A no obligation presentation.
I have explained these concepts in a number of professional marketing communicator seminars. We will be glad to provide a one-on-one presentation of this material in your office. Let us help you focus and quantify your evaluation of marketing communications resources. If you consider new or alternate sources for marketing communications services, we would like to be included in the field. But no matter who you consider, you have nothing to lose and much to gain by incorporating this methodology into the process.
Let's talk about it.

Gene Eggleston

Do you need an ad agency?
The answer to this question is easy and emphatic. Even if you only do a single brochure, or have a huge in-house staff, the answer is a profound YES! Select advertising professionals to help you with your overall marketing communications program. You will profit by investing in the services of a qualified, full-service marketing communications firm.

You may monitor and maintain your own health, but periodically you rely on the professional counsel of our doctor. To maintain the health of your business, you probably rely on accountants, lawyers, and other outside resources. No matter how small your marketing program, it will be measurably healthier and stronger if you invest in the broad counseling, creative, and coordination services provided by a creative group that offers experience in all facets of marketing communications.

You may diagnose your own diseases, keep your own books, and do yourself little harm. But if you are not regularly relying on the comprehensive expertise of a full-service ad agency, then you may be doing your overall marketing effort considerable damage. There is a lot more that could be said to prove the point, but for those of you who recognize the need and value the service, I am more interested in answering the next question.

 How do you select an ad agency?
First of all, make it an active evaluation and decision process, not a competition for which you are a spectator. I've heard horror stories about inept agency selection processes. One manufacturing firm's ten member selection committee spent days hearing presentations by twenty ad agencies, chose one, and then fired them in two months. Unfortunately, some don't discover their mistake so quickly.

The crucial error is relying only on agency "presentations".  Sure, listen to what the agencies have to say. Their presentations will give you an overall "feel" for their capabilities. However, agency presentations may have little bearing on your quantitative evaluation of their attributes. Outlined below are four keys to successful selection:

This is the most important factor. No matter how limited or fragmented your marketing communications program, this is where you get the biggest pay-off for your investment. You will find even the narrowest of projects enriched and enhanced by the breadth of experience your agency can provide.

Full service capabilities might be defined as: hands-on experience in every facet of marketing communications. Your agency and the contact person assigned to your account should be able to demonstrate expertise and experience in the following areas: establishing objectives, developing strategies, implementing tactics, market research, budget preparation, persuasive writing, graphic design, production, photography, media selection, advertising, brochures, direct mail, corporate identity, trade shows, product publicity, inquiry handling, and program evaluation.

Your agency's breadth of experience may lead them to recommend alternate media, help you avoid potential pitfalls, suggest ways to economize, and much more. From establishing the first objective to answering the last inquiry, your agency's ability to perceive the big picture, will improve the effectiveness of every project, no matter how small.

 Full service capabilities have little relationship to agency size. In fact, smaller agencies often offer broader experience. Go for the broadest experience in the smallest package. You will get greater economy and a more tightly structured program. It will probably also mean that you will get more attention and therefore more useful help. Just because a large agency can document breadth of experience on paper, doesn't mean that those resources will focus on your projects.

The breadth of capabilities embodied in your primary contact person from the agency is even more important than the capabilities the total agency has to offer.  For instance, ask a prospective agency representative if she/he is a Certified Business Communicator (C.B.C.). Credentials such as these may be a good indicator of breadth of hands-on experience.

Don't just ask for a list of capabilities. Insist on seeing documentation, examples, and take the time to hear specific anecdotal evidence of past experience in each of the areas mentioned above.

While breadth of marketing communications experience is the most important factor, specific experience with your type of product or service is of little importance. If your product is highly technical, you may wish to see some evidence of their ability to understand and promote technical products. Often a fresh and open mind, with no experience in your specific product area, is actually a plus.

Ask specific and penetrating questions about capabilities.

I know a photo-retoucher who claims full service marketing communications capabilities. It may be so, but I have my doubts. Be sure you evaluate documented experience. It is one thing to know a little about a lot of things and quite another to have true "hands-on" experience.

