The desire to seek something better is a natural human desire.  After all, who doesn’t want something better?  But humans are also naturally reluctant to change.  It’s the constant alure of something better pulling against the security of something we know that creates tension in the workplace (and, often in our personal lives as well).

Nowhere is that tension felt more than in the sometimes tempermental relationship between client and agency.

The way things used to be, it cost a lot to find an Agency of Record (AOR), especially if you measured cost in time, frustration and lost opportunities in addition to money.  Clients were historically reluctant to make a change, finding it easier to stick with “the devil they knew” rather than the one they didn’t.

But with the advent of agency directories like the Ad Agency Red Book and then agency search consultants, clients found a much deeper pool of potential candidates and a willing group of hired guns to vet them.

To be sure there were (and still are) problems with this system.  The cost of hiring a search consultant was prohibitively expensive meaning only clients with larger budgets could rationalize the expense.  Directories were good at providing basic contact information but not particularly reliable in allowing clients to do an objective “apples-to-apples” comparison of one agency against another.

Then along comes the internet and the ability to process significant data points almost instantly.  In the ad agency search and selection game, this technology manifested itself in the form of www.agencyfinder.com.

Now, just one disclaimer, I’ve worked with AgencyFinder before.  My agency has received work from AgencyFinder and I’ve run agency reviews through AgencyFinder as a consultant.  But Chuck Meyst and his crew have developed a fair and objective methodology and a rich database on agencies based in North America (and now the UK, too).  And the price is right for clients who decide to search (or the search consultants they hire to do the search).

It’s free.

Yep.  Clients search the database for free because the agencies who are listed there pay a fee every year to maintain a listing and participate in the searches conducted by the service.  Every agency pays the same fee no matter how big or small it is, so there are no “favorites” in the system.  Every agency also has to complete a long and detailed agency survey that helps clients pinpoint exactly the right service or experience they need.

And because the service is free, clients of all shapes and sizes use it. This past year, that was nearly 800 searches for agencies. Not every account went to a big agency – because not every account is a big account.

But enough about AgencyFinder.  Whether you use that service or another, as a client there are five things you need to do in order to make sure your search for a new marketing agency is efficient, fair and productive:

1. Make sure you have taken the time, up front, to clearly identify what your agency will need to accomplish in order to be successful.  Any agency worth their salt will want to know what they’re up against.  As you’ve seen in our piece on client briefs falling more than a little short, many clients don’t do this kind of thing very well.  If this happens with an existing agency, it may slow down a project or create redundant expenses.  If a client is unprepared going into an agency review (or selection process) the results could be disasterous.  Imagine NEVER being on the same page with your agency … yikes.
2. Identify the best agencies that do what you need to have done in the industry sectors in which you operate.  Starting there, broaden your candidate list out to agencies with similar experiences and/or capabilities.  Certainly, this is where a service like AgencyFinder has a tremendous advantage over something like an agency directory.  Just remember, developing your candidate list of potential agencies is significantly more involved than just typing a search term into Google and seeing what comes up.
3. Have some idea of what you’re willing to invest into your marketing program once the agency is hired.  It doesn’t have to be a firm number, but trust me – you’ll lose the good agencies if you can’t tell them what you’re prepared to spend if they come up with the great ideas and show an ability to work effeciently.  Telling an agency you don’t have a budget or you don’t know what your budget is; is the same as telling the agency you’re not serious about finding a new agency.
4. Have a schedule for your review in place, publish it and then stick with it.  Today, a full-on agency review shouldn’t take more than 8 weeks; 12 at the outside.  And at the pace of today’s economy, losing a quarter because you’re reviewing agencies can spell disaster.  Be prepared to move quickly, make decisions and get the job done.  As critical as the time is to you, it’s doubly critical to the agencies who will be participating in the review.
5. Finally, make sure you spend time with agency you DON’T select to thank them and tell them why you picked the agency you did.  As a search consultant, I can tell you this is the hardest part of the job – but it’s the part that has yielded the biggest dividends for me.  The agency’s appreciate the show of respect and, more importantly, they try to improve.  It raises everyone’s game and the profession, as a whole, is better off for it.

Just like a rising tide lifts all boats, I suppose a well-run review greens all the pastures in the future.

Thinking about switching agencies and want to learn more about how to conduct a review, feel free to email me and we can arrange an obligation-free phone consultation.

Half-Day Webinar for Communicators at Food Manufacturers, Beverage Producers, Grocery Stores, Kitchen Suppliers, and Specialty Food Retailers.  Moderated by renowned social media expert, blogger, consultant and trainer, Sally Falkow, APR.

