Key Takeaways
- Evaluate the research behind the strategy. Strong agency recommendations should connect company, market, competitor, customer, and business research to specific recommendations.
- Prioritize relevant case studies. Look for experience that aligns with your industry, company stage, business situation, target audiences, resources, and objectives.
- Define measurable agency commitments. Establish clear deliverables, performance expectations, reporting practices, and accountability before signing the agreement.
- Understand the agency’s role in past results. Ask about the scope, timing, team involvement, and specific contributions behind marquee client success.
- Evaluate execution capabilities alongside the pitch. Team expertise, training, operating systems, responsiveness, and accountability provide important evidence of how the agency will perform after the contract is signed.
A recognizable client logo can make a powerful impression during an agency presentation. If an agency has worked with a company you know and admire, it is reasonable to view that experience as a positive credential.
But a well-known name does not necessarily demonstrate that the agency is right for your business. The client may operate in a different industry, be at a different stage of growth or have significantly more resources. The agency may have completed a limited engagement scope after the company was already successful. In some cases, the team presenting the work may not have been involved at all.
The same scrutiny should be applied to attention-grabbing campaign ideas. A clever concept can create excitement in the room, but an idea that sounds impressive is not necessarily grounded in the company’s market position, business priorities or available resources.
An agency review should determine more than which firm delivered the most polished presentation. It should reveal which agency has developed the most relevant strategy, provided the most credible evidence and demonstrated the greatest willingness to be accountable for its work.
Here are four questions that can help separate sizzle from substance.
1. What Research Informed the Agency’s Recommendations?
Strong recommendations should be built on more than creativity and general agency experience. They should reflect an informed understanding of your company, market, competitors, customers and business objectives.
Look closely at the connection between the agency’s findings and its proposed strategy. Did the agency analyze how your company is currently positioned? Did it examine competitor narratives, relevant media coverage, industry trends and the issues influencing your customers? Did it identify a specific communications problem or opportunity?
The proposal should make the agency’s reasoning visible. You should be able to follow a clear path from research to insight, from insight to recommendation and from recommendation to an expected result.
Ask the agency:
- What research did you conduct before developing these recommendations?
- What did you learn that influenced your strategy?
- Which recommendations are based on evidence, and which assumptions still need to be tested?
- Why is this approach appropriate for our company at this particular stage?
- What did you consider and decide not to recommend?
The final question can reveal how deeply the agency understands your business. A strategic partner should be able to explain which opportunities are appropriate for your company and which ones require different conditions to succeed.
If a recommendation generates excitement without a clear connection to a business need, ask the agency to explain the problem it is designed to solve.
2. How Relevant Are the Agency’s Case Studies?
Case studies provide valuable evidence of an agency’s experience. Relevance should be evaluated across the circumstances that matter to your business.
A global market leader with a large internal communications department, an established reputation, and a substantial budget may have different needs from an emerging company building awareness in a specialized market. Experience promoting a consumer brand may also involve different communications requirements from explaining complex technology to enterprise buyers, industry analysts, and highly technical reporters.
When reviewing case studies, look for alignment in several areas:
- Industry: Has the agency worked in a market with similar technologies, competitors, regulations or media dynamics?
- Company stage: Was the client an emerging challenger, a growth company or an established category leader?
- Business situation: Did the agency address a comparable product launch, repositioning, funding announcement, category creation effort or reputational challenge?
- Target audience: Was the agency trying to influence similar buyers, reporters, analysts, investors or partners?
- Resources: Did the client have a comparable budget, internal team and supply of company news?
- Objectives: Were the results tied to goals that matter to your organization?
The most useful case study may feature a company whose business situation closely resembles yours. Ask the agency to explain the relevance explicitly. A credible team should be able to identify the comparable factors, explain the differences, and describe how those differences would shape its approach.
3. What Will the Agency Commit to Delivering?
Agency proposals often describe an ambitious collection of activities. Fewer define what those activities are expected to accomplish, how performance will be evaluated and what will happen if the program falls behind plan.
Before selecting an agency, ask which commitments will be documented in the agreement and how will they be tracked over time. These might include agreed-upon deliverables, content production, media outreach, reporting frequency, response times or other measurable elements within the agency’s control.
It is also important to understand whether the agency offers a performance assurance or guarantee.
No agency can guarantee the decisions of a particular reporter or publication. It can, however, define the outcomes or deliverables it is prepared to stand behind, explain how those commitments will be measured and specify what it will do if the program falls short.
Ask:
- What specific commitments will be included in our agreement?
- How will we monitor progress throughout the month or quarter?
- What happens when the program is not meeting expectations?
- Which elements of performance does the agency guarantee?
- How will the team adjust its strategy while there is still time to improve results?
Accountability should be established at the beginning of the engagement and remain visible throughout the program. Reporting should provide timely insight into performance, challenges, opportunities, and next steps.
A strong accountability model gives both the client and agency a shared understanding of expectations and progress.
4. What Role Did the Agency Play in the Marquee Client’s Success?
Working for a successful company provides useful experience. The buyer should also understand the agency’s specific contribution to that company’s success.
A major brand may have earned its market position long before engaging the agency. It may generate significant media attention because of its size, leadership, funding, customer base, or category. It may also employ a sophisticated internal communications team and several specialized agencies.
This context helps buyers evaluate agency experience accurately.
When an agency highlights a marquee client, ask:
- How long did you work with the company?
- At what point in the company’s growth did the relationship begin?
- What part of the communications program did your agency own?
- Which members of our proposed team worked on the account?
- What challenges was the company facing when you were hired?
- Which results can be connected directly to your work?
- Was this an ongoing relationship or a limited project?
- Can you provide a reference who can describe the engagement?
The goal is to understand the nature and extent of the agency’s contribution. A strong agency should be comfortable explaining its role, the scope of its work, the challenges it addressed, and the results associated with its program.
Look for Evidence Throughout the Agency Review
A pitch is designed to create enthusiasm. Strong creative ideas, impressive brands, and polished presentations can each demonstrate agency capability.
The evaluation should also examine the evidence behind those impressions.
The strongest agency evaluation considers whether:
- Recommendations are grounded in relevant research
- Case studies reflect comparable business situations
- Proposed commitments are measurable
- Performance expectations are clearly defined
- The agency can explain its contribution to past client results
- The proposed team has relevant expertise and experience
- Accountability systems support ongoing performance improvement
Once you have evaluated the evidence behind the pitch, examine the agency’s ability to execute after the contract is signed. Look closely at the proposed team, specialized expertise, training practices, operating systems, communication processes, and accountability model.
Together, these factors provide a clearer view of how an agency is positioned to perform throughout the engagement.
Sizzle can capture the room. Substance is what produces results.