I read this article in Forbes about the positive outlook for 2025, and thought I’d share it.

The article discusses the challenges that have faced marketers and agencies these past two years and then goes on to paint a much rosier picture for 2025:

“2025 shows signs of optimism, including a strong US economy, a resurgence of brand spending, and a growing independent agency market.”

If all this holds true, agencies and marketers need to be out there with their brands to capitalize on this accelerated movement.

As the market improves, so will spending.  However, increased spending also means more challenges to connect with the consumers you want to engage with – or, for agencies, the marketers they want to work with.

The agency world has been through a tough run these past couple of years, and we’ve seen many agencies laying people off because of spending slowdowns.

If you decide it’s time to look for a new firm because your agency has been struggling, make sure you’re asking the right questions of the agencies you’re considering.

Here are some important points to find out:

  1. Does the agency manage everything in-house or do they farm out services – and how long have they been doing that.  If it’s a relatively new phenomena, there could be a bit of risk associated with relying on that new partner.
  2. Are all the stated number of employees work full-time for the agency or is the staff made up of a number of part-timers?  Too many 1099-ers also might present some risk.
  3. What kind of investments has the agency made in technology and other business building tools.  As the market has slowed for agencies, the advancement of new tools and technologies has not.  Is the agency keeping up with the most productive tools to benefit their clients.

You can either go through this exercise yourself – which can be a very time-consuming exercise – or you can bring on a firm like ours (RSW/AgencySearch) to help at no-cost to you.  We take a small commission from the agency that end up partnering with you.

So, so great to see the optimism as we head into 2025.

Here’s to a great close out of 2024 and an even better 2025!!