If your new year’s resolution is to appoint a new design and marketing agency for your business, chances are you’ve either grown tired of your existing agency, fed-up with mediocre ideas and a slightly strained relationship, or, working with an agency is a completely new concept to your business, but you feel that now is the right time to drive your business forward.

Either way, choosing the right team for the job is not a process that you should take on lightly.  How your business looks to the outside audience is absolutely crucial to your success. It’s essentially your ‘shop-window’ and the look and feel of your brand needs to reflect your business culture and ethos. Running parallel with this, the marketing needs to be clear, effective and ultimately drive sales and build profile in the market.

Once you have decided what your main objectives are, it’s time to start approaching agencies for the job. So what should you be looking for and what sorts of questions should you be asking those that you approach? For us choosing the right partner for your business should go far beyond simply looking at their portfolio of work.

The most important factor to consider without a doubt is chemistry. Does the agency clearly understand your business objectives? Does it understand the industry you operate in? It’s not just good design work you’re looking for, you want to put your business in the hands of a professional who clearly understands what makes your audiences tick and how to compete with your competition. Spend time with the individuals from the team you will be working with. You must feel at ease with them and comfortable that they will be receptive to your ideas.

Experience and insight should also be high up on the agenda. Does the agency specialise in your sector or have experience in working with businesses that are similar to yours? It doesn’t matter if you’re a sole trader or a multi-million-pound business, the agency should be able to demonstrate how it has worked with similar clients in the past. It’s also important that the agency recognises how to engage with your audience whether its millennials or the over 65’s and has the capabilities to put together a multi-channel marketing campaign that will engage those prospective customers.

Do your research and find out who their clients are. Do they work for competitive brands to yours? It’s probably best to steer clear if so or work out exactly how they plan to service your account without compromise on either side. You also want to be reassured that your account will be serviced to the level you expect and that you don’t find yourself being a small fish in a rather large pond. Get some assurance that your business will get the service that you are paying for and not be stuck at the bottom of a pile.

Finally, when all said and done, trust your instincts. If something is holding you back from appointing a particular agency then don’t do it. You have to feel comfortable and confident that the team will be able to deliver top quality work with tangible results every time. A good design team will understand how much your business means to you and will share the same passion and enthusiasm to get the results you want.

At We Are Fred we have always taken pride in the fact that our clients tend to stay with us for a long time and this is thanks to the relationships we share with them. We are approachable, reliable, we listen and are open to ideas, and most of all we deliver.