Step 1 in Your Agency Search: Developing a Needs Assessment
No one decides to replace a marketing agency on a whim – the service and financial stakes are too high to take anything but a thoughtful, considered, and evidence-based approach. Once the decision to move on has been made, though, your approach to finding the right new agency should be no less thoughtful, considered, and […]
The Keys to Strong Client-Agency Relationships
Over the years, we’ve conducted hundreds of client-agency 360 reviews, a process wherein we talk to and survey clients and their agencies to find out what’s working, what’s not, and “where to go from here.” Recently, we dug through results of ten years of such reviews to find out what, if any, themes could be […]
Winning With a Template
How to Write an RFI Response Without Starting From Scratch In any new business opportunity, putting your agency’s best foot forward is a balancing act of time and resources. Devoting the time and effort it takes to win can be a challenge, particularly for smaller agencies that don’t have a dedicated person in the new […]
Be Your Client’s Strategic Support
There are any number of reasons why a client-agency relationship can go sour, but one we hear a lot goes something like this: “We aren’t getting any strategic thinking from our agency.” It’s the result of an oft-seen pattern: the agency and client get into a routine, churn out the work, and end up without […]
Commit to the Pitch Process
Written by Barry O’Neil and Lindsay O’Neil If you’re going to commit your agency’s time and resources to a pitch process, we say go “all in” and don’t wait for the final presentation to show your cards. There’s simply no reason to participate if you can’t commit 100% to showing your agency off in the […]
The Best Case Study I’ve Ever Seen
I’m going to caveat this whole post by saying “the best case study I’ve ever seen” only came about because of a confluence of lucky chances, including: a prospective client who specifically requested the presentation of case studies as part of the pitch process, an agency who happened to have some impressive cases that felt […]
Boldly Go: The Agency Pitch Through the Lens of Star Trek
Bear with me. Many agencies who’ve just won a pitch ask, “Why us?” Answers vary in the specifics, but it’s always a combination of the solution, the expertise to back it up, and chemistry, which includes both passion for the opportunity and “something new,” which I will and won’t define by the end of this […]
Before You Pitch, Pick the Right Team
Prospects hate bait and switch, where an agency sends a pitch team full of senior, experienced and talented presenters who, after winning a piece of business, are never seen again. Several years ago we saw “the largest media agency in the country” send the same pitch team to three different clients in six months. The […]
Bringing Your Case Studies to Life: The 5 Sections
Written by Barry O’Neil and Lindsay O’Neil Case studies can be among the most important pieces of any written submission to an RFI/RFP. At MIG, we always ask for case studies in written RFI responses, and collectively they carry the highest point total in our grading. We’ve seen our fair share of case studies over […]
The Right Case Study Style for Every Situation
We are often asked, “How long should a case study be?” Our answer: it depends. The important thing is that you tell the right story for the situation. (Speaking of which, are you looking for guidance on how to write effective case studies? We wrote about that in our 5 elements of great case studies post.) Four […]
