If you’re about to hire an agency, let’s make sure you do it right.
Don’t hand this decision over to a committee. They chase consensus, and consensus is where good ideas go to die. If you want something great, take the reins yourself.
Great agencies aren’t in the business of writing documents to impress a boardroom. Proposals are a waste of time—yours and theirs. The best insights come from real conversations. On the phone, in person, like humans. If an agency knows what they’re doing, they won’t need to dress it up in a PDF.
The work? Start with what stops you in your tracks. The brands that command attention. The campaigns that hit hard. The websites that make you feel something. Find the agencies behind that work.
Now you’ve got a shortlist. Meet the people at the top. Chemistry matters. Great partnerships don’t just happen—they’re built on trust, shared ambition, and a little bit of fire.
Look for the agency that makes you sit up and take notice. That’s the one worth talking to.
Then, talk money. The best agencies don’t sell time; they sell outcomes. The cost of their work reflects the impact it delivers. If you treat this like buying office supplies, you’re already losing.
This isn’t a project—it’s an investment. Short-term thinking gets short-term results. The best agency relationships are built on long-term strategy, big-picture goals, and the drive to create something that actually lasts.
Maybe you've been burned. Maybe you're wading through a sea of slick decks and big promises. Maybe you don’t even know where to start. Let’s fix that.
Choosing an agency isn’t about the lowest bid or the loudest pitch. It’s about finding a team that understands business, customers, and the art of persuasion. The best work doesn’t just look good—it works.
But choosing the right agency is just the first step. If you want to get the most out of your investment, understand these five fundamental truths:
Hire pros, not pretenders
A website, a brand, a campaign—these aren’t just boxes to check. They are business tools, and their effectiveness determines success. The best agencies sharpen their craft, refining strategy, precision, and execution over years of experience.
Cheap work cuts corners. Committees kill vision. Budget freelancers charge less because they know less. The agencies that deliver results are the ones that know what they’re doing and charge accordingly.
Strategy before aesthetics
A brand that doesn’t convert is decoration. A site with no clear direction is noise. The strongest agencies focus every move—from copy to layout to positioning—on business impact. The best work starts with clarity: Do you want want you sell? What are the goals? Who is the audience? What do they need? What will move them to action?
If an agency isn’t asking these questions, they’re decorating, not designing.
Trust over micromanagement
Hiring an expert means trusting their expertise. The best work happens when trust is established. Good agencies take input, ask the right questions, and refine the vision. But nitpicking every design tweak and second-guessing every headline turns an expert into an order-taker. That’s not how great work gets made.
When personal taste overrides strategy, the result suffers. The best agencies are trusted to do what they do best.
If it doesn't sell, it's not creative
Cleverness doesn’t cut it—effectiveness does. A campaign that wins awards but doesn’t drive revenue is just expensive. Great agencies build brands, websites, and campaigns that persuade. When an agency isn’t focused on that, clients pay for fluff instead of results.
Great clients get great work
The best clients demand excellence but respect the process. They push for the best but trust the experts. They don’t chase trends—they seek change and results.
If the goal is to hire an order-taker, there are plenty of those around. If the goal is to work with an agency that challenges thinking, refines messaging, and builds work that actually works, then it’s worth making the right choice.
Because in the end, it’s not about hiring just any agency. It’s about hiring the right one.
— Kevin Mooney
