<div class="gn-article"><div class="gn-hero gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-hero__image"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/687a235da6861294eec73166/68a7398f4e2c524bbeb7aecf_s.png" alt=""></div> <div class="gn-hero__head"> <span class="gn-kicker"><span class="dot"></span>Growth</span> <h1 class="gn-title">How to Evaluate Your Marketing Agency Partners</h1> <div class="gn-meta"> <strong>The GO Network</strong> <span class="pip"></span> <span>9 January 2023</span> <span class="pip"></span> <span>6 min read</span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gn-body"> <p class="gn-lede gn-reveal">Like any relationship, brand-agency partnerships are easy to start but hard to perfect.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">A real marketing agency partner should feel like part of your team, and should be evaluated as such - so, regularly evaluating the performance of your marketing agencies is crucial for any in-house team wanting to get the best from an agency partnership.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">In this article, we're taking a step-by-step approach to evaluating your marketing agency partners, including our interactive <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/the-marketing-agency-evaluation-checklist">Agency Evaluation Checklist</a>, different types of analysis, and advice for taking a mutually beneficial approach to agency evaluation.</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Download:</strong> <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/the-marketing-agency-evaluation-checklist">The Marketing Agency Evaluation Checklist</a></p> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">01</span>Getting started with an agency performance evaluation</h2> <p class="gn-reveal">A good place to start this evaluation is by running something called a '<a href="https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/organisational-development/swot-analysis-factsheet"><strong>SWOT analysis</strong></a>' (<strong>Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats</strong>.)</p> <p class="gn-reveal">This is not intended to be a data-led analysis, but rather a <strong>pulse check</strong> to understand what you and your team think is working best, and where you need to focus your efforts going forward with your agency.</p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">How to run a SWOT analysis of your agency partners</h3> <p class="gn-reveal">Depending on what your timeframe is, you can run the SWOT analysis with just your team, or you can choose to include wider stakeholders involved in the agency relationship. Realistically, <strong>the more perspectives of those involved that you could gather here, the more rounded a view you will get</strong> on your agency performance so far.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">To clarify which section an idea belongs to, it helps to think of <strong>Strengths and Weaknesses</strong> as <strong>internal issues</strong> – that is, to do with the relationship with the agency. Think of <strong>Opportunities and Threats</strong> as related to <strong>the actual output of the agency</strong>, such as campaign performance or standard of final creative work.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">Example questions to ask about your current marketing agency during evaluation:</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Strengths:</strong> What do you enjoy about working with the agency?</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Weaknesses:</strong> Where are the challenges with the agency?</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Opportunities:</strong> Where could your agency activity expand? What do you like about the agency output?</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Threats:</strong> Where are the weaknesses in the agency output?</p> <figure class="gn-fig gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-fig__media"><a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/the-marketing-agency-evaluation-checklist" target="_blank"><img alt="Marketing Agency Evaluation Template" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/687a235da6861294eec73166/68a7390518f2085fdffae3b8_6107e761f4ae9367ea1cca79_Your%2520Marketing%2520Agency%2520Evaluation%2520Checklist.png" width="auto" height="auto" loading="auto"></a></div> <figcaption>The Marketing Agency Evaluation Checklist, available to download from The GO Network.</figcaption> </figure> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Properly analysing your current marketing agency with a SWOT analysis</h3> <p class="gn-reveal">It's important to be <strong>clear and honest when undertaking a SWOT analysis</strong> - for example, only class something as a 'strength' if it brings you a clear advantage.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">When addressing weaknesses, remember that these <strong>will only be resolved if you're honest about them</strong>. Don't beat around the bush, the whole point of an evaluation is to give you dedicated time to have hard conversations for the sake of better results for both you and your agency partner.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">When deciding on <strong>opportunities</strong> for your strategy to expand, watch out for changes in the channels your competitors are using - where they are winning is where you are losing.</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Changes in social patterns, audience personas and content styles</strong> can also throw up interesting opportunities.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">With 'threats,' <strong>try to benchmark against some industry/agency averages</strong>. Is your budget reasonable? Are response times typical?</p> <p class="gn-reveal">Once you have completed a SWOT analysis, you've got the groundwork for a more in-depth agency performance.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">Whatever has jumped out as a key challenge or benefit should be kept at the forefront of your mind as your run through the rest of the review.</p> <div class="gn-divider gn-reveal" aria-hidden="true"></div> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">02</span>Key Criteria to help with your evaluation</h2> <p class="gn-reveal">It may be tempting to focus purely on the bottom-line performance when it comes to your agency review.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">However, <strong>it's important to consider both quantitative and qualitative measures.</strong></p> <p class="gn-reveal">For example, <strong>you</strong> might be happy with the output of work, but your team working day-to-day with the agency might be spending a lot of their own time managing the relationship and have frustrations of their own.