If you’ve read our post on why we don’t typically respond to RFPs at Prosper Strategies, you know we believe that the standard process for finding and choosing a marketing and communications agency is broken. Instead of presentations and pitches, we believe in conversations and collaboration. Effective client-agency relationships begin with deep discussions about the client organization’s needs, goals and challenges, and the agency’s ability to address them. The very best relationships begin with discussions that go even deeper than that, getting into the organization’s ideal future state and vision for impact, and the role the agency may be able to play in helping the organization make that vision a reality.
So how can you ensure you’re having conversations like these next time your nonprofit wants to hire an agency or consultant? It’s all about asking the right questions and avoiding asking the wrong ones. Allow us to provide some guidance.
[bctt tweet=”Instead of presentations and pitches, we believe in conversations and collaboration. Effective client-agency relationships begin with deep discussions about the client organization’s needs, goals and challenges. ” username=”ProsperStrat”]Questions to Ask a Nonprofit Marketing Agency
The following is a list of questions you should consider asking a marketing agency before you hire them. These questions are all useful vehicles for exploring your needs, vision, and fit with a potential agency partner.
- What type of client or organization do you specialize in working with? How does that specialization inform the way you approach the work you do?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Who are some of your past clients? How does your experience with them inform the work you might do with us?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Can you give us some examples of results you’ve generated for other clients with challenges like ours?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What type of work do you specialize in? How is that specialization similar to or different from what we appear to be looking for?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Do you focus on strategy, implementation or both? How will that focus impact the way we work together?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Do you have proven methodologies for solving challenges like ours? What are they?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What types of work do you do in-house? What do you outsource?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How do you get up to speed on our organization and the nuances related to our cause or issue area?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Who will we work with on your team? What are their backgrounds and skill sets?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Will we have one main point of contact on your team? How and when will they communicate and collaborate with our team?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How do you plan your approach to projects like ours? Where and how will we be able to give input on that plan?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What processes do you have in place for capturing input or feedback from our team and reflecting them in your work?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How do you deal with creative conflicts or differences in opinion?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How much time will be required from me/my team to ensure we have an effective relationship that produces results?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What do your best clients do differently than everyone else?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How will you engage our various internal and external stakeholders in the work we may do together?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How do you set goals and measure success? How will you help us understand the results of our work together?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Is our budget sufficient for achieving our goals?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What does the typical timeline for a project like ours look like? How long will it take to see results?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - How do you ensure your team is staying current (or ahead of the curve) when it comes to your area of focus, our sector and the types of work we might do together?
Questions NOT to Ask a Nonprofit Marketing Agency
The questions you do not ask are just as important as the ones you do. The following is a list of questions you should avoid because they may harm your ability to find and work with a perfect fit agency more than they help. We’ve also included some thoughts on questions you can ask instead.
- What specific creative ideas do you have for our campaign/brand/plan?
Instead: ask about the agency’s process for generating and vetting creative ideas
[spacer height=”10px” id=”5″] - What are your specific plans for helping us achieve goal x?
Instead: ask about the agency’s approach to planning and measurement
[spacer height=”10px” id=”5″] - What tactics will end up in our marketing plan and how much should we expect to spend on executing those tactics?
Instead: ask about the tactical mix the agency has used for other, similar clients and how their spends have ranged for those tactics
[spacer height=”10px” id=”5″] - Can you guarantee we’ll hit goal x?
Instead: ask how other clients with similar goals have fared and what factors impacted their success or failure?
[spacer height=”10px” id=”5″] - Can you complete this “test assignment” to show us how you think and the sorts of creative ideas you come up with?
Instead: ask for examples of existing client work that best exhibit how the agency thinks and the sort of creative ideas they come up with
[spacer height=”10px” id=”5″] - Can you just put a proposal together so we can get a sense of price ranges?
Instead: ask what the firm will need to learn from you to determine if you’re a mutual fit, who they’ll need to talk to to get that information, and how they prefer to discuss the ways in which you might work together
Questions We May Ask You
Any agency worth its salt won’t leave this all up to you. They’ll guide you through the process of determining whether there is a mutual fit between your two organizations by asking you smart, strategic questions. If they are effective at this process, their questions will get to the heart of your needs, goals and vision and help them assess whether they’re the best firm for the job. The following is a list of some of the questions we at Prosper Strategies may ask you as we explore a relationship.
- The Dan Sullivan Question
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Why do you believe this work is essential to achieving your goals/mission/vision?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What happens if you don’t achieve your goals/mission/vision?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Is this project/relationship on your wishlist or your must-have list?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What does success look like to you?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What’s your budget for this work? Why?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Who is involved in making the decision to work with an agency like ours? Can we talk to them?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Can you share your organization’s strategic plan with us?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - When do you need to get started/go live/achieve goal x? Why?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Have you hired an agency like ours in the past? What went well/not so well?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Have you gone through a process like this to hire an agency in the past? How did it work?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Who else are you considering working with on this project/engagement? Why? Why are we in the mix?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Who would we work with at your organization if you were to hire us?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What sort of access would we have to your organization’s leadership if you were to hire us?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - If we could guarantee we could achieve your goals/mission/vision, what would the value of that be to your organization and the community or cause you serve?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What methods or processes do you have already in place for listening to community voice, engaging your diverse stakeholders and getting input on the lived experience of the people you aim to help?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What barriers do you think might exist to a successful relationship between your organization and our agency?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Can you tell us more about _______________? We might fill in this blank with all kinds of specific questions about your organization’s situation, strategy, revenue model, cause, team, and more.
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - What concerns or hesitations do you have about working with us?
[spacer height=”5px” id=”5″] - Do you feel there is a fit between your organization and our agency?
Believe it or not, these 46 questions only scratch the surface. There are so many things an agency and client can and should discuss when determining if they are a fit to work together. That may make you feel overwhelmed, but it shouldn’t. If you enter into your discussions with a potential agency partner ready to share openly and honestly, asking and answering questions like these will come naturally, and the relationship that ensues will be far stronger as a result.
