Five Rules For Hiring An Ad Agency
  1. Hire someone you like. We can argue about the relative importance of marketing, but we know for sure that it eats up a lot of time. You’re going to spend hours and hours with the folks at your ad agency, so you’d better get along with the people you hire.
  2. Watch out for “exclusive” or “proprietary” processes. Lots of agencies have an “exclusive process” they can employ to help you “zero in on the essence of your brand” or some such nonsense. Not the processes—those are probably fine. It’s the “exclusive” part that’s twaddle. See, ad agencies had to come up with a name for this kind of work because it’s easier to charge you for “The Brand Magic Process” or “Discovering The Difference” than for “fact finding” and “message development.” Once you get past the fancy names, they’re all pretty much the same hooey.
  3. Don’t assume you know what work needs to be done. You may think you need an ad, a brochure, a video, and a direct mail piece when what you really need is a Web site. Talk with your prospective agency about needs and desires—not tactics.
  4. Don’t get too hung up on billing rates. Sometimes, a $150-an-hour copywriter can get done in two hours what it takes an $80-an-hour copywriter eight hours to do. You get what you pay for—and sometimes great advertising costs more than regular advertising. Remember, though: it should work better, too. So, in the end, great advertising always costs less. (That’s part of what makes it great.)
  5. Call the references—but don’t be afraid to go with your gut. See Rule #1. Honestly, there are a lot of people who can do this for you. It’s not rocket science. It’s a lot more like brain surgery.