I have read that 75% to 80% of clients do their own reviews and they shouldn’t.
Why? Because clients can’t possibly be current on the agency landscape that is changing quickly and dynamically.
The agency world is much different than it was yesterday. Yes things are changing all the time. Where you looking for a programmatic media buying company last year?
A Client has too many balls up in the air today. Social media, lead gen, Salesforce integration, funnel management, content management, dashboards, Bots, SEO, New Employee Orientations, Quarterly meetings etc etc etc.
You get the picture.
Also advertising is an industry of hyperbole and embellishment and separating fact from fiction takes knowledge and scrutiny. That you won’t find in a Google search.
What you see and read is not always totally true.
Like people, like families, like some companies, some agencies are dysfunctional and the people that work there don’t work well together. This leads to lots or turnover which can impact your business. You certainly don’t want to park your account there. Knowing those things take intelligence and somebody that is operating in those world on a constant basis.
Conducting an agency search takes a long time and is a lot of work. Anyone who has conducted a search knows that. Most clients do not have that amount of additional time to really manage the process in addition to their current workload in this economic environment where positions have been cut while the workload has in most places increased and the need for need for quick responsiveness accelerated.
On occasion I have been brought in to help with a review that the client has started on their own.
I often find that the agencies that have been invited to participate aren’t the right potential partners for the client. Their cost structures don’t align with the client’s budget. They don’t have the right experience.
These agencies came from recommendations the client received from their marketing friends. But these people most likely work in different verticals with different issues and their problems and needs are much different.
I could find much better candidates but the timeline often doesn’t allow the process to be restarting. In the end this leads to situations where the relationship and the tasks to be completed can be compromised from the beginning.
I also advise clients that during their watch they are stewards of the brand. As such they own the brand and should implement a review process that insures the best outcome and that is a review process managed by a skilled agency search profession.