Selecting a new marketing, advertising, creative, promotion, public relations, or internet agency is one of the most important decisions a marketer will make, complicated by the fact that making the wrong selection can be expensive, even career-jeopardizing, or that most marketers have little or no experience with the process. To assist, this Marketing Agency Selection Guide will first consider some of the reasons for both hiring and firing an agency, followed by detailed descriptions of 11 types of agencies, a 4-Step Agency Selection Process, along with some additional resources on the subject.

1. MARKETING
AGENCY
SELECTION
THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO
ModernMarketingPartners.com

2. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
1
The Definitive Guide to Marketing
Agency Selection
Selecting a new marketing, advertising, creative, promotion, public relations,
or internet agency is one of the most important decisions a marketer will
make, complicated by the fact that making the wrong selection can be
expensive, even career-jeopardizing, or that most marketers have little or
no experience with the process.
To assist, this Marketing Agency Selection Guide will first consider some
of the reasons for both hiring and firing an agency, followed by detailed
descriptions of 11 types of agencies, a 4-Step Agency Selection Process,
along with some additional resources on the subject.
Why You Need an Agency
Depending on internal staff resources, at some point your marketing
department may require the skills and expertise of a marketing agency.
Certainly start-ups and entrepreneurial companies typically cannot maintain
a staff of marketing specialists. In fact, the need for a qualified agency may be
more pronounced than ever with the marketing mix evolving from traditional
tactics like advertising and trade shows, to more emphasis on rapidly changing
Internet marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media.
Finally, a reason to hire a new agency is the need to replace an existing
agency. So let’s take a look at some of the reasons for both firing and hiring
a marketing agency.
Reasons for firing a marketing agency:
1. Agency advice is weak (marketing, strategy, creative)
2. Disputes about agency fees, or excessive charges
3. Lacking sales results, not achieving objectives
4. Agency is not in tune with new media (SEO, social, blogging, etc.)
5. Agency hired by prior manager/management team
6. Agency has conflicts, working with competitor brands

3. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
2
Reasons for hiring a marketing agency:
1. Specialist needed for a specific marketing project or initiative
2. Get fresh ideas for marketing
3. Seek a new partner that can achieve more results
4. New managers/management not tied to old agency
5. Launching a new product
6. Entering new market segments, or geographic markets
11 Types of Marketing Agencies
A company or brand in search of a marketing agency partner or partners, must
first understand the many different types of agencies. Certainly the size of
the program or project, category, geography and budget will dictate the type
or types of marketing agency partners that can most effectively and efficiently
serve the marketing requirements. Typically, larger, or multinational companies
will use multiple agencies, while smaller clients tend to work with fewer, or
even a single agency for all marketing needs.
Following are 11 types of marketing agencies, listed in order of estimated
total dollar volume including advertising agencies, media agencies, promotion
agencies, PR agencies, marketing services agencies, internet or digital
agencies, direct agencies, branding agencies, design agencies, social media
agencies, and specialty agencies.
• Advertising Agency: the oldest and most common type of agency is an
advertising or ad agency; from Mad Men to the largest holding companies
and agency networks, ad agencies were the only game in town until 1996
when the first web browser was launched. The largest ad agencies
and their advertising holding companies diversified to offer all types of
marketing; the most frequent division was and still is media planning and
buying services, but now include every other functional discipline, from
branding, to internet marketing. No question, the core service from ad
agencies remains advertising. Large ad agencies dominate TV advertising
—both creative and media, along with all types of print (magazines,
newspapers), radio, outdoor, and Internet. Medium-size ad agencies may
provide similar services, but without the multinational offices, or multiple,

4. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
3
functional divisions. Small ad agencies typically focus on print, but could do
radio and internet. Ad agencies tend to focus on retail and package goods
clients (business-to-consumer), but will also work with business-to-business
clients that require advertising, and/or have significant marketing budgets.
• Media Planning/Buying Agency/Service: often part of an ad agency, media
agencies specialize in all aspects of strategy, research, planning, buying,
and placement of all types of media including TV, newspaper, magazines,
radio, outdoor, and online. Like other agency types, media agencies often
engage in other types of marketing, most notably, advertising development
and market research. Large media agencies are critically important to
large advertisers, due to negotiation leverage and multi-national networks.
• Promotion Agency: the next largest portion of agencies are promotional
in focus, typically working with retail and package-goods clients for
promotional campaigns that include advertising, coupons, sweepstakes,
contests, loyalty programs, merchandising displays, packaging and
related; today many promotion agencies are hybrids that will do all
other types of marketing.
• Public Relations (PR) Agency: a variety of services encompass publicity
or public relations including media relations, investor relations, and crisis
communications. Traditional PR activities include news announcements,
article writing and placement, and press conferences or events. PR firms
often engage in event marketing, new product launches, website devel-
opment, social media, and educational initiatives. Also, advertising or
marketing agencies often provide PR services.
• Marketing/Marketing Services Agency: as advertising has declined in
importance for all but the largest brands, many advertising agencies
have evolved into marketing or marketing services agencies, typically
providing a variety of services that could be offered by other specialist
agencies listed here. Often marketing/marketing services agencies refer
to themselves as full-service agencies and provide advertising, PR,
strategy and planning, direct, Internet, branding, photography and
video, and other types of marketing. Many small and mid-size agencies
refer to themselves as marketing agencies, not ad agencies.

5. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
4
• Internet/Interactive/Digital Agency: with the growing importance of
Internet marketing, social media, e-commerce, content marketing and
related, one of the fastest-growing agency types describe themselves as
one or more variations of Internet/Interactive or Digital agencies. Such
agencies will design websites, social media networks, manage blogs,
and more. In addition, further specialization is common with Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) agencies or consultants, Paid Search or
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, e-commerce, or applications (Apps).
• Direct Marketing Agency: direct marketing agencies started as experts in
direct mail, a tactic in decline, but have reinvented themselves as experts
in email, Internet marketing, customer databases, analytics and more.
Like other agency types, direct marketing hybrid agencies are common.
• Branding/Identity Agency: branding or brand identity agencies are often
boutique agencies, or divisions of ad agency networks. Branding agencies
provide a range of services from logos, to brand name development, to
packaging, graphic identities, signage, and environmental design (typically
retail store design). Often branding agencies will provide marketing
research in support of brand strategy, and may engage in web design,
advertising, annual reports and more.
• Design Agency: often smaller agencies will position themselves as design
agencies or studios. Design agencies often perform a variety of services
including brand identity, website design, advertising, packaging, brochures
and all types of print collateral, and more. Some studios will specialize
in certain types of design, for example, annual reports.
• Social Media Agency: one of the fastest growing agency specialties is
social media, or social media marketing. Social media agencies specialize
in creating and managing a brands social media networks. Today, the top
social media networks command most of the effort including Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, along with newer networks like Pinterest and
Instagram. Beyond profile design and implementation, social media
agencies often manage blogs, content research and development, video,
and increasingly web design, social monitoring and analytics.

6. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
5
• Specialty Agencies: we group all other types of marketing agencies as
specialty agencies that either focus on a functional marketing discipline,
or specialized market segments. Examples of functional specialists
include search optimization or paid search, packaging and merchandising,
video, or brand name development. Market or category specialists
include different ethnic marketing agencies (Hispanic, Asian, etc.),
healthcare marketing, technology marketing, and many more.
A 4-Step Agency Selection Process
Now that you have an understanding of the reasons for needing a new
agency, along with the type of agency or agencies you might need, what
is the most effective and efficient process for selecting one or more?
As with all complex decisions, research and planning will improve the
chances of success. Also, you want to strike the right balance of quantity of
candidates and time commitments, as the process is surely incremental to
your day-to-day activities. Like dating, too many candidates will be difficult
to manage, while too few may not deliver that perfect partner. Following are
details of 4 steps including planning, agency identification, agency vetting,
and of course, agency selection.
Before we get started, consider that you can outsource the entire agency
selection process to agency search consultants. However, you should know
that this option is typically only possible with large clients and budgets due to
the significant cost of such services. Fees range from 1-5% of annual budgets,
or a set fee. Beware of search consultants that charge both the client and
agencies, which has been known to lead to conflicts, or lack of objectivity.
STEP 1—PLANNING
The agency review planning phase includes developing a marketing brief
and request for proposal (RFP), establishing a budget, and establishing
agency selection criteria.

7. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
6
The marketing brief (or a brief for a specific project, e.g., new website), should
include company or brand background information, goals or objectives,
description of the marketing program or project, calendar deadlines for key
milestones, and contact information. The level of brief detail should be
dictated by the anticipated scope and budget. A small budget may require
only a simple outline, while a multi-million dollar budget may require a
more formal brief complete with financials and customer research.
The request for proposal (RFP) portion will detail what is required from agency
candidates. RFPs of all sizes require general information about the agency
including client list, relevant work samples or case studies, references, and
biographies of key staff. Larger reviews might require financial information.
Finally, reviews might request specific recommendations, or even creative
concepts (with or without compensation).
Establishing the marketing budget is also part of the planning phase. Budgets
can be based on % of sales, task and objective, or other methods. For more
information on marketing budgeting, see the resources section of this guide.
Next, identify agency selection criteria, along with an importance rank or
weighting. Examples of criteria include the following:
• Agency size: will your budget put you in the top 3 clients (to
command attention)
• Category, market segment or product experience (minimize
learning curve, bring category insight)
• Experience in the required functional disciplines (e.g., advertising,
website development, PR, etc.)
• Location: what is the expected frequency of face-to-face
meetings? (convenience, dealing with time zones, etc.)
• Agency self-promotion (e.g., website, messaging, thought
leadership, awards)
Modern Marketing Partners
Startup Marketing Best Practices Guide
6

8. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
7
STEP 2—AGENCY IDENTIFICATION
There are numerous options for identifying agency candidates. Selection
criteria established in Step 1 will help focus identification efforts. The scope
and budget of your marketing will dictate the number of agency candidates
identified. Before starting the research and identification process, determine
an approximate number of agency candidates to be included on a “Long
List”. Large clients (and budgets) might identify 10-30 agency candidates,
while multinationals must identify candidates in each region. Smaller clients
typically consider 5-10 candidates.
Now you are ready to research and identify candidates. Following are
sources of agencies:
• Search engine queries (e.g., search—ad agency Chicago)
• Association directories (AAAA, American Marketing Association
(AMA), Business Marketing Association (BMA), etc.)
• Networking through associations, conferences, and industry events;
smaller clients might find local chambers of commerce useful
• Referrals from colleagues and advisors
STEP 3—VET AGENCY CANDIDATES
Now that you have researched and identified multiple agency candidates,
the next step is to eliminate or vet candidates. The vetting stage includes
distributing a Brief/RFP to candidates, evaluating submissions, and deciding
on a “Short List” of candidates.
As before, the scope and budget of your marketing program or project
will dictate the number of candidates considered, and the formality of the
process. We recommend using the selection criteria developed in Step 1 to
prune the “Long List”, to a manageable “Medium List”.+

9. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
8
Large clients typically employ a comprehensive brief and request for proposal
(RFP), but only after non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are executed, as the
brief likely discloses confidential information to support recommendations
or creative work. Small clients may simply email the “Long List” of agency
candidates, and request relevant case studies, references, or a response
confirming interest in participating in an agency review.
As before, the scope of the program or project will determine how submissions
are evaluated. Large clients will typically appoint a selection committee or team
to manage the process. Small clients with limited resources may use a single
manager to decide on the “Short List” of agency candidates. Sometimes phone
interviews are conducted at this stage. Also, scoring or grading worksheets
are sometimes employed at this time, especially when a committee is used.
Whatever the process, the conclusion of this vetting stage, is the “Short List”
that will be invited to submit specific recommendations, creative concepts,
detailed budgets, and importantly, meet with you.
Be sure to communicate to “Long List” candidates that did not make the cut
via email, and of course the “Short List” winners that will be invited to the
final phase of selection.
STEP 4—AGENCY SELECTION
We are finally ready to carefully evaluate and compare a “Short List” of
agency candidates. Depending upon whether recommendations or creative
work were requested in the previous phase, the final selection process
should include such recommendations and/or creative work, and should
absolutely include face-to-face meetings. We strongly recommend that
clients visit agency offices, to ensure “they are who they say they are”, and
also get a sense of the culture. Some other tips for the selection phase:
• Request the team that will be working on your account be in the
presentation—get to know them ahead of time!
• Ask for typical fees or budget parameters for the types of marketing
projects and programs you will be assigning

10. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
9
• Ask for (and call) client references for projects or assignments similar to yours
• Recruit a selection committee that, depending on program scale, is at
least 2 and no more than 5 managers; try to use staff with marketing
experience (not secretaries or janitors)
• Use a scorecard or ranking of 5-10 criteria to add objectivity, but also
consider your “gut” instincts
• Score agency candidates individually and anonymously to avoid a
dominant personality imposing his or her will
• Openly discuss scoring results and reasoning
This group meeting and process should deliver the clear winner. However,
if it’s down to two viable choices, invite them to duke it out by executing
the same test project. We recommend paying a set fee for the test project.
Then, evaluate the finalists based on responsiveness, strategy and ideas,
creative execution, project management and budget.
Be sure to communicate with the losing candidates swiftly and gracefully,
and then break the good news to the winning agency.
Your search is over—let the
success begin!
By now, you have experienced just how exhausting and time-consuming
the agency selection process is, but also, how exciting it is to find the right
agency partner that you will be spending much time with, and realizing
great successes.
With marketing changing so rapidly, and certainly becoming more complex,
there is a good chance that this agency process will need to be replicated.
With new digital channels, and the ability to measure a variety of analytics,
the need to hire agency specialists will likely become commonplace.

11. Modern Marketing Partners
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Agency Selection
10
Still, effective agency selection remains both art and science, objective and
subjective, as skills like creativity and idea generation can be difficult to
assess; while managers may not have experience in new types of marketing.
If you follow these 4 steps to agency selection, your likelihood of achieving a
successful outcome should be excellent.
Other great agency selection resources:
1. How to Choose an Advertising Agency (Inc. magazine)
2. What Matters Most When Selecting an Agency (Ad Age)
3. How to Select a New Ad Agency or Marketing Consultant
(Business Marketing Institute)
4. Nine Key Things to Look for in an Agency Partner (Marketing Profs)
5. Marketing Budgeting Best Practices (Modern Marketing Partners)
Modern Marketing Partners
is a full-service marketing,
communications, and digital agency
recognized with over 100 awards for
marketing excellence and effectiveness.
For more information, visit our website:
www.ModernMarketingPartners.com,
or follow us: MMP blog, LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
© Copyright 2018. Modern Marketing Partners.
All Rights Reserved.