Choosing an Ad Agency: How to Pick the Best Promotional Partners

Imagine this! Your advertising budget increase has just been approved. You now have the green light to hire an outside firm to help with your promotional program.

What is the proper procedure for selecting an advertising agency?

Ad shops come in every form imaginable, and then some. From self-employed freelancers to multi-million-dollar firms, a myriad of options are available. The secret is to find the best fit for your own promotional needs.

Identify Your Ideals.

First, you need to define your advertising goals. Consider input from top executives and department heads that will be directly involved in, or affected by, your company's advertising programs.

Draw up a list of expectations. Exactly what will you ask your outside agency to accomplish for you?

Call for Entries.

Hand-pick a set of candidate advertising agencies, and invite them to pitch. Putting out an all-points-bulletin will open the floodgates. You will need to hire additional staff just to turn down the ineligibles!

Consider local firms, as these may provide better day-to-day service than big-city mega-shops. Will your budget permit you to take on the national agency of the year? Does your campaign warrant that? A smaller staff may actually offer better attention and equally creative concepts.

Create a reasonable timetable for the search, review, and decision-making process.

Pick Your Top Three Choices.

Pare down the roster of candidates to three firms. Gather agency credentials, capabilities information, references, case studies, and samples from each of them. Check out their web-sites, and talk to some of their existing clients, if possible. Check professional references, if they have provided these.

Interview key players in each firm. Ask about their promotional philosophy, methodologies, costs, billing arrangements, and more.

Assign each finalist agency to develop a potential advertising campaign. Be specific about your requirements. Do you need a print campaign, a direct mail effort, collateral materials, a billboard promotion, or some other program?

Check Them Out.

Go to the each agency's office to hear their presentation. Take a few strategic individuals with you, whose advice you trust.

Stroll through the office. Look at promotions on display. Observe the staff in action, and look for clues about work ethic and company morale.

Meet the Whole Squad.

During the presentation, be sure to hear from everyone on the team. Do they cooperate and work well together? Don't be oversold by agency principals - once they land your account, you may never see them again. Get to know the junior staffers and the up-and-comers. Find out who will actually service your account.

If an agency employs freelancers, try to meet the ones who will work for you.

Find the Best Fit.

You will want to evaluate each semi-finalist firm by its qualifications. However, do not disregard your own gut feelings. Client-agency chemistry is half of the battle. You will want to pick people you trust, and with whom you sense you can work well.

Make your choice, and politely inform the runners-up immediately after you let the successful candidate firm in on the decision.

Plan Your Strategy Together.

Be sure to read all contracts carefully, and outline clearly whether you will hire your ad agency on a monthly retainer or on a project fee basis.

Establish measurable goals for your advertising program. Once you hire a promotional firm, you will rely on these objectives to measure whether they will have accomplished the work you will pay them to do.