How Client-Side Marketers Find Marketing Agencies

According to the 2023 Setup Marketing Relationship Survey, Word-of-mouth and Referrals consistently remain the most frequent methods Clients use to find new Agency Partners. 

This has been the case for the last five years of the Marketing Relationship Survey. 

When forming partnerships of any kind, trust is a huge component. Clients are asking friends and colleagues for recommendations, or even hiring members from old Agency partnerships (that’s why it’s best to never burn a bridge in the networking world). 

The data shows that ¾ of marketers are finding agencies via Word of Mouth with a nearly 20% increase from the previous year. Clients want to hear from a trusted source rather than take a chance on putting effort into finding a marketing partner that ends up not being the right fit. 

What does this mean for Client-side marketers? 

Only relying on Word of Mouth may seem like the easiest solution since the Agency search process is so daunting, but Word of Mouth referrals have their limitations. If we only relied on our immediate friends and family recommendations for food, clothes, anything, then there is a huge gap of missing potential. Why do you think people travel abroad? To learn and discover more than what is offered in their immediate surroundings. 

Think about the lost potential. 

In the last year, the Marketing Relationship Survey showed that Procurement and Internet Search moved up as means to find a marketing Agency, rising above events. Investing more in the Agency search and putting in work in the front end is a great way to expand your horizons and put less work into the backend since you’ll have a solid partnership with a qualified Agency. However, Events is ranking low as a method to find an Agency. Does this mean Clients are relying more on digital searches? 

Regardless, all of this effort takes time. 84% of Clients involved in the Agency selection process actually find it time-consuming because they have to uncover and assess the capabilities, chemistry, and experience of several agencies before finding the perfect match. Setup offers services, some of which are free to Clients, to help Clients find the best Agency that suits their needs all the while saving time, money, and resources. 

These marketing services include:

• Marketing Ecosystem Consulting - Gauge your team’s current operations and determines the resources you need to succeed. 

• Custom Agency Search - Explore your marketing goals and Agency needs, and then conduct a nation-wide, custom Agency partner search.

• In-Network Agency Search - Talk through your marketing goals and Agency needs, and then refer you to a qualified Agency within the Setup Agency network at no cost to you.

What does this mean for marketing Agencies?

Cold outreach emails and cold calling will not get your foot in the door. Clients are responding to warm introductions with previously established relationships. Meaning chemistry is more important than ever. 

Four steps to developing more chemistry with a Client-side Marketer include: 

1. Communication 

2. Understanding the person

3. Understanding the business

4. Viewing each other as a partner 

These may seem obvious, but miscommunication is the root to all relationship problems. Read Building Chemistry in the Agency-Client Relationship for detailed steps on how to approach getting to know your marketing contact and Client better. 

If you are a marketing Agency and relationships are failing and deals are still not coming through, dig deeper into who you are as an Agency. Evaluate your marketing stack, departments, internal communications, Business Development efforts, and more. Sometimes taking a look into the mirror and understanding yourself better will help you sell yourself better. If you need help, Setup has multiple services to help agencies level up.

These marketing services include:

• Agency Assessment - Provides agencies with an in-depth SWOT analysis and action items from data collected from internal and external stakeholder interviews.

• Agency Mastermind - A curated, peer-to-peer mentoring group of marketing Agency (10-50 FTEs) owners who meet monthly to discuss, brainstorm, support, and advise each other to solve problems and develop personally or professionally. 

• Team Building - Harnesses team bonding and development organically through improv exercises.

• Business Development Training - Arranges a customized workshop for your team to refine your BD strategy.

• Marketing Diagnostic - Evaluates Client-facing messaging and recommends methods to differentiate. 

Setup also partners with agencies to provide them with the right opportunities - sometimes by providing that warm introduction that gets an agency’s foot in the door through our Sustainable Pipeline offering. Let us be the Word of Mouth referrals for you!

By annually surveying the marketing community with the Marketing Relationship Survey, our hope is that we can bring to light behaviors and gaps between the Agency-Client Relationship. By understanding one another better, and by making the moves to better serve and work with one another, we can all save a little bit more time, energy, and resources, and finally check out that coffee shop your good friend recommended. WINK WINK