In celebration of my favorite day of the year (Valentine’s Day) tomorrow, this post is partially about falling in love.
Falling in love during your search
Don’t fall in love with an agency’s slick presentation or heartwarming sizzle reel. Be objective when you are reviewing agencies. Look past the glimmer and shine and take a good hard look at what they’re telling you.
And yes, fit is key. But don’t confuse “fit” with substance. The agency needs to be a good partner, someone you want to wake up next to every day (so to speak). Problem is, if they can’t meet your needs, the relationship will fail.
If you need a counselor, we here to help.
Incommunicado
I tell marketing agencies that participate in our agency searches that the way they look today is a reflection of how they might operate tomorrow.
The same holds true of you marketers. Who wants a partner that shuts you down? If you don’t communicate with the agencies involved in your searches and play hard to get, that’s no good. At the end of the day, you’ll get better output if you’re giving the agencies involved in your search, better input.
Let us be the voice for you, if you’re too busy to be a good communicator.
Shallowness
If you don’t take the time to dig deep, you’ll likely lose.
You really need to understand the degree to which each agency you’re reviewing has met with the challenges as you’re dealing with. And you want to make sure that they have been successful in helping other clients overcome them. If all you do is ask about their credentials and other functional characteristics of the agency, you’re missing the most important part of the search.
If you don’t know where to start or the right questions to ask, we can help you be a little less superficial.
So what does this mean for you, the marketer?
If you’re looking to start a relationship, think about it as if you’re starting a new romantic relationship. The last thing you want to do is marry the best looking man or woman in the room only to find out there ain’t much up there.
If you don’t take the time, ask the right questions, and communicate, the relationship will ultimately struggle.
If you don’t have the time, or don’t know where to start, give us call or drop us a line (513-559-3101/msneider@rswagencysearch.com)
We have managed over 40 successful agency searches since 2010 and have built many long-lasting and positive marriages.
