Tip #3 ∞ Respect Your Agency's Expertise & Taste

To get the most from your ad agency, you should respect your agency's expertise and tastes and provide clear directions and goals for each project.

But keep in mind that with marketing/communications and advertising work, there are no "rights" and "wrongs." Communications is about reaching into the audience's psyche and getting them to act: the "good" in it is in the eyes of the beholder and the reaction of the audience.

How do you know if you'll like what the agency gives you? Evaluate their portfolio. If you don't like what the agency shows in its portfolio, or on its website, chances are you're not going to like the work you get from the agency. So don't hire them in the first place.

On the flip side, if you do like what the agency shows in their portfolio, and you think their past creative work is good, then let them do their job and give you their creative talent: That's what you're paying them for. But a word of caution: agency creative work is only as good as the creative people behind the work: Ask your account executive who wrote the copy in the brochures, who created the graphic design, who was the art director.

In short, who were the people behind the good creative that you like and will they be working on your account?

I've had clients says things like, "Now, I don't have much of a marketing background, but here's how I'd do it..." and then throw out an idea that in my opinion would have completely undermined the brand or key messaging that their company had spent thousands of dollars building.

I've also had clients who admit they don't know how to write well, and then go ahead and provide all the brochure copy anyway (and frankly, it wasn't good copy!). But, if you insist that your ad agency use your ad copy, and you reject the creative work they prepared and presented to you, then they probably will do as you ask: because they want to make you happy and keep you as a client.

However, you may have just cut off your own nose to spite your face: You're paying this agency to do the work, and then you just went and rejected what they developed for you. Why?

Your agency should have years of experience and a track record of proven success stories. They should know what would trigger your audience to act, so why not let them employ industry best practices? For advertising to stand out and get results, it needs to be fresh and different.

If your agency principals have a track record, went to college, studied under advertising greats, worked with people who were successful in the field, why wouldn't you take their advice?

If you don't like what your agency gives you, then you need to tell them why you don't like it, show them an example of something you like better. If they can't deliver what you want, then hire a new agency.

But don't expect the new agency to be much better if you're not giving them clear direction in what you expect and what you like either.