The majority of agency consultants in the market today are part of big organizations with high overhead and only one way of helping you find new marketing agency firms.  Flexibility isn’t their thing.

They’re more expensive and their process can be confining if all you need is a stable of good marketing agencies to consider on your own or expert perspective on agencies that match your needs.

Another tough year…but retreat we shall not!

With market pressures not subsiding and cost cutting continuing, it has proven another challenging year.

Just because it has been challenging doesn’t mean you should retreat.  The best way to make the balance of your year and the New Year more enjoyable is to find new and better ways to move your business forward.

That starts with your asking yourself if you have the right agency or agencies on board to objectively put you the right path.

Here are 5 flexibility boxes you should be able to check with any marketing service firm you employ:

  1. My agency makes me feel like they really care about my business and bring me ideas/perspective that is well outside the scope of what I ask of them.
  2. My agency keeps me ahead of the technology and marketing curve so I’m not the one that has to do the asking and leading.
  3. My agency has dedicated top talent at their firm to support the needs of my business.
  4. My agency makes me feel like I’m a fish in the right sized pond – not so big that I get lost or so small that I lack support.
  5. My agency operates as a great strategic partner and isn’t just there to fulfill creative or communications assignments, but there to help my business grow.

All of the above involves some measure of flexibility.  Having an agency that can go beyond just what you ask them to do is going to be a great long-term agency partner.

Talk first, act later

So if you find that one or more of the above “boxes” can’t be checked…or can’t be checked very well, advice:  Talk with your agency.  Don’t bail on them outright.  Give them a chance to remedy their situation.  But that said, don’t let it drag on too long.  It’s like having a bad employee that you let linger knowing the chances that they’ll get better aren’t all that great – and then the problem only builds.

And the same flexibility has to exist on our end – on the agency search consultant’s end.  If we can be flexible in giving you options to help you find a new marketing agency, then we’ve done you no good.

At RSW/AgencySearch, we help marketers find better agencies at no cost to the marketer.

We are a 4As listed search firm.  We manage searches across the nation.

Over and out!  Have a great balance of the year!