With a new year underway, it’s common to think about how to improve efficiency and effectiveness in all areas of your corporate spend. Marketing spend is often an area that is immediately highlighted, with the finance team and others asking if costs can be lowered, even as sales goals are raised. One common way to do so is to put your agency relationship out for RFP (Request for Proposal), for the proverbial “can we do better” discussion?
While a new agency, if properly chosen, can potentially improve your results, and a check on pricing is always prudent, doing so is time-consuming and not done lightly. It requires a lot of work from your team, as well as from the agencies that respond. Just as critically, if you do decide to change agencies, a handoff can often cause momentum to slow, especially in digital campaigns.
Yet, RFP’s happen all the time. If your current agency is not meeting your goals, or you don’t feel aligned with them, then this is a logical step. There is often a playbook to follow: do your research on agencies, draft an RFP, invite a number to respond, narrow down to those who will present, evaluate in terms of their work, the look and feel of their response and presentation, their proposed budget, etc. All are important in your decision-making process.
As someone who conducted a number of agency reviews in my corporate career (and worked thereafter with the chosen agencies), as well as having been on the agency side now for a number of years overseeing relationships with our clients, I’d like to highlight 5 intangible issues that should be primary in your decision-making process. These intangibles are even more critical to your long-term success with a chosen agency.
Strategy
The first critical consideration is does the agency being considered approach the work from a strategic viewpoint? There is a big difference between strategy and tactics. For example, any agency can talk about what channels they’ll recommend, what the response rate is, etc. But what is the strategy behind those recommendations? Does the potential agency demonstrate how they approach their understanding of your business and how their strategic approach to the work incorporates your objectives?
Transparency
Are you meeting with senior management of the agency, or the team that will actually handle the day to day work? I can vividly recall selecting an agency based on the partner who presented, then only hearing from that person again when they called to tell me nine months later that a request was “out of scope”. Understanding how an agency interacts with you on a daily/weekly basis is critical, not only for meeting cadence, but even for how to email the right person to get the right answer. As relationships matter and trust is critical, you must meet the team you will be working with up front, in addition to those who focus on new business development (even recognizing that turnover is a natural part of the process).
Alignment
As a partner that should be working hand-in-glove as an extension of your marketing team, believing that your agency is truly aligned with your goals, opportunities, challenges, etc. is a key to success. This is best demonstrated by actions. Does the agency propose tactics that will logically reach the goals you are being held accountable to internally? Do they understand and work with you on your stated deadlines for internal approvals? Is there time built into process for that to happen? Will they work well with other partners you are engaged with, or are they focused on taking over that work as well? You need a partner that can demonstrate their value add is both deep and wide.
Knowledge
Any agency can create a compelling pitch and/or a creative campaign. However, knowing how and why it will resonate, and cause the positive action you want, is critical. So too, is understanding the legal, compliance and regulatory environment important to your industry and business, and how to work with that knowledge is an important defining feature. Just as importantly, do they really know your business overall? Can they quote your CEO’s and CFO’s stated goals? Do they help you strategize how your marketing efforts can make them happen? Are they knowledgeable about your competitors? Do they keep you abreast of key external factors impacting marketing, such as AI, etc.. Your agency partner should consider their role to add value in each of these ways as well.
Experience
RFP’s will often say “show us 3-5 examples of similar work in our industry”. While that is important, something critical for you to consider is the experience that really matters in your partner. You can often find an agency that only specializes in your industry (particularly at your industry trade shows) and that can be helpful, especially in highly regulated industries. However, the value an agency can bring where they know and understand your industry, and have demonstratable experience in it, but more importantly can bring experience, expertise and knowledge from other campaigns and findings from different industries that may be struggling with the same challenges (appealing to Gen Z, for example) could make the difference in a partner that really moves your business forward.
Finalizing Your STAKE
These five factors, often something that is more sensed through the process, versus specifically called out in an RFP process, are actually critical to making a move to a new agency successful. Especially in the implementation and execution with your new partner going forward. They allow you to put a STAKE in the ground on actual success factors necessary for you to hit your corporate goals, while also showing your internal partners that you have improved efficiency and effectiveness in your spend.
Michael O'Neill
Executive Vice President
BOSTON, MARS
