How to Find the Right Ad Agency Part One
Uncle Johnny’s Facebook posts on your social media page just aren’t cutting it anymore, or perhaps you landed that fat contract, and you’re ready to take your business to another level. Whatever the reason, you decided you need an ad agency.
Search for advertising and marketing agencies in your community, and dozens of names will pop up. You’ll find inbound marketing agencies, traditional marketing agencies, agencies that specialize, and agencies that just want that fistful of dollars you’re holding. Everyone wants to help. So, how do you choose? You need to do a little internal work before we get into that, whether you are getting your first advertising/marketing vendor or have a current agency and are re-thinking your relationship.
List Your Core Values
Without getting all touchy-feely, let’s start with listing your company’s core values. When I first started, my core value was, “give me your money,” and I suspect that still echoes around your noggin. But let’s take a step back and ask, why should customers give you their money. What do you bring to the table?
One of my core values is “We are here to address and solve the client’s marketing challenges. It’s too easy to go along. Are you providing value?” Often my clients will have an idea for their advertising. It’s easy to script it and take their money, but I’m not providing value. You want a relationship with your advertising agency where you respect them for being specialists in their field, and they appreciate you for being top in your field. They’ll listen to you and provide insight and solutions in return.
My second core value is “We are here to listen and ask questions, not lecture.”
I had a client who had as one of his core values, “Remember you are only a consideration. The customer has choices.” This statement was a reminder to work harder to get the customer’s business and not take it personally if they go somewhere else. Instead, see it as a challenge to do better.
Ask yourself some questions:
1. What’s important to us?
2. What brought us together and continues to bring us together?
3. What will guide us when we are facing a complicated question?
4. What are the things you like about what we do and how we do it?
5. What parts of the company are we proud of most?
Identify Your Customer
There’s the customer you want and the customer you have.
Ideally, they’re the same, but that’s not always the case. Think about your products and service and your core values and paint a picture of who your customer is. For instance, I prefer customers who own their own business, with sales between $5 million and $25 million, and who are open-minded. I like projects that excite me based on my values. Recently, I worked with a client with a not-for-profit that helps kids with diabetes understand that being different is okay.
Back to my client, his ideal customer was over 45, male, an entrepreneur with an income over $85,000, and community-oriented. With that bit of information, I know who my audience is, what they want to buy that he sells, and even the media mix of his advertising.
Know who you want your customer to be, and a well-designed ad campaign is close at hand.
That’s the customer you want. To find out the customer you have, keep a diary of customers you see, ask them to fill out a survey, look at the info they left on your mailing list, or interview them. Go through your sales and see how the customer you have compares to the customer you want. If they aren’t the same, ask yourself why? There’s a good chance you aren’t targeting your ideal customer or that your product or service doesn’t line up with who you believe your perfect customer is. It could be your location or your pricing, or it could be that you need a robust customer relations management program.
I don’t know, and it’s okay if you don’t understand why what you have is different from who you want. The key takeaway here is you need to know your customer.
What’s Your Story?
What’s your foundation story, and if you’re not the founder, what’s the story behind your business acquisition? Jersey Mikes Subs CEO, Peter Cancro, worked at the original sub shop and bought it while still a teenager. That’s a powerful foundation story that is part of the company’s branding.
The company’s founding is essential, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be its story. Walt Disney was and remained the centerpiece of the company that bears his name, but the company has never been about him. Another example is Allbirds shoes. The founders formed the company to make an ecologically sustainable shoe line, which is a cool story.
The client I’ve mentioned above, his story was his name, which we played into his branding and the company’s personality. His competitor was an acquired company that kept the original owner’s name. Over time, his ad agency turned the original founder into an almost mythological figure in the local business-scape. It attributed everything they did thirty years after the man’s death to his vision. It worked.
Ideally, your ad agency will find your story. Still, if you could have an idea of the founding, history, and what makes your company interesting – you’ll help them develop your all-important brand identity.
What Do You Need?
Often this is the hardest question my clients face, so the most challenging. To figure out what you need, ask what your company does better than anyone else? What do your competitors do better? Is the customer you want the same as the customer you have? How are your ups?
If all you need an ad agency for is to raise awareness of your big quarterly sale, that’s fine. Tell them so. If your needs are much more profound, be clear about what they are. Your ad agency can’t help you if your needs are a mystery or not clearly identified.
Honesty
Think of the account executive at your ad agency as your priest or therapist. What you say to them is confidential, and the more honest you can be, the more they can help you. My client told me things about his business that were generally unknown to his employees or even most of his managers. The best campaigns I’ve seen but not been involved with, when I talk to the advertiser or the client, I find that the information gleaned from the subjects listed here was invaluable to the campaign’s success.
You don’t have to prepare a deck or anything. Just be prepared. Do a little soul searching and take inventory of why you’re in business. A good agency will bring this stuff up, and you’ll want to prepare because good creative isn’t just clever sayings and snappy copy. It’s not just a jingle that you remember; it’s a strategy told in a way that grabs the audience’s attention.
They need a baseline even if the marketer is pursuing a “data-driven” model (and here’s a pro-tip – all advertising is data-driven). It’s the messaging that sells your company, product, service, and messaging works best if the creative staff behind delivering said copy and artwork understands your business.
So, when you go looking for an ad agency or a new agency, do your homework first. Learn a little about yourself and what you bring to the table of commerce. It will ensure the realization of your campaign goals.
