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Four Tips To Hiring an Interactive Agency

Image courtesy of thefindabilityformula.com

Image courtesy of thefindabilityformula.com

By James Zipadelli

With a down economy, it’s tempting to think that it’s easier for an interactive agency to choose between proposals because there are fewer to choose from. That’s not the case, says Vidya Drego, co-author of the Forrester Research report, “Four Mistakes To Avoid when Hiring an Interactive Agency for Design Projects.”

“I think the process is even more difficult in a down economy because all of a sudden, agencies are willing to put a lot more into a pitch to increase their likelihood of winning business,” Drego says. “Given the number of agencies still in the space (despite the downturn), it’s hard for clients to tell them apart and to map agencies’ strengths and weaknesses to their own.”

For Cyril Lemaire, chief marketing officer at Boston-based Genuine Interactive, however, things are looking up. “We haven’t seen that down economy, Lemaire says. “We’ve grown 25 percent over the past year. A lot of our agency colleagues are doing well as many companies seem be investing 2010 marketing dollars on digital side.”

In the report, Drego lists several suggestions for clients.

Be available to answer questions during the RFP process. “Clients that are available to field questions show that they are serious about the project and open to a partnership,” the report says. “Instead of running from questions, make yourself available for phone calls directly from the agency.”

Get specific. “Instead of asking how an agency typically does something, ask for details of how they’ll address your specific project,” the report says. “For example, if persona creation is critical, ask them how many interviews they’ll do and what type of analysis they will conduct to understand the data they gather.”

Lemaire corroborates the report’s findings. “The first thing we do is have a candid conversation with a client. If the client is unclear about their objectives, overly reserved about budget parameters, or only talking with us through a procurement group, this is a warning side because we want to have a collaborative relationship with a client,” Lemaire says. “We want a collaborative relationship from the onset; to craft the best digital strategy and design solution possible, we need to understand goals, objectives and clear articulation of success metrics.

“Joint chemistry between the client and the agency is paramount,” Lemaire adds. “The personality fit is critical. Gaining agreement on the vision regarding the opportunity is also essential. We personally like to bring our clients in to meet us to show our facilities and get an idea of who we are to work with as a digital partner; in order to define an innovative creative strategy and the best project approach, there needs to be a meeting of the minds; winning the business usually comes with it.”

Have a realistic timetable. “Clients who’ve come from a background of hiring other vendors are definitely in for a surprise when they hire an interactive agency,” Forrester’s Drego says. “Why? Because their deliverable is much harder to understand. Traditional agencies are masters of creating a big idea and storytelling to go around that idea. What clients expect from them is print, television or out-of-home campaigns that they normally have no idea how to do themselves. Clients know when and why they need them and it’s OK to asses their skills on a more visceral level because that’s where the bulk of their ideas live.” Drego adds for an RFP, expect 2-4 weeks for a response, and for an RFI, 1-2 weeks.

“On the opposite end, technology product vendors typically come with a software or hardware product that offers a clear value proposition for the client,” Drego says. “Interactive agencies, however, lie somewhere in between. On the one hand, they do come up with creative concepts but given the medium in which they typically work, it’s something that the firm often thinks they might have been able to done themselves (because of the low barrier to entry on the Web). Their thinking (or strategy work) is typically overshadowed by their creative implementation which is not the most valuable part of their work. They’re stuck between multiple models that don’t really value their output.”

Organize projects into shorter phases. “Some smart companies mitigate the risk of large projects by breaking them into shorter phases, which allows time for assessment and review of deliverables at the end of each phase,” the report says.

“A frequent agency pitfall is when they get greedy,” Genuine Interactive’s Lemaire says. “Another reason some agencies lose is they try to pitch everything under the sun and push their cool creative ideas without listening to the client’s pain point and business objectives. The client is worried about quick wins and quick successes. If you have a client that has a clear-phased path to implementation, the campaign is much more likely to be successful and the implementation risk is minimized.”

As long as the company is clear in what they are trying to achieve, it’s a good recipe for success,” Lemaire says. “Don’t try and seek an interactive agency if you’re trying to micromanage the creative design process. If you know what design you want, or have tactical Web development you want to do, you’re better off hiring a freelancer.”

Lemaire adds, “A recipe for a successful, award-winning campaign is when you have a client that says, ‘Here are my goals; here is what I need to achieve to be successful; here is my budget; here are some initial ideas we’re thinking of - let the agency run with it and you’ll be happily surprised!”