I have been assisting mid-spend marketers in their quest to find new and better marketing agencies since 2010.

Too often I’m stepping into a situation where the mid-spend marketers had tried to manage the last search they ran, and that search resulted in a situation that left the marketer holding an empty bag.

“My buddy recommended them, and they seemed like good people”.

“I thought they’d know how to do this.”

“I thought they understood our business and category.”

“I thought our account manager had more experience.”

Managing an agency search on your own is a little like working in the (weeds of the) business versus working on the business.

Be real mid-spend marketers!

You don’t have the time.

You don’t have the full purview of all the best-in-class agencies that can move your business forward.

You don’t know all the right questions to ask.

Did I say…you don’t have the time! You have a business to run for God’s sake!

STOP IT ALREADY!

Stop trying to do something that you shouldn’t be doing. These marketers did:

What you need to be doing is spending your time evaluating viable candidates that are brought TO YOU.

What you SHOULDN’T do is spend a ridiculous amount of time searching for agencies, interviewing agencies, reviewing the RFI you had to write, and organizing the final pitch presentation.

Hire us. We’ll do it. And we’ll do it better for you – at no cost to you!!

NOT doing this stuff is not only important because allowing yourself to only focus on the big picture and letting others (like us) do the hard work will put you in a better place, but it also impacts how agencies will feel about you – which like or not, is important.

I was talking with an agency principal from a mid-size independent agency the other day who had the “opportunity” to be involved in a few searches led by mid-spend marketers and she made an emotional appeal, asking me to tell all of you: “STOP IT”. The searches were a mess, not focused, ran on forever.

WE CAN UN-STOP IT – and cost you nothing!

We don’t charge the mid-spend marketer anything to manage the search. We take a small commission from the winning agency. Not that we need an incentive to do an excellent job for you, but we don’t get paid unless you’re 100% happy and find an agency you love.

Only then do we earn our keep!

Call us (513-293-6785) or email us (mark@rswas.com). We’d be happy to help you kick the habit!