How an agency evaluates your business problem
Give the agency a real business problem and ask what it needs to understand before recommending work. Look for questions about the objective, evidence, resources and uncertainty. A useful recommendation should follow from that discussion.
Ask how sector experience changes its advice. The buying process, trade influence or technical evidence may affect who needs to be reached and what they need to know. The agency should be able to explain that connection in terms your team recognises.
Review the agency’s client work
Choose a relevant example and examine the original problem, the agency’s role and the result. Establish the measure, period and any limitations. An integrated result can demonstrate a useful strategy without proving that every individual service caused the outcome.
Use a reference conversation to understand the working relationship as well as the finished work. Ask what happened when priorities changed, a decision became difficult or something needed putting right.
Examine how the agency’s scope developed with a client
DEKS first needed social media support because its managing director was handling it alongside the wider business. The relationship grew into consultancy, creative, email and digital advertising as its needs developed. The useful question for a prospective agency is why each next piece of work was recommended.
Ask a prospective partner to explain that progression in its own client work. What prompted the first engagement? What changed? Why was the next recommendation useful? These questions reveal how it decides what to propose.
For a project, follow the connections between disciplines. Crittall’s launch brought the teaser, technical information, PR and response together. Towens connected brand development with online booking and CRM. Pick work close enough to your needs that you can ask informed questions about the detail.
Andrew Scott’s approach to marketing investment
Purpose, Plan, Execute starts with the business's ambitions, defines immediate and longer-term objectives, then organises specialist delivery. Use the same questions when assessing a proposal: what should this work achieve, why is it the priority and who will carry it out?
In his published article Marketing through uncertainty, Andrew also argues for maintaining visibility, reputation and customer trust during difficult trading. Your own discussion should cover both demand now and the reasons customers will choose the business over time, with a clear explanation of what the investment is intended to support.
Prepare the agency handover before the changeover date
Before agreeing the changeover date, list the assets and accounts the business relies on. Include the domain, hosting, website administration, analytics, advertising accounts, social profiles, design files, photography, film and their licences. Identify who controls access and which campaigns need to continue through the transition.
Agree the first priorities with your team and the incoming agency. Establish what continues, which decisions need review and who approves changes. This protects previous investment and gives the new team the context it needs to recommend useful work.
Understand the working arrangement
Meet the people responsible for the account and understand how specialist work will be coordinated. Agree access, approvals, reporting, response expectations and your own team’s responsibilities. The arrangement needs to fit the time and expertise you have available.
Turn the handover list into an agreed sequence for transferring assets, accounts, data, licences and ongoing campaigns. Check that the people doing the work can get what they need and that your business retains control of what it owns.
Agree what success should look like
Agree how success will be judged for the work you’re commissioning. Enquiries or revenue may suit an acquisition strategy; reputation and brand development can require a longer view and different evidence. The reporting should reflect that purpose.
You should be able to understand the recommendation, question it constructively and know who’s responsible for the next action. A good selection process gives both parties a clear view of those expectations before the work begins.
