When hiring in-house talent, you’re looking for the most qualified candidate for the role.
Experience and expertise matter, of course—but so does fit. How will this person work with the team?
Do they communicate well? Do they understand the organization and its goals? And will they make the people around them better?
Hiring an agency or creative partner isn’t much different. There’s no shortage of talented agencies producing compelling, effective work. Portfolios demonstrate creative chops while case studies show relevant experience. Capabilities, credentials, and client referrals can help narrow the field. But those things only scratch the surface of what it might be like to actually work together.
At Orca Killer Creative, we believe the right client-agency fit is every bit as important as an agency’s ability to creatively solve your business and marketing problems. We encourage you to consider the following:
Look beyond the portfolio
A strong portfolio is important, but great work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It comes from a working relationship built on communication, collaboration and trust. When you’re evaluating an agency, consider not only what they’ve created, but how they got there.
- Do they ask thoughtful questions before offering solutions?
- Do they take the time to understand your business, your customers and the market?
- Are they comfortable challenging assumptions?
- Are they equally comfortable listening when you know your business best?
The answers can tell you a lot about whether you’ve found a vendor or a true partner.
Chemistry matters. You don’t need to become best friends with your agency team, but you’ll probably spend a fair amount of time together. There will be brainstorms and presentations, tight deadlines and shifting priorities. There may be ambitious ideas, unexpected challenges and the occasional “we need this yesterday” request.
The right agency should feel like an extension of your team: people you can communicate openly with, whose expertise you trust and who understand how to work within your organization.
That chemistry can be difficult to quantify on an RFP scorecard, but over the course of a long-term relationship, it matters.
Pay attention to the way they work. Process may not be the most exciting part of choosing an agency, but it becomes pretty important once the work begins.
- Who will you actually work with?
- How does the agency manage communication and feedback?
- How transparent are they about budgets, timelines and scope?
- What happens when priorities change?
- How do strategy, creative and execution work together?
The best partnerships have enough process to keep everyone aligned without creating unnecessary layers between the client and the people doing the work.
The fit goes both ways. Agencies are evaluating fit, too. The strongest relationships happen when both sides value what the other brings to the table. Clients know their organizations, products and customers. Agencies bring an outside perspective, specialized expertise and creative problem-solving.
When both teams can be candid, collaborative and respectful of each other’s expertise, the work gets better, and the process a lot more fun.
Find the team you want at the table. Talent, experience, and results matter. But when several agencies can check those boxes, the differentiator may be something less tangible:
- Can you see these people sitting at the table with your team?
- Do you trust them to tell you what they think?
- Do they understand your goals, and genuinely interested in helping meet them?
Because you’re not just hiring an agency to make things. You’re choosing people to help solve problems with you. And that’s where the right fit can make all the difference.
