When we becomes ye: Finding the right digital creative agency by - - PDF document
When we becomes ye: Finding the right digital creative agency by Chad Capellman, Taoti Creative NOVEMBER 27TH, 2017 Oh. My. God. We HAVE to redesign our website. And we need it yesterday. So far, youre
NOVEMBER 27TH, 2017
Finding the right digital creative agency
by Chad Capellman, Taoti Creative
So far, you’re nodding in agreement. Of course “we” need a new website. And “we” need the impossible, done yesterday. “Oh. My. God.” “And we need it yesterday.” “We HAVE to redesign our website.”
And then it happened. Leadership has decided YOU are the perfect person to fjnd the fjrm and make this happen.
In an earlier post, we outlined some key areas of consideration for writing a website redesign RFP. That focused largely on what you should consider about your own digital situation. The other half of that equation is focused
agency of choice is the right fjt for your
With that in mind, please consider the following questions when evaluating your prospective agency partners for your digital project.
What difgerent types of technology (CMS CRM etc.) do you have experience with? Technology isn’t the only piece of the puzzle. It’s also often not the fjrst thing that needs to be established. However, knowing an agency’s breadth of technology experience can help frame up numerous subsequent conversations.
Technology isn’t the only piece of the puzzle.
Why do clients usually hire you (or not hire you)? Firms often get hired for one or two key reasons. Knowing why
internal needs. Sometimes good fjrms are passed on because “they’re not a good fjt.” But that can be too vague an answer to be
asses that elusive goal of “fjt.” What types of projects do you most gravitate to? / What types of projects do you typically avoid? Given their druthers, many fjrms will say “what do you got?” as the answer to this question. However, it’s good to know what fjts in the sweet spot of a fjrm’s collective interest and skillset. What is an example of an innovative solution you have developed for a client? This is admittedly a broad question, but another one that can be
notion of innovation can mean difgerent things to difgerent people.
The fjrms that show an ability to adapt are the ones that will win the future for themselves and their clients.
What types of technology / projects are you working on now that you weren’t 12-18 months ago? Little changes faster than the digital marketing and communication
an ability to adapt are the ones that will win the future for themselves and their clients. In Taoti’s case, the answer is a combination of interactive infographics projects and some early-stage Internet of Things projects. But this post is about YOU, so we’ll get back to the remaining questions. Please describe your approach to working with large stakeholder groups? Small groups? True story. I once was part of a 25-meeting process to get the idea
a large bureaucracy can be helpful as you’re planning out your next
that include being too insulated to truly understand their audiences. Getting these questions answered can help you and your team get an early mental picture of what it would be like to work with them. Which is important, because you’re going to be spending a LOT of time together. What are your best projects
projects at $x Agencies are often trying to present an “apples to apples” comparison of their work to your industry / sector. However, sometimes a project they are extremely jacked about doesn’t have a home in your RFP response. This is a good way to see what a fjrm is capable of in a longer-term relationship, after the initial project is in the rear-view mirror. Similarly, it’s great to understand what a potential fjrm can do at a certain price point. Knowing this can provide helpful context around what you should expect from a similarly funded project.
Who would be our project manager? Your project manager will be the person you interact with the most throughout the duration of the project. Understanding what they bring to the table can provide valuable perspective. Please note that this is a tough question for fjrms to answer during the RFP response phase as there can be several months before a project
gives you a chance to meet them in person and get a feel for your prospective working relationship before signing a contract. What is your approach to project planning? It’s helpful to have an open mind with this question. When I was on the client side, I remembered calling a reference and getting the following advice: “They do great work, but you need to be willing to adjust to how they do things to get the best results.” This then can become a question about your organization and how it works as much as how the agency operates. What clients have you had a multi-year relationship with? If the answer to this question is “none”, you probably just saved yourself a lot of time. At Taoti, some of our client relationships are old enough they could legally drive. Have you inherited other digital projects or do you only do start from scratch projects? In the spirit of the phrase “you don’t know it until you can teach it,” I ofger “you don’t know it until you can undo the mess of someone who did it before you.” It takes a certain level of organization, intuition and technical skill to efgectively and effjciently inherit an existing digital project that was started by another developer or team. If you are hiring a fjrm to take
are likely to fjnd a level of optimism on their end that might not prove helpful in the long run.
It takes a certain level of organization, intuition and technical skill to efgectively and effjciently inherit an existing digital project…
How your chosen fjrm approaches content migrations can help you politically and fjnancially…
What is the largest content migration you have handled? One of the most diffjcult areas to predict at the outset in a website redesign project is the level of efgort required for a content migration from your current website to the new website. A hundred things can contribute to the migration going awry and slowing down the progress of a project. It is also very much a team efgort between your entire organization and the agency you choose. Understanding early how your chosen fjrm approaches content migrations can help you politically (and fjnancially) as you prepare your colleagues for what is about to be asked of them. What is your experience working with another design fjrm? / Another development fjrm? One of my favorite Olympic sports is a favorite only because of its name: Individual Synchronized Swimming. I mean, how hard is that? Similarly, it can be far less challenging to run a project all by yourself than it is to work with a larger team or other agencies. By knowing what tools, processes and experience a fjrm has when working with
sense of how you will navigate both the details of the project itself as well as who is responsible for what within a project. What type of projects do you wish you could work on more and why? Sometimes a fjrm has talents that it just doesn’t get a chance to demonstrate with its existing portfolio. Sometimes a fjrm has an infusion of talent who hasn’t had a chance to make their mark but brings capabilities they are itching to leverage for the right client. Having a sense of these capabilities can help you shape your perspective on what’s possible.
“On [URL], we have this
address it? Don’t worry, we are not asking for designs or anything.” In our experience, some of our best work comes when we are presented a challenge and asked to provide a solution, as opposed to simply responding to a request for a specifjc task or list of tasks that intended to solve a larger problem in which we were never a part of the conversation. With such an open invitation to provide solutions, you can get a sense of how a fjrm thinks about a challenge. “Our budget is X and our timeline is Y. Based on our list of requirements, which one(s) would you prefer not have included in
timeline and why?” With most website redesign projects, there is a range of solutions that can be applied to each requirement. And sometimes, there can be one feature in particular that could tie up so many resources that the rest of the project can sufger. For example, by insisting that people will show up and willingly engage with others if only an online community hub could be built into the new website, can often lead to disappointment and wasted budget. Getting a sense of how a fjrm views your RFP from this perspective can be a valuable exercise and one worth discussing internally to ensure the best value for your investment..
It takes a certain level of organization, intuition and technical skill to efgectively and effjciently inherit an existing digital project…
How does your fjrm approach user testing and what concrete examples can you provide of how it improved your deliverables? I once said in a pitch meeting to a client “No one has ever looked at a crappy web site and thought, ‘At least it launched on time.’” The real tragedy of ill-concieved websites and other digital tools is that most of the mistakes that are made are imminently preventable. There are proven methods - that Taoti embraces and pushes very hard to include in projects - that can ensure your site advocates for the user and helps them to effjciently achieve their goals. Some of these are digital and remote. Some are tactile and in-
notions into actionable steps and pathways that can simultaneously improve your user’s experience and support your strategic goals. The fjrm you choose should be able to demonstrate how they achieve this for you.
We understand that seeing a post like this from a digital creative agency is a bit self-serving.
But we also want to make sure we’re a right fjt for the clients we serve. As we’ve grown into our own space and have passed our 20th anniversary, we’ve learned the value of establishing deep partnerships with our clients. This happens best when our strengths best align with our clients’ needs. Want to ask us some of these questions to see what we have to say? We’d welcome the opportunity.
Begin the Discussion