Over the past eighteen years, Argentum has helped many clients find the agency that’s right for them. With marketing teams busier than ever, demand for this service surged in 2024, with four successful searches and a fifth currently underway.
Our goal for every search is to match clients with an agency that is appropriate for their needs, budget, and expectations. We never want our clients to be a tiny fish in a giant pond nor a giant fish in a tiny pond. We want to collaborate with an agency that is excited about working with our client, values their spending level, and can deliver the expertise they need.
Argentum Six-Step Agency Search Framework
- Determine your budget and specific needs.
Do you need a new logo? Ongoing social media content? Our clients often hire agencies to create things like digital advertising, new websites, and consumer packaging.
- Research agencies
Look for agencies that specialize in the tactics you need. Ask colleagues and peers if they’ve worked with any agencies they loved. You can also look at Ad Age magazine’s award winners, or clutch.com to get some ideas.
- Review the agency’s websites to confirm their expertise. If it’s not highlighted, it’s highly likely that they don’t specialize in it.
- Check their online portfolio to see if you like their work.
- Look at the clients listed to see if there are similarities to your own company. While it’s not necessary for the agency to have worked in your exact vertical, there may be some things, like B2B experience or familiarity with food, that might be relevant.
- Initial Contact
Shortlist 5-7 agencies and schedule 30-minute calls to introduce your organization and gauge their interest and fit.
- Request for Information (RFI).
Narrow it down to three finalists and share your short RFI with them. The goal is to be able to easily compare pricing and capabilities.
- Pro Tip 1: Guarantee a meeting for each agency that submits an RFI. Agencies generally hate RFI’s, but they’re typically more willing to participate if they know they’ll also have a meeting with the potential client.
- Pro Tip 2: Limiting the RFI participants to three makes the odds worthwhile for the agencies.
- Meet and Evaluate
Meet individually with the three agencies, and, if necessary, check references.
- Decide
Choose the agency that best meets your needs and aligns with your team’s personality.
Remember that you’re looking for a collaboration partner. Your search process is a good indicator of what kind of client and collaborator you’re likely to be. The same is true for how the agencies interact with you and your team throughout this process. We wrote an entire blog post about the Top Five avoidable mistakes agencies have made during our search process.
If you’re looking for a new agency and prefer expert guidance, let’s discuss how we can help you find right fit!