So, you’ve decided to embark on the exciting (and sometimes daunting) journey of selecting a new marketing agency. Congratulations!

There are a few ways to go about this… so we’d recommend reading our ‘Ways to select an agency’ blog – just to double check that a ‘creative pitch’ is the right way for you to find the perfect agency.

But if you’re committed to an approach where potential agency partners vie for your attention with their prospective strategies and creative – we’ll walk you through the process, and provide tips for ensuring it’s as smooth and productive as possible.

Firstly, let’s look at what is involved in a traditional pitch;

The Pitch Process – what are the steps involved?

This is the traditional multi-step process, however, it is really up to you, your budget and timings to determine how many stages of the pitch you’d like to see.  Now let’s outline a few of the key areas to focus on for a smooth pitch process;

 

1. Before you even start

A good agency selection process will involve a significant investment in time and money so make sure you and your team have capacity needed and you have full buy-in internally.

Create a dedicated internal team to manage the pitch from the outset. And make sure all the key decision-makers are clearly identified and involved in the entire process so there are no curve balls further down the process.

2. Clarify your brief – especially your ‘must-haves’ from the agencies

This is the most important part of the process for you to get right as it sets expectations with the agencies up-front.

When writing the brief, don’t be tempted to “Frankenstein” it. Don’t cobble together sections from different departments. Instead, discuss priorities and have one person own the final output. Be comprehensive: Include the pitch process details, timings, budget, your motivation, potential challenges, current agency context, and the type of agency you’re seeking (including cultural fit).

A considered brief shows you’re ready to build a lasting relationship. As David Ogilvy famously said “Give me the freedom of a tight briefing!”- take the time to write a detailed brief and it’ll pay off in the end. Use the Moreish Agency Pitch Brief template to guide you.

3. Selecting the short list: ‘The Power Of Three’

They say three is the magic number, well it certainly is within a pitch process. Don’t be tempted to engage loads of different agencies.  Managing multiple pitches takes a lot of time. Do you really want to sift through 8 proposals and endless follow-up questions? For agencies, competing against fewer rivals means we’re more motivated, as we tend to invest more when the odds aren’t stacked against us.

To build your shortlist, don’t just rely on your existing network. Referrals from trusted sources can be invaluable, especially if they’ve seen great results. Award wins are also a good indicator, but make sure that the awards are relevant to your goals and/or your sector (like the Financial Services Forum awards Moreish have won, you can view them here).  And search for agencies with case studies that relate to your sector or your desired results – working with someone who already understands your field can save you a lot of time during the briefing process. (But sometimes you want some completely fresh thinking and insights from outside your industry – so that’s ok too!).

4. During the presentations

Interrogate! Question the agencies..  we actually like the opportunity to answer questions that would otherwise remain unanswered from an unresponsive presentation. Feel free to probe and ask for clarification along the way. Alongside their response, ask them to explain their reasoning. How people think is just as important as what they think.

5. After the each round:

Be available and offer an individual follow-up call with each agency once you send a brief through and let them know you’re an accessible collaborative client in the process

 

How to judge the outcome?

You’ve sat through the pitch presentations, reviewed the RFP and now it’s time to make a decision. With a scoring matrix, you can quickly address the pros and cons of each agency, weigh different variables, and make a good decision quickly and easily. Here’s an example template which should offer a good starter for 10:

Your scoring matrix should include a weighted scoring system for each of these criteria – based on which ones you feel are more important – with an overall score out of 100.  So the more important the criteria, the bigger % it should have on the overall score. Also as well as the ability to provide a numeric score – leave space for qualitative feedback, this will help to objectively evaluate and compare multiple agency pitches and give each agency an overall score.

• Understanding of the brief– How well the agency listened to your needs, answered your questions and tailored their details to what is right for you. This will give you a good steer on how the agency listens and will handle future projects and briefs.
• Chemistry and communication – Did you like them? How you ‘felt’ about the agency and how excited you would be to work with the individuals in the room is extremely important. A good working relationship is the foundation of getting results. Trust your gut. Over the course of a contract, you’ll spend loads of time meeting and talking to your agency people, and if they’re not the sort of people you’d meet for a drink, do you really want to work with them?
• Credentials and experience– Just as you would always evaluate a candidate for a role by looking at past roles and experience, the same should be true of any potential agency. Have they demonstrated proof points that they have delivered similar briefs previously? Did they demonstrate industry insight and experience that could support the business strategy?
• Quality of ideas– Originality and creativity of their thinking and proposed ideas. Do they  align with the brief and brand and would they engage your audiences. Would the ideas help you deliver your briefs objectives? Did they excite you!
• Processes and account management – did they have a clear process and framework of how they would work with you to deliver to outcomes you seek. Do you feel confident they will deliver to your deadlines?
• Value and pricing – Be sure you are comparing apples with apples and look beyond the hourly rates – as these can deceive. As one agency could spend three times as long doing the same thing. So it’s more about what the outputs you’ll receive for your money. Menu pricing for a range of deliverables or outcomes is the best way comparing price. Then you need to consider based on the quality of the thinking & ideas vs. the price to deliver an ROI to the business.
• Strategic Fit – How well does the agency’s skillsets and proposed approach align with the business objectives now and in the future. We’d recommend looking beyond the immediate project and contemplate the potential for a long-term partnership – how could they fit in and support the future business growth strategy?
• Any bespoke criteria– We’d suggest thinking about a further one or two criteria based on your specific needs such as how well the agency is able to execute in a certain area that is essential to your success. This could include things like local market knowledge or how important as a client will you be to them as an agency?

This kind of scoring criteria has the benefit of keeping the evaluation the same across all of your agencies, what’s more it allows a simple system of comparison of marks from everyone in the room.

Lastly, don’t forget to provide feedback. It’s really appreciated by the agencies if you could provide constructive on why they didn’t win- it genuinely helps the agency for their next pitch (and we promise we never take it personally!)

 

Final thoughts …

We hope these suggestions offer some helpful considerations for your agency selection process. Finding the right agency partnership is both a business decision and a relationship journey. While there’s no perfect formula, thoughtful preparation today may help build the foundation for a productive long-term marketing collaboration. Having been through many pitch processes ourselves, we’re always happy to help with any pitch process questions – get in touch here!