We made it into the newspaper!  The Business Press — the business unit of the Press Enterprise — was kind enough to profile our agency.  They talked about our growth, the fact that we’re an agency run by creatives and discussed our focus on new media and the web. 

In fact, they were so nice that Mike’s completely forgiven them for misspelling his name twice, two different ways, in the article’s first two paragraphs.  Of course — to be fair — they published the article back in February and we’re just now giving it a mention on our blog.  We all make mistakes. 

Our personal shortcomings aside, you can check out the entire article on the newly rebranded BizPress (nice logo by the way) site. 

The truth is, there are good agencies and bad agencies.  And beyond that, there are agencies that could be good for one business, but a horrible match for another business.   So, as a business owner, how do you find the right agency? 

Here’s a list of the top five things we think you should look for when you’re choosing which agency to hire.  If we missed one, let us know in the comments.   

5 - Good References

If past clients love working with an agency, there’s a good chance you might as well.  But all references are not equal.  You should expect more than just a written statement or forwarded email from a “happy client.”  Instead,  ask for the phone number of current clients you can call - and call them. 

Chances are, in a couple conversations with an agency’s current clients you can learn more about that agency than all the pitch books, RFPs and websites in the world could tell you. 

We’ve found that our happy clients are our single most valuable source of new business.  Our pitch books get us in the door, but if we can get a potential client on the phone with one of our current clients, nine times out of ten, we’ve got ourselves a new client.

4 - Costs That Fit Your Budget

The greatest agency in the world won’t do you any good if you can’t afford ‘em - and conversely - if your budget demands more resources than the agency can provide, you’re going to be disappointed. 

The solution is to ask.  Some more traditional agencies have client minimums, e.g. - they refuse to take on clients who spend less than $xx,xxx per year, or more often $x,xxx,xxx per year.  Ask for average pricing on a couple projects you’re considering.  That should give you a pretty good idea if the agency you’re considering is at, above or below your price range.

3 - The Capabilities You Need

Nearly every advertising agency in the world has a focus, something that’s at their core.  Some agencies excel at media buying but have poor creative.  Other agencies can put together a fantastic PR campaign, but couldn’t create a website to save their lives.  Make sure you pick an agency that has a proven track record of creating the type of work you need.

The other side of the capabilities coin is industry experience.  Some agencies only work in one industry.  At Echo-Factory, we’ve very consciously chosen not to.  We’re afraid that limiting ourselves to a single industry could force us into a creative rut.  The downside of this decision is that every time we get a new client in a new industry - we have to invest a significant amount of agency time becoming experts in their field. 

While this can often mean that we might not make a profit on the first few jobs we take on from a new client - we feel that the creative benefits outweigh the practical challenges. 

However - this is something you should discuss with any agency you’re considering.  If they haven’t demonstrated work in your industry, make sure they’re willing to invest the time they need to truly understand what you do. 

2 - Work You’re Jealous Of

If you look at an agency’s portfolio and aren’t filled with longing for some of their work - look for another agency.  Sure - you don’t need to love everything they’ve ever done - but you want to find an agency with a sense of creativity that matches yours. 

All the awards and critical acclaim in the world won’t guarantee that an agency can create work that you’ll be happy with, and your customers will be happy with.  So make sure you see examples of things that make you say “wow.” 

1 - People You Like

Pick an agency you’d like to go out for drinks with. 

Our best client relationships are with clients who are our friends.  We like working with them, and we know they like working with us.  Truth be told, we probably do our best work for them. 

So, if you find a great agency, but don’t get along with the people there - move along.  They’re not the right agency for you. 

We’ve always thought of ourselves as a green agency.  We like the environment, and we try to do things in a sustainable way.  But, beyond making sure our RedBull cans end up in the recycling and trying to convince our clients to use sustainable printing practices - there’s not too much of an environmental impact we can have in our normal in-house operations. 

If we - as an agency - are going to have a significant environmental impact, it’s going to be through our clients.  Lucky for us, we’ve been able to carve a niche for ourselves in advertising for the energy efficiency industry. 