Use advanced social media marketing strategies to skyrocket visibility and sales— frontline practitioners reveal how to build loyalty, website traffic, press coverage, client satisfaction and sales

In just one-half day, you’ll cover:

• Best practices for using Twitter as a food and beverage marketing tool
• Key elements every food or beverage online newsroom must have to boost press coverage and Google search ranking
• Which social media promotions work best to boost trackable sales now?
• How to create communities of evangelists for your food or beverage
• How to track online conversations and mentions of your product—and how to respond when you don’t like what you hear
• How to create a cost-effective social media strategic plan “step-by-step”
• A bad review on food and beverage websites and blogs: What you can and should do about it
• Cultivating food and beverage bloggers and websites: What works and what doesn’t
• How to decide which social media are most valuable for your product . . . and which you can ignore
• What should your online messaging strategy be—and how can you communicate it in just 140 characters?
• To blog or not to blog: How to assess blogging costs vs. benefits
• How to build a large and loyal following on Facebook
• Most effective uses of online video—and what you need (and don’t need) to produce your own
• And many, many more tips, tricks, trends and inside approaches

Hear and confer with communicators from General Mills, Campbell Soup, and other food and beverage brands like yours, as well as other social media experts, who will share their “war stories” and valuable lessons learned.

Register Now (Early-Bird Discounts Available)

As marketers and sales people, we all know that companies now employ increasingly sophisticated means to avoid receiving “Spam”. And, since spam has come to dominate email on the Internet, it’s no wonder.

Internet historians believe that the first spam email was sent on May 1st, 1978, by a DEC marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. The general reaction was one of annoyance, and it hasn’t abated since. In 2001, only 5% of email on the Net was spam. By 2003 this figure had risen to 50%. Then, by 2004 it was 70%. By 2007, almost 90% of business email was characterized as “Spam”.

One line of defense is to buy your email marketing lists from providers who understand the nuances of spam blocking. One low-tech way that companies use to dodge your email is to frequently alter and/or use multiple syntaxes in email address construction. For example, Jamie.Bloomquist@thelistinc.com is an email syntax that suggests that everyone at The List Inc. has an email address consisting of Firstname.Lastname@thelistinc.com.

But that’s not always – or even often – the case. A study of several thousand major brands in The List Online database, determines that major brands frequently change, mix and multiply the syntaxes of their employee email address, in an effort to stay a few steps ahead of spammers.

For example, in a study by The List Online, it was determined that Proctor & Gamble uses 5 distinctly different email syntaxes. Coca Cola currently uses 7 different formats. Microsoft Corporation also uses 7 different syntaxes. General Motors uses three.  These syntaxes can also vary based on job functionality; for example brand managers will differ from marketing directors who will differ with CMO’s.

What does this mean to you? First, it means that deliverable email is getting increasingly difficult to count on as a marketing vehicle. CAN-SPAM Compliance has limited marketers’ options dramatically. Add to that the increasing proclivity for companies to utilize multiple syntaxes and formats and it means that accuracy in sourcing your email lists is essential.

With B2B opt-in email address lists going for $1 per record to as high as $7 per record, depending on the broker, it’s essential that you ask your list broker about multiple syntaxes and address construction formats. If they don’t know, chances are the email list is both filled with junk addresses and violates CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. You don’t want to spend that kind of money on a list that is both in violation of the Law, and, grossly inaccurate. Make sure you know how often your broker verifies email address lists both for syntax and CAN SPAM.

Visit the Sales Intelligence Solutions website

(From The Daily Dog)

For the First Time in Nearly a Quarter Century, American Automakers Best Import Brands in JD Powers Report on Initial Quality

(From Incentive Weekly)

How to Improve Consumer Packaged Goods Loyalty
MGM Mirage Changes Name, Relaunches Loyalty Program
Top 10 Ways to Recognize in Crisis and Recession

When: June 30, 2010
Time:  1:00 pm EDT  (30 minutes)
Where:  Online
Cost:   Free

It can drive you crazy. You spend and spend and spend on PPC, without harvesting the results you demand for the investment you make. Let the wizard of PPC Soren Ryherd from Working Planet Marketing Group de-mystify the PPC ROI tracking process with some live examples from PPC campaigns and clients, including ideaLaunch.com.

Learn how to track the ROI from your PPC investment with new methodology, tools and tricks of the trade. Learn how content marketing becomes your best asset with PPC strategy in turning more browsers into believers, and believers into buyers.

