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 […]
Biz Dev Best Practices From the Client’s Side of the Room
From Build a Better Agency. With Robin Boehler. Business development is a topic that is always front-and-center for agency owners. So I’m welcoming back one of our most popular guests, Robin Boehler from Mercer Island Group, to talk to us about the observations she and her team have made as they work with both agencies […]
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 […]
How to Win Your Next Client
From Build a Better Agency. With guest Steve Boehler. Mercer Island Group helps agencies better position themselves and sell more effectively by better bonding with prospects around the prospects’ needs. Listen
How to Be a Great Chief Marketing Officer
From “On Top of PR” with Jason Mudd. With guest Steve Boehler. Steve discusses what the CMO job consists of and what characteristics make a great CMO. Listen