Going at it alone can be a good thing under certain sets of circumstances.

Going at it alone when looking for a new marketing agency isn’t always the best way to go.

In our latest survey (to be released soon) 42% of marketers that tried to find an agency on their own believed that the outcome was only somewhat successful or not successful at all.

I played in the marketing world for 10 years (5 for SC Johnson and 5 for KAO Brands) and I fully realize how tough managing an agency search can be.

You marketers are pulled in a million different directions, some of you have internal politics to deal with, many of you have many folks with lots of opinions about marketing agencies…and of course there’s the agencies themselves.  Hundreds trying to knock on your door and get a piece of your time to sell you on their value.

In our survey, marketers cited “lack of time”, “lack of visibility of a good set of agencies”, “uncertainty if I’m doing everything I need to”, and “hard to sort through the fluff” as the top reasons why they felt the search they managed wasn’t a success.

While managing the process is doable, it isn’t the best way to be spending your time.  It’s like a friend of mine told me when I was considering buying the building we’re in right now…he said, “I’ve always believed that my core competency is marketing and sales, not property management – that’s why I’ve always rented and never bought”.

Same holds true of an agency search.  Not only do you most likely not have the time to manage a search, but knowing the right kinds of questions to ask and knowing where to turn to get a good stable of best-in-class agencies to consider can be daunting.

So What Does This Mean For You, The Marketer

You have a few choices:

You can hire a search consultant.  They’re out there…but they can get pretty pricey.

You can try it yourself.  We’re happy to share a sample RFI with you if you’re interested in going that route.  In addition, take a look at our “Process” page, as some of the questions about our process might be helpful to you.

You can bring a company like ours on board.  We charge marketers like you nothing to manage the search and make our money via a small commission from the winning agency.  Everything is built custom to meet your needs.