yourself questions)
Do your homework (ask the prospective agencies questions)
The meet and greet (get together and ask questions)

So, you’ve gotten back the written responses to your questionnaire. Using criteria you’ve already determined (the "right" answers to the questions you’ve asked) whittle the list down to 3 agencies. If you have to go bigger, no more than 4.

Pick a specific strategic, marketing-oriented challenge you’re facing. Invite each of the finalist agencies for a meeting. At that meeting, give them everything you’ve got. Research, stats, stories, sales figures. Whatever is relevant to this very focused issue.

Then, ask them to come back to you in a couple weeks with some ideas. Here’s where there’s a fork in the road. Some will tell you to ask for spec creative, marketing ideas, media plans etc. If you ask them for all of that and don’t pay them for their time — that’s robbery, in my opinion.

Agency people get paid to think and be strategic. So be reasonable. If you are not going to compensate them for their time — then just ask for enough to see how well they listen, what kinds of questions they ask and how they think.

Schedule in person presentations. At the presentation, you want to be watching for not only how they think but how they translate their thoughts to you. What are their ideas based on? How did they explore the issue? What ideas did they discard? How would they advise you execute? How well did their ideas match your culture and your brand?

Here’s another key to this part in the process. How well did they follow instructions? If you said no spec creative and they bring it any way — what does that tell you? How do they explain the deviance from your request?

There’s only one step left. But it’s probably the most important step of all.

The rest of the How to Choose An Agency Series:

Flickr photo courtesy of PeeJ0e

More

Put on a different hat

March 2, 2007

You know, sometimes life takes on a little mini-theme. I have posted quite a bit lately about the importance of being able to put on and take off the many "hats" of your potential audiences as you craft a marketing strategy or message.

I was doing my daily jog through some of my favorite blogs and stumbled upon Roger von Oech‘s post "Change Viewpoints." Let me entice you to go over and read his post by sharing an excerpt.

"Whereas the first group asked, "What if we bury somebody alive?" the second group asked, "How can we make sure everyone we bury is dead?"

How can you not go see how that plays out?

As marketers — it is absolutely vital that we find ways and challenge ourselves to think differently, from different points of view. The faithful among you will know that I’ve been beating this drum quite a bit lately.

We’ve talked about the emotional truths that can be discovered by really walking around a question or challenge and seeing it from all angles. And we’ve explored how an insider’s view of things is, by its very nature, not a very clear or accurate picture. Donning another person’s "hat" and turning your view finder is a skill that far too few marketers employ.

Check out Roger’s post and if you’d be so kind — share some of your methods for making sure you’ve broadened your view.

More

A whole lotta Drew

February 27, 2007

If you care to, you can practically pick your medium and find a little bit of me there.

The good news is…you can completely ignore me in each and every one of these venues… and STILL learn a lot about branding, blogging and relationship building. I just happen to be there too.

So go ahead and take your pick.

Live Radio: Tuesday night, I’ll join the BlogTalk radio show Nuts and BlogBolts to talk branding. Hosts Mike Sansone and Wayne Hurlbert will no doubt lead a lively conversation with the likes of myself, Valeria Maltoni, Mike Wagner, Derrick Daye and John Moore. It should be a good time and I am looking forward to learning quite a bit.

Podcast: If you can’t listen to the Nuts and BlogBolts show live, you can download the postcast here.

Print/Blog: My friend Phil Gerbyshak over at Make It Great! does some insightful interviews with authors, thinkers and relationship geeks. I’m not sure what possessed him…but he’s decided to interview me and give away a few copies of my book.

Live Conference Presentation: I’m joining some smart speakers, bloggers and thinkers (see Mike Sansone and Phil Gerbyshak above) to be a part of SOBCON ’07. Chicago. May. You should come.

Whew….that’s a whole lotta Drew! TV may be your only escape!

More

It’s not art, it’s a website

February 25, 2007

Fine artists sign their works. I get that. It’s art.

Apparently many web designers are aspiring Picassos. There’s a trend initiated by web design companies that I just don’t get. It’s the "signature line" that they believe they’re entitled to place at the bottom of their clients’ websites.

"Website designed by XYZ" is a prevalent footer on many commercially designed websites. I am here to tell you, as a client — just say no.

I have no idea how this trend started. Can you imagine seeing a TV spot and then, as part of the close hearing "this spot was created by Weiden + Kennedy?" Or seeing McLellan Marketing Group at the bottom of a print ad in one of our client’s trade pubs? Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?