Precision-Paragon [P2]
Precision-Paragon [P2] was one of our first clients.  Headquartered in Yorba Linda, [P2] makes energy efficient lighting for commercial and industrial buildings.  They estimate that their products have saved more than 12-Billion Kilowatt Hours of electricity.  And, using the energy-savings calculator we built in to their website, you can see that savings translates in to the CO2 emissions reduction equivalent of preserving more than 64,000 acres of forest. 

American Lighting
Through our early work with [P2] we were introduced to American Lighting, a San Diego company that performs energy-efficient lighting retrofits.  In 2009 they were awarded for creating more than 27.7 Million Kilowatt Hours of electricity savings in the San Diego area alone. 

The PEERS Alliance
In mid-2009 we worked with NALMCO and [P2] to create the website and branding materials for the PEERS Alliance - a nonprofit industry association that is going after federal funding for energy-saving commercial and industrial retrofits.  The proposed program has the potential to hugely reduce our country’s energy consumption. 

In January we did a bit of lobbying work and set up meetings between PEERS Alliance board-members and some receptive congressmen in DC.

Every Watt Matters
A few months ago we began to work with Every Watt Matters, a company that provides home energy audits and energy efficient retrofits.  Since their launch in March Every Watt Matters has already moved into three California markets (Yucaipa, Claremont and Sonoma) , and they’re poised to go national. 

According to a recent study, retrofitting a single 1960’s era California home with the type of energy saving upgrades that Every Watt Matters performs could save 8.5 Tons of CO2 emissions.  Applying that figure nationally gives some staggering results.

A Sustainable Place
Greenwashing is an all too popular trend.  But our energy efficiency clients are doing real, significant things that directly reduce energy consumption.

No advertising agency wants to be typecast in one industry, and we do have a wide-range of clients in other industries.  But, if Echo-Factory is going to gain a reputation for working in a niche - one that has such a positive impact on the planet isn’t such a bad role to be cast in.

Content from the May issue of Rangefinder Magazine just hit the internets, and features a profile of our very own Michael Schaffer and some of his work for the California Lotto, Mag Lite, Boot Barn and Troy Lee.  We’re happy to see Mike get the press, but it’s too bad the article took so long to come out.  The interview was conducted in 2008, and things at Schaffer Photography and Echo-Factory were different then. 

In 2008, Echo-Factory was still a fledgling ad agency.  Mike was doing quite a bit of photography for outside agencies, with Echo-Factory providing art-direction and other creative services.  Today the vast majority of Mike’s photography is directly for Echo-Factory clients.

The article talks about Mike’s studio in Upland - today both our agency and Mike’s studio are still in the Inland Empire, but now at our fancy new offices in Rancho Cucamonga. 

Nevertheless - it is nice to see Mike’s advertising photography recognized.  He’s received a shelf or two worth of photography awards during his career - but Rangefinder really is the publication for professional photographers. 

We just hope it doesn’t go to his head. 

Read The Article <—Warning - that’s a PDF link. 

This year was Echo-Factory’s first time entering the ADDY awards, so we were pretty excited on Friday when we won the IE ADDY’s Overall “Best of Show” award, the event’s highest award.  Plus, all seven of our entries medaled in the competition. 

Of course - this isn’t the end of the ADDY road.  Two of our entries will be forwarded from the Inland Empire advertising competition on to the Southwest regional ADDY’s, where they’ll compete against work from Los Angeles, OC and Las Vegas advertising agencies. If we happen to do well there, they’ll head to the national ADDYs.

The Winning Piece

Our Overall “Best in Show” Award came for the “Voodoo Style” project we did for Precision-Paragon [P2]. 

[P2] hangs its hat on customer service, so when they made a mistake on an order, they asked us to help them make things right.  We created the package, and the day it arrived at the client’s warehouse, they placed another order with Precision-Paragon [P2]. 

Just this morning Lou Preston - the National Sales Director for Precision-Paragon [P2] - sent us this note: 

“We didn’t give the client a chance to write us off and find a different vendor.  We have worked together on many projects since, including his most recent request for a potential $150k project.  Thanks again for all that you do in managing the image of P2.”

  Winning awards is nice, helping our clients succeed is nicer.  We’ve often heard that award winning work is often very different form effective work.  We’re happy to prove that adage wrong. 

Our Other ADDY Award Winners: