Choosing an ad agency: when is help needed? What factors should be considered?

• Author: Kronemyer, Bob
• Position: Media & Marketing

TO GET THE MOST BANG out of a buck with an advertising agency, businesses should not base their choice solely on creativity. Agencies that are honest, meet deadlines, offer expanded services and have the right personal chemistry will increase the likelihood of long-term success.

"At a minimum, ad agencies provide creative work and media buying," says Harry Davis, president of MZD Advertising in Indianapolis. "In other words, they can create the materials that go into the media and they can place the media. But we consider ourselves a full-service agency. This includes strategic planning, market research and public relations."

Although public relations involves seeking non-paid media placements, "it should encompass the same feeling and the same message and fit the same strategic plan as the paid media," Davis explains. "It is important to create synergy between the paid and the non-paid media."

Companies should consider enlisting an ad agency when they don't have the time or the talent internally to do it themselves. "They may also need objective counsel," Davis says. "For example, as a businessman, I don't try to do legal work because I'm not schooled in that." Similarly, for advertising and marketing, there are certain methods and tools available, such as databases of information about media placement and the cost.

Factors to consider.

"Some agencies have areas of expertise," says Gerry Randall, chief operating officer at WilliamsRandall, with offices in Terre Haute and Indianapolis. "Although we are a general advertising agency, we have capabilities in consumer and business-to-business research and Internet development."

Budget is another factor to consider. "Certain agencies have minimum budgets they will consider," Randall says. For example, larger agencies may require a minimum commitment of $500,000 a year. "Smaller agencies, though, are more likely to work project-to-project," Randall notes. "From an agency standpoint, it's not so much the overall budget, but the percent allocated to the agency." A large percent of the overall budget may be allocated to media buys, which do not benefit the agency.

A number of clients with in-house departments to handle advertising and/or marketing still occasionally use Burkhart Cain Associates as a consultant "to take a fresh view," says Paul Burkhart, president of Burkhart Cain Associates in Indianapolis. "We've also helped companies set up an in-house marketing department. This includes graphics...