7 Tips to Help You Find the Right Creative Agency
Finding the right creative agency is essential to creating an effective marketing campaign to promote your brand and products. However, due to the sheer volume of creative agencies in the market, it can be hard to sort out the good from the mediocre and unfortunately the bad. Thankfully, there are a few simple things to look for to help determine which creative agency is the best fit for your business’ needs.
I am often asked \”what makes us different?\” and I usually respond with, when looking, do not focus on the tool, focus on the house your trying to build. Don\’t think of the brochure or website as what you\’re buying but the process to develop the right solution to promote your brand, product or service. Sometimes you may not end up with the brochure or website you thought you wanted but something you needed. A good creative agency will take you down this path, work with you, and not just try to sell you a \”cookie-cutter\” solution.
Here are 7 other tips to help you narrow down the choice:
Strong Portfolio
It is imperative that you ask to see each respective creative agency’s past work. While some work is naturally going to be protected by legal agreements, you should still be able to gain access to a few samples that provide a clear demonstration of the standard that each creative agency works towards. Usually, the agency will have an online portfolio, but you should look deeper than if it looks good. Some companies rely heavily on templated pieces that they just insert the next client’s info into. We will cover what to look for in a portfolio in a later article.
Digital Presence
Considering the amount of penetration that technology has in people’s everyday lives, a creative agency needs to have a noticeable online presence that is characterized by a well-designed website that consistently posts high quality content to interact with.
Social Media
In a similar vein to the above point, you should look for a creative agency with well-made and established social media profiles. This can provide you with a rough idea of the online size and reach of the agency, and serves to highlight the agency’s skills in online marketing techniques. Just because they have more followers does not mean they are better. Social is about engaging and informing not just vanity clicks and likes. We have a saying in our studio “it’s better to have 20 followers that we engage with than 2000 that we don’t”.
Awards and Associations
Check to see if the creative agencies that you are looking at have won any marketing or design awards, either at a local or national level. While these are not a guarantee of a good marketing campaign, they are a good indication of high quality work and original ideas. See if they also belong to industry associations and professional groups.
References or Recommendations
While this may not be immediately noticeable, you should read around through marketing publications and online blogs to see if there are any references to the agencies you are looking at. Accomplished and well-established agencies will have produced work that has created discussion within the marketing community. Ask friends and colleagues in similar industries to your own to see if they have any recommendations or referrals. This can help you find a creative agency that has worked in your field before, and can bring that experience to the table. Alternatively, you can ask for client contact information from creative agencies and give past clients a call to hear their thoughts firsthand.
Costs
Once you have narrowed down the list of potential creative agencies, you should develop a detailed budget for your potential project and communicate clearly with the agency you have chosen to prevent surprises later. Campaign budgets can range from $5000 – $150,000 you should know and be honest about how much you are willing to invest in your marketing. Creative marketing services are not a commodity and should not be bought as such. There is a process that is followed and one of the main factors to determine the right solution is budget.
Personality
While it may seem like a minor consideration, you need to make sure that you get along well with the people working in the creative agency you wish to hire. Having personalities that meld well together can help strengthen communication and ensure a better working relationship in the long term.
Overall, we hope these tips will simplify your search for a creative, brand marketing, and design agency. The most important thing is to make sure your company, or marketing department is ready to use an agency. If you are, you will be well on your way to executing effective marketing campaigns to promote your brand and products.
Bonus Tip, Just call us BANG! creative – Strategy by design
BANG! creative®, a multi-disciplined, award winning brand marketing and corporate communications design studio. BANG! creative® specializes in the development and complete execution of brand strategies for local, national and international clients. Since 2005, the team at BANG! creative® have successfully developed thoughtful, well-designed solutions from healthcare to manufacturing to consumer goods, within the public and private sector. BANG! creative® has successfully established brand awareness, driving customer engagement and sales through a full range of creative & strategic services on-line, in-hand and in-mind utilizing traditional and new media. Our goal? Make it meaningful. Make it memorable. Make it simple. It’s what we do.
Let\’s work together and grow your business:
BANG! creative | 16 Hugh Street Milton, ON L9T 2C6 Canada | +1.905.636.9393
learnmore@creativitygoesbang.com | www.creativitygoesbang.com
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