Soren joins host Byron White, founder of ideaLaunch and LifeTips.com on this months Content Marketing Webinar series focused on tracking PPC return on investment.

This 30-Minute FREE Webinar will help you do the following:

• Win the War of PPC Words on the Web
• Think beyond conversion and into the sales funnel
• Profitably Drive PPC Strategy & Tactics

Free 101 Content Marketing Tips Book

Attend this webinar and we’ll send you a PDF version of Byron’s newly published book, 101 Content Marketing Tips. It’s a $9.99 value and is full of priceless information.

Register Now!

Localeze provides the standardization of local search listings needed to create a consistent anchor identity for businesses, including name, address and phone number (NAP), on local search and social platforms, including Twitter. Localeze’s process of managing and enhancing listings allows businesses to directly take control of their online identity by providing a new level of access, governance and consistency.

“Local search business listings are one of the foundational pieces of context adding insight to social media interaction as they give users critical information about nearby places,” said Jeff Beard, president, Localeze. “For exploding social platforms like Twitter, it is essential to share where conversations are taking place so that consumers can fully engage with local businesses.”

To access Twitter Places, users need to enable Twitter’s “tweet with your location” feature and click “add your location.” Selecting the location populates a list of nearby Twitter Places offered by Localeze.

Localeze currently provides 14 million local search business listings, including nearly 600,000 verified and managed by local businesses to more than 90 local search platform and application partners.

About Localeze
Localeze is the largest business listings identity management provider for local search.  As a trusted partner, Localeze maintains direct, authorized relationships with local search platforms, national and regional brands, channel partners and local businesses. The company provides businesses essential tools to verify, manage and enhance the identity of their local listings across the Web. Through these relationships and access to authoritative local business information, Localeze is the largest provider of trusted, enhanced online local business listings in the local search industry. Localeze is a privately held company headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. For more information visit www.localeze.com.

SharpInsights #51: Going Coach Has a Whole New Meaning

The title “coach” used to be reserved for guys like Knute Rockne, Yogi Berra, and John Wooden-leaders who knew that winning took hard work, motivation and perseverance. Now, Americans are hiring coaches to lead them to different kinds of victory.

Letting Miss Daisy drive herself: The number of drivers who are 70 or older is growing and will top 30 million by 2020. Driving coaches prep seniors for their written and road tests, and research the most senior-friendly DMV offices.

Thinking outside the box: Death coaches help clients evaluate their myriad options including home funerals, green burials and low-cost alternatives.

Working 9 to 5 to 9: Career coaches edit resumes, conduct practice interviews, and advise job-seekers about everything from recruiters to social media.

Rewinding the gold watch: Retirement coaches help adults plan for the next phase in their lives which often involves a second career or new venture.

Name an activity, and there’s likely a coach ready to help you succeed. (Mediation coaches? Ohm…yes!) Can you leverage your company’s expertise by offering web-based or phone coaching?

Want more SharpInsights? Visit the archives at http://www.sharpmarket.com/sharpinsights/index.html

Top Jobs:

• Analyst & Media Relations Manager for US Public Sector, HP
• Communications Manager, PENCIL, Inc.
• Public and Media Relations Manager, Americans for the Arts
• Manager, Corporate Communications, Warner Music Group
• Sr. Communications Specialist, Wolters Kluwer
• Director of Public Relations, Glenville State College
• Vice President Public Relations, Select Medical Corporation
• Senior Account Executive, Volume Public Relations
• Public Relations Director, Purdue Marion & Associates

Post your resume for free today and access the newest jobs available for PR professionals.

When:  Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time:  3-4:15 pm EDT
Where:  Online
Cost:  $209

It’s a new decade in a new century … surely strategic communication must have evolved over the past several years? Yes—and no. While the explosion of social media—and the critical role it plays in reaching our audiences—has added new powers to our communication programs and campaigns, many of us still put far too much emphasis on tactics. Strategy is still you thinking in the biggest way possible about your business, and you don’t need a social media networking poll to tell you that.

Join Shonali Burke, Principal of Shonali Burke Consulting, as she gives an overview of why strategy is still important and how to demystify it. You’ll learn how to frame your communication strategy with the end-results in mind, and tie that strategy to your organization’s business objectives which is, after all, the reason our profession exists.

You will learn:

• The difference between strategy and tactics
• How social media should fit into your overall communication strategy
• How to connect your efforts to your organization’s KPIs
• How the 5W’s and H of public relations can help you frame your strategy
• Why good measurement is critical to the success of your communication program
• And more!

Register Now

Count me among the 11%.