I’ve been helping marketers look for best-in-class marketing agencies since the start of 2010 when we helped Citrix look for a new digital media planning & buying firm (they’re still working with them today).
Not unlike Citrix, the 35+ marketers we’ve helped since 2010, have for the most part reached out to us for the very same reasons.
These reasons directly correlate with a survey question we’ve asked marketers since the start of our outsourced agency new business side of our business in 2005. Never imagined that we would see the results from our surveys come to life in real actual searches we’d start running 5 years later – but they did and continue to, to this day.
In 2005 we started asking marketers the following question…
…And the results haven’t changed.
“Lack of proactivity”
“Not happy with strategy or thinking”
“Wanted lots of ideas”
All reasons I see today and have seen for the past 8 years when marketers come knocking looking for a new firm. I always thought things would change. That agencies would see our reports or get tired of losing long-standing clients. Or realize that the world was changing quickly around them and they weren’t keeping up.
But that is simply not the case. I was meeting in Indianapolis with two agencies that had merged the other day. Typical full service agency that looked like many other full service agencies. Covering lots of categories. They do digital, but only so much.
These guys saw the writing on the wall and acquired neighboring digital shop that was light years ahead of where their firm was.
They got it and are doing something about it.
During this meeting we also talked about the reasons why marketers leave agencies. I told them that the marketers that come to me tell me they feel like their agency has become an order taker. They feel like they’re the ones bringing all the ideas to the table and their agency isn’t bringing ideas or value beyond the task at hand.
Interestingly the full service agency saw themselves in the picture I was painting. The digital shop had created a very organized system for bringing value and new thinking to their clients’ worlds.
Everybody in the shop contributed.
There were clear milestones related to how often and what specifically should be delivered to clients to bring added value. So not only was this agency ahead of the curve in terms of their technical know-how and deliverable, they also were ahead of their client in terms of bringing exceptional value to them.
All about exceeding expectations. I tell our agency clients on the outsourced agency new business side of our world two things:
- Make every day feel like the first day of the relationship
- Don’t treat it like a creative relationship, treat it like a business relationship
If they follow these two simple principles, I’d be out of business and all of you marketers would be forever happy!
If you feel like one of the many marketers that has reached out to me to help them find a better, more proactive firm, give me a call or drop me a line (513-559-3101/msneider@rswagencysearch.com).
Thanks!
