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5 Key Points Marketers or Business Owners Should Keep In Mind When Hiring or Working with an Agency

They say an agency is as good as you make it!!

No matter how strong your idea is, how well executed your plan is, if you can't get it through with others, it's good for nothing.

Hiring an ad agency is one of the most important decisions you make in your business plan. It not only gives a proper outlook to your idea, but also let others see what you want them to see.

Having said that, it is also important to mention here that hiring an ad agency can be a tedious task regardless of whether you are looking for an annual retainer or a project based engagement.

Here are a few tips for hiring the best possible agency for your business!

1. Passion for creativity:
"Creativity is an advertising agency's most valuable asset, because it is the rarest". Jef I. Richards
Be it any kind of a project or task, passion for creativity is what excites one's soul!
This is a factor that you will fall for helplessly. When you get in touch with someone who gets passionate about the task and jumps in with ideas, you will not want to let them go easy.
So passion is the key ingredient to look for when hiring an agency.

2. Effective Communication:
"If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic". William Bernbach
Communication and a brand's positioning go hand in hand.
Communication and brand marketing should be made a part of your business plan since it is important to let your ideas be reflected the way you want. An ad agency can either make your game or ruin your game. Therefore, the most vital element is appropriate communication that goes with your brand positioning.
When it comes to communication, your role is to identify the best medium for the services you are providing, which means that the tone of communication must also be relevant to your products and services.

3. Originality:
"Be yourself because an original is worth more than a copy." Unknown
Innovation is something that ignites a spark for anything.
The reason for which you hire an agency is to get ideas from them and let their experts enlighten you with their strategies. If you convey your ideas and there is no input from the agency, then chances are that you have hired the wrong one.
The ideal way to work with an agency is to communicate your initial concept to them and let them design a strategy for you. This strategy must be the closest to your vision while being innovative and original.

4. Freedom:
"The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." Linus Pauling
A passionate and creative communication agency will always seek freedom to create ideas.
In fact, I would suggest that as a client you should only stick to sharing your expectations, your goals and everything else that has relevance to it. Then let them do their job.
Meddling with their work and questioning their creativity while trying to impose your concepts is most likely going to affect the end results.

5. Stick to only sharing your feedback:
This can be elaborated in three points:
i) Respect and trust the agency you hired.
When you hire an agency, it becomes a part of your team and that's how you should treat it. So, try to be patient in the beginning in case you are not getting what you have in mind. Act smartly in such a situation and do not demean their creative team or be harsh with them. Keep your cool.
ii) Be clear with your feedback.
It is firstly very important to let them know what you are looking for. If they come up with something that you don't like, give your feedback and ideas, and if you do like something, appreciate it. Appreciation is the key factor for motivation and motivation leads to hard work.
This approach works the best in every situation.
iii) Avoid being too involved in the nitty-gritty of graphics.
Just suggest in general. For example, if you think that it needs to be enhanced visually, you can communicate that to them. Don't be in a hurry to reject the ideas; let them express their opinion, listen to them, ponder over it and then in a friendly gesture suggest that you need a change.

Suggestions:
If you are finding it hard to trust your agency and don't believe any longer in what they are doing for your business, it's time to find another one.
Trust is a fundamental part of any business relationship and is one of the key factors in this case.

Conclusion:
As a business owner or the marketing manager should you wish to leave an impact on your target audience, please drop an email to me at deepak@bananaideas.biz or visit our portal www.bananaideas.biz .
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