Are you in need of a brand refresh? Time to bring in an amazing agency!
Before you hire an agency, you want to make sure they’re the right fit — which means doing your research. Once you’ve given a few branding agencies’ portfolios a review and considered the most important factors to you for hiring an agency, which we explained how to do in Part 1 of this series, then you’re ready to start interviewing some of the finalists whose work you liked and whose style you think will work for you.
The interview process is critical for now determining whose process and working style will work best for you. By coming in informed and prepared, you’ll be able to ask smart questions and determine who is a perfect fit for your needs.
So here’s how to walk through the entire interview process from start to finish.
1. Contact the agencies you liked – and pay attention
The interview really starts the moment you send that first email to an agency.
After you send in your initial inquiry, how long is take them to reply? Do you get a real, human message back or do you get an automated robot reply? How clear are they about next steps? How enthusiastic do they seem in wanting to get started?
Listen to your gut in these early, early interactions. The way an agency handles you as a potential client tells you a lot about how they’ll handle you as a client too.
If you feel like you’re a low priority, like you’re not being heard, or like it’s hard to get a moment of this agency’s time, listen to that feeling and consider going somewhere else. Similarly, if they seem disorganized, unprepared, or generally chaotic, that’s good to listen to as well. This company is going to require a lot of your time and money, and you want those things to be handled well.
2. Talk to them on the phone for an initial screen
If you like your email interactions with the agency, set up a time to talk to them on the phone. You should be prepared to maximize this time by asking more specific questions that will let you know whether or not it’s worth your time to move forward.
We’ll provide a list of good questions to ask below, all of which we think are important questions to hear the answers to. However, you can customize this interview however you’d like; the most important thing is that you hammer out details that might be deal-breakers for you. You want to know sooner rather than later if this partnership is going to work for you.
Questions to ask in your phone interview:
What type of budget do you usually work with on projects?
You want to hear how your budget matches up against the types of projects they normally do. If they usually do huge projects and you have a small budget, it’s probably not a good fit since you’re likely not to be a high priority.
If they say, “It depends,” don’t let them just get away with that. They should be prepared to back up why it depends. Being vague about budgets and scope of projects is not a quality you want in an agency who is going to be handling your money.
What is your current workload?
There is no right or wrong answer here in terms of how many projects any agency can handle (it depends on a number of factors including size, clients, scope of current work, and even just individuals on their team). Instead, you want to hear that this agency is confident that they can make time for you and get your work done on time. Do they express that? Or do they sound like they have a lot on their plate?
How many people will be dedicated to my project?
Does the number they say make sense to you? Can they explain why? If they’re vague, again that can be worrying and might show that they have a good handle on the work they already have.
What is your payment schedule?
Do they expect payments up front? Are they over time? How do they charge for maintenance and upkeep after the primary part of the project is done? Again, no right or wrong answer – it’s all about what works for your budget and expectations.
If you miss a deadline, what does that mean to my project?
Will you hear about deadlines before they’re missed? How will you hear about it? Will you get input on troubleshooting? How will it affect your budget?
What’s the procedure if we go over budget? Will you tell me before or after?
How do you manage me, as the client?
You want to know how this agency is going to work with you. Do they have systems in place for communicating? How often do they touch base? At what stages will you get to see the work? How regularly do you get project status updates? How do they take your feedback?
Do they expect you to adhere to their processes, or will you be expected to lay out your process and help them adhere to it?
Ideally, your relationship with your agency will be a little bit of both. You want them to manage you, to a certain extent – they are the experts at this process, after all, and you have a full time job to do. However, you are an expert in your industry and as such, you should have a voice in the project’s direction. Plus, you are the one who is paying for and living with the brand, so at the end of the day, you ultimately need to feel like you’re communicating and working in a way that works for you, and then you’re getting a final product that you’re happy with.
3. How do you feel?
Despite how tactical many of the above questions are, the last step of the interview process is sitting down and thinking about how you feel.
When you talked on the phone, you got a lot of information. If everything you learned sounded good budget-wise and process-wise, then that’s good! But one of the most important things to consider is how it felt to talk to that agency.
Did you feel excited? Did you feel like they were excited? Or did you feel rushed along or like the person on the other end was just paying you lip service?
Working with an agency is just like working with anyone else – it will go a lot better if your styles match up and you’re excited about each other. If you felt like the agency was excited to work with you, and like they understood what you have in mind for your working relationship, then that is just as important as finding a good match for your budget and the scope of your work too.
4. Set up a meeting and talk to the whole team
Finally, when you really like an agency and you’ve had a great first call with them, set up a time to come in and meet the team. This is where you’ll get to really dive into the work you want done and get to see how they react to the task at hand.
Take note of all the personalities on the team, and how enthusiastic they are for the project. If you feel like they’ll do great work, challenge you (and accept your challenges back) as you grow and develop your brand, and take your project all the way from beginning to end, then you can feel confident when you sign on the dotted line.
The best projects are the ones where everyone involved is truly working together.
By thoroughly researching and vetting the branding agency you choose to work with, you’ll turn your branding experience from something that just needs to get done into an incredible learning experience for you, your agency, and your whole business.
Happy branding!