Align before you search.  Look before you walk.

Some of this is self-serving, but frankly most of it is intended to help the marketer as he/she starts looking for a new marketing agency.

Self-serving in that going back and forth to try and truly understand what a marketer wants when looking for a new agency can be a real pain in the you know what.

And somewhat self-serving in the sense that I’ve seen plenty of our agency clients on the RSW/US side of our  world either be presented with what looks like the potential of some great project work to initiate a relationship, only to be told later that “their boss isn’t fully bought in”.

Frustrating for everyone (I’m sure for the marketer too).

Finding better agencies

So what is a marketer to do.

Simple.

Look before you walk…or in your case,get buy in before you engage or before you formally start a search.

Running a search (or about to) for a bank out West.

They are smartly organizing their key constituent groups internally to make certain that they are all aligned on what they feel their needs are, what they like and don’t like about their existing agency, and what they’d like to see in a new firm.

So before I connect with them on the kick-off Scope of Search call, they have what should be complete alignment among the key management team that will be most impacted by the search.

It’s a simple quality control thing.  I know you marketers are moving a million miles a minute.  I know because I was one too…for 10 years.

It’s tough because you want to deliver, and want to do it quickly.

But take a pause, gather the facts, then start your search.

You’ll be better off in the end.