We have been helping marketers find new agencies since 2010.  All of the searches we have run have some common threads to them.

Spending levels
Most of the marketers we represent are mid-to-small spend marketers that either don’t have the full purview of all the best-in-class agencies, they don’t have the time, and/or they don’t want to pay the big bucks to hire expensive search consultants.

Independent Firms
The other common thread across all the searches we’ve run is the type of agency we’ve brought to the table.  The majority of agencies that participate in searches we run are solid independent firms.  Rarely do we bring the big networked agencies into searches.  Most of our marketing clients need more flexibility in their agencies, and that’s what independent firms tend to be.  Read this post about the advantages of independent firms.

Marketers typically cite one of the reasons below as to why they are coming to us looking for a new firm.

My current agency has become more of an order taker.
We encourage all the agencies we talk with to not let this happen to them.  While you are ultimately in control of the relationship you have with your agency, the agency doesn’t have to let this happen to them.  They can be strategic if they want to be.

My current agency isn’t as proactive as it used to be.
We tell all of the agencies we speak with that they need to make every day feel like the first day of the relationship.  Remember those first months of your agency’s relationship with you?  A lot of fun, energy, and ideas.  Marketers often come to us feeling like they are the ones bringing the ideas to the agency.  Not good.

My current agency isn’t capable of scaling with my business.
We’re running a couple of searches now and in both cases, this is the situation.  Both clients are in aggressive growth modes.  Both are expanding and buying up brands and other businesses.  The agencies they have were fine when they were small and less sophisticated.  Today, these same agencies are having a tough time keeping up.

We pushed out a post awhile back that still has relevance today.  It’s all about future proofing your agency.  Not something you can do for them, but something they can do for themselves…and for you.

So if you’re in the middle of any one of these situations, and you like the idea of a solid independent firm carrying your business forward, give us a call (513-559-3101) or drop us a line (msneider@rswagencysearch.com).  We would be more than happy to help you out.