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.

We’ve moved.  Packed up our desks and left Upland for the verdant office parks of Rancho Cucamonga.  The truth is, we ran out of space.  So to get some more, we moved in to a new office park that more than doubles our office space and lets us bump up the size of our photography studio.

Our New Address:
9360 Santa Anita Ave.
Suite 100
Rancho Cucamonga,
CA 91730-6151

Find Us On Google Maps

The Email Announcement We Sent Out:

You’d think with an in-house photography studio, we’d be masters of Flickr.  Sadly, this has been far from the case.  But today, Mike remedied our lack of Flickr participation with a batch of behind-the-scenes photos from some of our recent projects.  You can get a brief taste from our Mike’s Hard Lemonade session below, and plenty more in our flickr gallery.