What Makes a Great B2B Advertising Agency? 7 Virtues

How Do You Recognize a Great B2B Advertising Agency

-When it comes to choosing a B2B Advertising Agency to work with, it’s much like choosing a spouse. You want to work with an agency that can help your brand become the best brand it possibly can be.

It’s difficult to choose a great agency because, as Jonathan Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum point out in their book Under the Radar, of the “40 or 50 agencies in the United States that can actually manufacture a good campaign? 10 do it consistently.”

With that in mind, here are seven virtues to help you recognize a great B2B advertising agency.

The Seven Virtues That Make Great B2B Advertising Agencies Great

1. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Maximizes Purpose, Not Just Profits – Great agencies are driven by purpose instead of by the market, the competition, the numbers, or the client. The reason an agency does what it does goes far beyond billable hours. Jim Stengal, the former CMO of P&G, states in his book Grow that there’s a direct correlation between strong ideals and strong financial performance. Great B2B ad agencies that possess powerful ideals produce powerful work, have a powerful culture, and have the most powerful reputations.
2. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Stands By Its Beliefs and Principles – Ad agencies who state what they’ll always do and what they’ll never do gives you a sense of trust. Agencies with boundaries make it easy for you to make a choice of who to go with.
3. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Can Describe Itself In 30 Seconds – Great agencies can clearly tell you their positioning strategy. These agencies loudly tell you what they stand for.
   
4. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Focuses More on The Front End Process to Create Better Work on The Back End – A strong sign of great ad agencies is their fervent attention to the front end of the work process in order to produce superior work at the back end. B2B marketers who diligently focus on Strategic Lead Generation tools like workflow share this virtue. Both understand that planning and other functions within the company play vital roles to capturing success.
5. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Redefines “Work” – Great ad agencies understand we’re in the age of the knowledge worker and that great work doesn’t necessarily entail working at a specific physical spot. These agencies focus on forming a small group of smart people who can work with a wide array of external resources to get things done.
6. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Keeps Coming Back With Better Work – Great agencies will kill whatever you don’t like, and bring you back something better. They do this instead of trying to defend what they’ve started and end up in painful revision battles. Great agencies won’t argue with you, they’ll work with you.
7. A Great B2B Advertising Agency Places People in Roles That Maximizes Their Strengths – Great agencies understand that people who have great strengths also have great weaknesses. You’ll be hard pressed to find an employee who is both a big picture thinker and a crafty tactician. This is why great agencies hire and place people where their strengths can give the most value to the agency.

These seven virtues will guide you in your decision to hire the right B2B advertising agency. It is an important one. If you’re ready to hire, contact us for a free assessment and to see if we’re a fit for your brand’s needs: