4 useful tips for choosing your com agency!
What exactly is a communications agency ? It is an agency that will communicate to the general public about your company, its values, its products, and its successes. Suffice to say that this is crucial for any entrepreneur who wants to succeed and maintain, or improve, his position against his competitors.
There are 4 main families of agencies in the field of communication:
Communication agencies offering communication consultancy services, creating graphics such as logo design to wafer, from advertising, to packaging …
Web agencies that offer website creation services. For this category we find different names (interactive agency, digital communication agency, web marketing agency)
Advertising agencies that specialize in developing advertising campaigns.
Marketing agencies that focus on the overall marketing of businesses.
In short, there is not one but com agencies, which meet specific needs and which each have a specific know-how. In large groups, these services are often internalized, which is not the case for SMEs, which must then call on these agencies on an ad hoc or regular basis.
And you, what is your need? Identifying your need and the type of service you need is the first step in making a successful choice.
Build your specifications (or brief)
As an entrepreneur, you know it well: a project that is poorly defined from the start will have every chance of not achieving the expected results. So do not neglect the specifications stage, which must take several factors into account.
Who is your business?
This crucial step will help the agency to understand who you are, where you come from and where you want to go. Suffice to say that if you skip this step, it will be difficult for the agency to establish a communication plan that suits you. It is also important to explain what your usual means of communication are, and whether you want to change them or not. What is your communication history?
Be frank and honest with the agency, without hiding anything from it. This will allow him to build a tailor-made communication strategy with you, and to establish a real relationship of trust between you.
Define your communication objectives
It is important to define what you want to get from the services of a communication agency by an app to keep track of work hours . Is it about winning new customers, changing your image with the public, increasing your presence on social networks, or even launching a new product? Do you want a one-off collaboration with the agency, for a specific event, or a more regular, long-term partnership?
During this stage, it is important that all your employees are present, in order to represent the company as faithfully as possible. Do not hesitate to call on a business coach to help you facilitate this process of developing your goals.
Establish your budget
All communication agencies do not have the same size, some work with large groups, on contracts worth several million euros, and others with SMEs on much smaller accounts. Knowing your budget range will make it easier for you to target the agency that might be right for you.
Choose relevant selection criteria for your business
The location of the agency
It is always reassuring for a company to choose a communication agency near its company. This being with the current means of communication, the projects can be perfectly carried out remotely. Just make sure that the agency is able to travel if a physical meeting is needed.
The size of the agency
It is recommended to adapt the size of the agency to the size of your company: you will thus have the same working methods, which will facilitate your collaboration. Choose the flexibility of a freelance graphic designer or a small com agency for a midsize business.
A large agency will conversely allow you to cover a wider range of services and have multiple contacts, but expect frequent meetings to move forward on the communication strategy, which will suit a large company better.