And yet, clients across the land don’t blink an eye when the company they are paying decided to use that site as an advertisement for themselves!

I think the ONLY acceptable exception to this rule is if the web design company donates their services. Then, they deserve the credit line.

If you’re a client out there — check your site and if there’s a fine art signature at the bottom, e-mail your web company and ask them to remove it immediately.

If you’re a web company — why not differentiate yourself in the marketplace by acknowledging that you understand you’re creating a business tool for your clients and will treat it accordingly.

More

How much is a house?

February 21, 2007

And will you honor that price, no matter what?

I can hear you now…how many bedrooms? Ranch or two-story? Brick or siding? Finished basement?

What if I wanted a price without answering any of those questions, because I didn’t know the answers yet?

Welcome to working at a marketing agency.

One of the most frustrating aspects of how prospective clients select their agency partner is the question "how much will it cost?"

Now don’t get me wrong. Clients have a right to know how much something will cost. But often times the question is asked before the details are known. It really disrespects the process AND the product.

This is one of the reasons why RFPs are such a bad way to choose a partner. They almost always are a price war game. In which the client is the biggest loser. Because they very rarely end up buying what they put on their shopping list. And yet, that was what they based their decision on.

Sure…some agencies deliver cookie cutter products. Swap out a few words, a logo and voila, a brochure is born. They can publish a price sheet (which I have seen) and live by it.

But any agency worth their salt delivers a custom product/service every time. Working with an agency is about collaboration. We need to get inside your head. Inside your employees’ heads. And inside your customers’ heads. We want to tug and push against ideas with you. We want to explore, dissect, twist and turn.

Then, we’ll know enough to recommend that your house be a 3 bedroom ranch with a walk out. And tell you how much it will cost to build and maintain.

Mark True just wrote a great post with the added bonus of some excellent links that extend the conversation. He asks the question — are you ready to hire an agency or to engage with one? A subtle difference, but a very important one.

You hire a cab. They deliver a commodity. Don’t reduce your agency to that.

Engage with your agency. Let them engage with you. Then let the building begin!

More

How to choose an agency: Do your homework (part 2)

February 16, 2007

You’re hiring an agency because you want results.

This is not about making your ads look prettier. This is about doing more business, smarter.

So, how do you choose the right partner? Eenie Meanie Mienie Moe?

Well, if you read my earlier post you know I don’t think it should be an RFP. But on the other extreme, it shouldn’t be just because your cousin works there either.

Following a simple process (simple to understand, but will take discipline and time to execute) will protect you from making an expensive mistake.

The phases of the process are:

Know what you want (ask yourself questions)
Do your homework (ask the prospective agencies questions)
The meet and greet (get together and ask questions)

Now that you have a better idea of what you want and have figured out who to approach, it’s time to think about what to ask. This is where most potential clients just spit out a generic RFP that won’t really tell them what they need to know. Let’s not do that, eh?

Instead, let’s look at two different lists here. What not to ask for and what to ask.

Don’t ask for:

Spec creative — why would you want creative based on no input, knowledge or insight?
A marketing plan — again, same concept. No agency can give you good counsel based on some facts typed into a document.
A media recommendation — see above.
Samples of marketing or media plans. Those are confidential. If you don’t follow my advice and do ask — beware of any agency that sends one. Next time, it might be yours!

Okay, so here’s what you should ask about:

Stats. Size, composition of staff, areas of expertise, etc.
Any possible conflicts with your business/industry
Process — how they approach a challenge or how they move from idea generation to execution sorts of processes.
Case studies — with client contact info for references.
Personality questions — have some fun. Explore. If you choose them, you are going to be spending a lot of time together. Are they a good fit?

Get the information you need and give them a chance to let their personality show through, but don’t ask them to jump through a million hoops. Not yet. Demonstrating that you’re respectful of their time will go a long way. Remember, the smart agencies are sizing you up as well. They’re trying to see how you’d fit together and what kind of client you’ll be.

Once you complete your questionnaire (don’t call it an RFP — some agencies will just toss it.) send it to the list of agencies you identified. Give them a reasonable (3+ weeks deadline) and enjoy reading the replies.

Next up — what to do when you’ve narrowed it down to 2-3 agencies.

The rest of the How to Choose An Agency Series:

Flickr photo courtesy of PeeJ0e

More