As I mentioned earlier, the shear size of the agency is of little consequence.  If you insist on considering agency size at all, then you might wish to use this rough rule of thumb. For every $100,000 to $300,000 you plan to spend with an agency for services and material, the agency should have one to three employees.

 2. Recommendations.

Investigate recommendations. Personally speak with both agency clients and agency suppliers. Don't accept at face value lists of "satisfied" clients. It is a must to talk with other clients of a prospective agency. Ask specific questions about breadth of capabilities, service, ethics, costs, and creativity.

Ask a prospective agency for six client names. Talk with three of them. I am aware of a number of instances in which an agency listed clients that were not their clients at all. It is also amazing how many clients dis-recommend their own present agency. Of course, most of the time you will hear enthusiastic praise from clients, so ask very specific questions to better evaluate the differences between agencies. Bottom line, if any agency you are considering can only muster a luke-warm "satisfied" from their clients, cross them off your list.

Also talk with agency suppliers.

This second group of recommenders may be more important and revealing than the first. An agency may fool their clients, but seldom their suppliers. Ask a prospective agency for names of art studios, printers, photographers, magazine representatives, and other suppliers of services and material items. Talk with three of them.

You may think that suppliers wouldn't say anything negative about an agency, since the agency is their customer. My experience is that you will usually get an honest answer to a direct and specific question. I know of one specific case in which a printer began his response to a question about an agency by saying, "This may cost me some business, but I have been dying for someone to ask me about those turkeys."

You want your agency's best effort and you want their suppliers to do the same for them. It is one thing to have an agency that is demanding of suppliers, and quite another to have an agency that treats their suppliers shabbily. As an example, some agencies stretch out their suppliers for months before paying them. Slow-pay agencies usually have to wait longer for delivery of work and pay more for it. Therefore, so do you.

Amazingly, many clients knowingly keep agencies who jerk around their suppliers. What the client fails to realize is that they are the jerk at the other end of that chain.

 3. Ethics.

Though this is a separate factor, your conversations with the agencies, their clients, and their suppliers, will have already provided considerable insight into the character and philosophy of the agency and its personnel.

Hiring an agency is not like contracting with your plumber.  There is more trust required on both sides, and frankly, there is more opportunity for misconduct.

One way to gain a small insight into an agency's ethics is to visit their offices and speak directly with the person in charge of invoicing. Ask them to show you how their billing system works and what their typical invoice looks like. The point here is that the mechanics of the agency's invoicing procedures may tell you a great deal about their character. Some billing systems are very straight forward and designed to provide the client with complete and comprehensive information about charges. Other billing systems seem to be structured to enhance profitability, as well as to massage and sweeten the charges. There are many different billing systems involving time charges, mark-ups, and discount rebates. None of these is inherently wrong but be sure you understand exactly how time and material charges are calculated, documented, and invoiced.

 4. Creativity.

This is the most difficult aspect of agency evaluation to quantify. It is hard to grade creativity. I suggest a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. Either they demonstrate enough creativity and imagination to suit your needs or they don't. If they are creative, keep them on your list for further evaluation.

Also watch agency personnel closely to see how excited they are about your product and how eager they are to know more. Can you sense ideas already bubbling in the back of their minds as you tell them about your product's features and benefits? Enthusiasm generates the most productive, applied creativity.

Full service capabilities, client/supplier recommendations, ethics, and creativity are the four factors to evaluate. Here is a ten point system to help you weight these factors and reach your final decision:

Select the agency that has the highest total score. If you are re-evaluating your present agency and their score is less than 8, start shopping. If you disagree with the weighting, change it. But do your homework on all four factors.

The bad news is . . .
No matter how you score it, there are agencies out there who
deserve a near-zero rating, yet they keep hooking new clients.

The good news is . . .
There are probably many marketing communicators
in your area who rate a perfect ten.
Find one!