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">When evaluating your agency performance, you could use criteria such as these:</p> <aside class="gn-callout gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-callout__label">What this means for you</div> <h4>Key evaluation criteria for your agency review</h4> <ul> <li><strong>Creativity in the process.</strong> An effective agency should be able to contribute creative ideas and perspectives on projects, adding value to your own strength.</li> <li><strong>Think about outcomes.</strong> Some agencies might not perform well in a specific area, but you'll decide that they don't need to. Every brand-agency relationship is different. Try not to expect the world in every area.</li> <li><strong>Create solid targets.</strong> Based on the above, mark up your 'as-is' score for each area and then also think about your 'ideal' score for the agency. This gives clear indicators of where you need to see improvement for your agency, provided that the targets are realistic.</li> </ul> </aside> <div class="gn-divider gn-reveal" aria-hidden="true"></div> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">03</span>Final guidance for a successful marketing agency evaluation</h2> <p class="gn-reveal">Once you've built your criteria - or you're happy to work with our own <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/the-marketing-agency-evaluation-checklist">interactive standard agency evaluation checklist available here</a> - there are a few final points to make sure you're <strong>actually</strong> driving the process in a way that can drive positive outcomes.</p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Discuss the evaluation checklist with the agency in advance</h3> <p class="gn-reveal">Let your agency/agencies know that you're running this process in advance <strong>so that they can understand where any outcomes are developed from</strong>.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">Many times, tensions between brands and agencies occur when the agency think they are performing well in an area and unaware of the brand's perspective. Try to overcome this as early as possible in the review process: a good idea would be to share your SWOT analysis with them in advance, the criteria you're assessing, and give them time to absorb in advance.</p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Remember to also open yourself up to evaluation</h3> <p class="gn-reveal">As well as evaluating your agency performance, it's also a good time to <strong>evaluate the part you play in the relationship</strong>, and if there's anything you could be doing better.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">An agency won't be able to bring in millions in revenue if your budget is small.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">They won't be able to hit deadlines if you don't give them a reasonable turnaround time.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">As such, it's important to be transparent with each other about outcomes and expectations. This is something echoed by Velstar in our <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/mutual-success-the-best-of-brand-agency-relationships">'Mutual Success' white paper</a>.</p> <aside class="gn-quote gn-reveal"><q>The agency is working hard to help the client achieve the results they want, but to do this they need honest and the most up-to-date business information.</q><cite>Velstar · 'Mutual Success' white paper</cite></aside> <blockquote class="gn-blockquote gn-reveal">"From the get-go, agencies have to be transparent about what they can and can't do for a brand and set clear goals. This avoids any disappointment further down the line, and the client will value your honesty and trust you more. Equally though, <strong>a brand needs to be open and honest with an agency too</strong>, regarding business updates, feedback and any changes that they might need to know about."<cite>Velstar · 'Mutual Success' white paper</cite></blockquote> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">04</span>Next steps for evaluation of your marketing agency support</h2> <p class="gn-reveal">Even if you have a strong relationship with your current agency partner/s, regular reviews are healthy for both parties. It can lead to discoveries of what could potentially work better, not only on the agency side, but also your own processes.</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>To help you get started, we've put all the above into an agency evaluation checklist which you can download</strong> <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/the-marketing-agency-evaluation-checklist"><strong>here.</strong></a></p> <p class="gn-reveal">If, once completed, you feel there are too many areas of improvement to overcome, or that you may be better suited working with another agency, don't fall victim to the 'sunk cost' fallacy. Finding a new agency doesn't have to be hard work. <strong>We're always happy to have a conversation about next steps for your marketing strategy, just get in touch</strong> <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/get-in-touch"><strong>here.</strong></a></p> </div></div> <aside class="gn-related gn-reveal" data-auto="related-reading"> <div class="gn-related__label">Related reading</div> <ul class="gn-related__list"> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/how-to-research-a-go-network-brand-introduction-in-under-an-hour" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Growth</span> <span class="gn-related__title">How to Research a GO Network Brand Introduction in Under an Hour</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">A four-step process to prep for any GO Network brand intro in under 60 minutes, from brief analysis to competitor context and narrative read</span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/how-to-find-and-work-with-marketing-agencies-for-better-client-agency-relationships" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Growth</span> <span class="gn-related__title">How to Get the Best from Your Marketing Agency Relationships</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Senior marketing leaders share how to search, appoint, and evaluate agencies, so you avoid the common pitfalls and build partnerships that d</span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/agency-new-business-scoring-matrix" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Growth</span> <span class="gn-related__title">Agency New Business Scoring Matrix</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Qualify leads faster with 15 weighted criteria. 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