Had an opportunity not too long ago to present to a group of agencies in Scotland on the topic of “Agency of the Future”.

We survey you marketers and agencies 3-4 times throughout the year – and have been doing it since the start of the business in 2005.

That experience, and the experience in working with over 50 agencies, supporting their new business programs, and the work we do with you marketers on the agency search side helped us shape what we believe are the 8 core characteristics of the Agency of the Future.

Agency of the Future

Does your agency possess these?

  1. Content Creators – Do they understand how to do it strategically to help build your brand and business.  Are they doing it for themselves?
  2. Selectively Specialized – Do they bring talents that make them experts in your space?  They don’t have to have their entire agency dedicated to your world, but they should bring some measure of know-how and expertise.
  3. Agile & Nimble – I’m sure you zig and zag…I know the market certain does and can not so predictably.  Does your agency?
  4. Partner, Not Player – Are they a “do’er” agency or do they take a proactive position in not just helping create campaigns, but help you build your business.
  5. Real Timer – with the explosion of programmatic marketing and the need to be ready to react to market changes, does the agency have the resources and talents to keep up?
  6. Student of Technology – With over 3,900 technology companies/platforms available in the market today (compared to ~100 five years ago), is your agency keeping up.  Are they bringing you ideas or are you introducing new things to them?
  7. Curator & Contractor – Not every agency has to have everything under one roof.  Good strong strategic partnerships with back-end developers or media buying firms can work just as well (maybe sometimes better) than an agency having it in-house.
  8. Savvy Competitor – This has less to do with you – and more with them.  With agencies popping up every day and more knocking on your door and there being fewer opportunities (due to continued corporate consolidation), are they working hard to win your business?  They better be.

Happy to discuss any of these with you and/or happy to help you find a better agency that can better deliver on these 8 characteristics if you feel your agency isn’t cutting it for your business.