Choosing a communication agency from the information available on the net is difficult, uncertain and sometimes time consuming.

However, the stakes are high: Select a partner capable of understanding your needs, your project and your identity. An agency whose objective will be aligned with yours (your success) and whose achievements will live up to its promises.

As there is never a shortage of communication services in our environment (the agency next to your office, the agency of your friends or your little freelance cousin who has already created a Facebook post for example 😮💨)...how to make an efficient sorting and find the rare pearl?

Believe it or not, this is an exercise we've already practiced. So here are a few tips to help you see it more clearly!

Make yourself understood

The best agency in the world will not be able to guess who you are and what your expectations are without a clear and effective presentation.

Before you start, take the time to write a short presentation document dedicated to your project. This step, the Brief in our jargon, allows both the person looking for a communication agency to ask the right questions and the agency to truly understand its expectations.

You will be able to define your company, its values, the composition of your team. You will also be able to determine the origin of your project or need and clarify its objectives. Finally, you will be able to integrate an overview of the actions or evolutions you have already carried out, expose their results and your own conclusions.

This brief will allow you to lay the foundations of a healthy communication. It can be produced in text or graphic format and sent to the agency. It will become, during your first meeting, the basis of the exchanges and questions of your potential provider.

Determine your ideal agency

As the number of communication agencies is important, so is the diversity of solutions that can be offered.

In order to save time during your search, it is interesting to think of a "profile" of ideal partner. This profile will depend on the most important elements of your marketing project. For example, the key skills you absolutely want to find in your provider (web development, knowledge of luxury marketing, graphic design, etc.) or their location (do you want to meet them regularly or just remotely).
In some cases, you will want to meet some ultra-specialized profiles, in others, an agency able to support a more substantial project, integrating several specialties (communication and web application development).

You will also be able to determine the size and maturity of the agency. Do you want to integrate some juniors to discover some practices, do you want a freelance profile working alone or a solid agency with a proven track record on complex projects?

These questions will allow you to refine your search, especially on the web, and will avoid wasting time in useless exchanges.

Take the temperature

You have now selected your ideal type of agency and you know your brief inside out. All you have to do is get in touch with some of the communication agencies that match them!

But how do you identify the most effective ones? How can you be sure not to contact the wrong, incompetent, unavailable or, sometimes, dishonest contact?

The method is simple, it is a matter of making an opinion by taking a few minutes to inquire on the web, before contacting it. Read the content of their site to see for yourself if it is coherent. Take note of the projects already carried out and read some reviews on this company, for example on its Google page!

If all these elements give you an impression of maturity, stability and sincerity, go for it, otherwise, it might be better to pass.

Meet them

If you have the opportunity to meet with your potential agency, do not hesitate. If not, a video can sometimes do the trick.

Meeting an agency is first and foremost meeting a team, an atmosphere and ideally, a complicity. It is for you to really discover the talents that will make your project a success or a failure.

A good team can sometimes be incompatible with certain companies, as their worlds and working methods can be so different. You will have to find the one that fits YOU best, feel it!

Does everything sometimes come down to a matter of feeling?

Unfortunately, no. A good understanding should not blind you to the ability of this team to provide you with a real solution.

Determine your budget

To finish the succession of our little recommendations, here comes...the price of course. This thorny question that many find delicate and uncomfortable, but which determines the feasibility of a whole project.

If the price of a service or the budget of a company should not define a project (we will explain why in a future post), they remain essential to the possibility of a project to be realized.

There is no point in discussing it too long if the realization of your project is far beyond your current investment capacity. You should therefore consider this question before contacting an agency.

Define a global envelope representing a budget that is commendable for the project, without overestimating it, but without underestimating it either. To help you, the financial capabilities of your company are a starting point. To make sure that your budget is consistent, you will need to find out about the prices charged for certain services and support.

In this area, everyone should find a personalized, fast and efficient technique. However, beware of the ridiculously low information given by many sites for low-end services or services provided by providers domiciled in certain countries. Local practices sometimes allow them to obtain low prices to the detriment of the quality and living conditions of the populations.

Finally, if the exercise poses a problem for you, the agencies that you will meet should, to a certain extent, be able to explain their prices and their coherence with your project.

You are a professional and you are looking for a communication agency for your project? Make an appointment with our team to discuss your project and discover our tailor-made working method.