How to Get the Most from Your Marketing Firm or Consultant (Case Study)
Question: We are a maturing organization interested in
creating our first formal marketing strategy (including
market segmentation, messaging, goals, and action plans).
If we decide to work with a marketing firm to develop
this, what can we do to be really prepared to work with
them so that costs stay low and efforts are not wasted?
–Liz Rogers, Director of Development and Operations
Partners in Ending Hunger
Camden, ME
Dear Liz,
You've asked a great question, and one I hear frequently
from my prospective clients. You're making a significant
investment (in time and dollars) to advance your goal via
marketing. There's no margin for error. It has to be done
right – strategically and realistically – in a way that
works with the culture of your organization. Here's how to
make that happen:
A) PREPARE INTERNALLY AND SOLICIT ON-TARGET PROPOSALS
- Make sure that your organization is clear on its goals
before you speak to any outside resources. Issues to
review include:
- What are you trying to achieve? In what timeframe?
- What have you done to date toward that goal, via
marketing or otherwise?
- Is this marketing planning project part of a broader
organizational strategy or event (e.g., revision of
focus, new leadership, or fundraising campaign)? If so,
include details in the RFP.
- What do you think (in terms of marketing) can be done
to meet this goal?
- Specify the exact scope of work you want: Be clear about
the services you require to ensure you get proposals
that address your needs. Scope of work can include:
- Plan: What's needed (e.g., new messages, new
strategies), general timeframe, skills needed.
- Marketing Budget: Total budget broken out by focus
(e.g. product y, service x, general organizational
marketing) and type of expenditure (e.g., printing,
web design, proofreading, and postage).
- Phased Workplan: A detailed timetable of what tasks
must be implemented, by whom, and at what times
throughout the year to ensure that marketing
strategies are launched at the most appropriate moment.
- Implementation: Any or all of the following – writing
(one or two drafts, one or two revisions), design,
editing and proofing, project management (from finding
additional resources to executing a direct mail
campaign), web development and promotion, evaluation
of results, and revision of plan accordingly.
- Clarify what you're looking for in terms of deliverables.
Do you want just a plan, or are you looking for a plan,
timetable, and budget for a specified numbers of years?
- Request a situation analysis (looking at what you've
been doing, what's working, what's not, as well as
engaging in some research with staff and
constituencies) be integrated into the plan. Without
this, you'll be working in a vacuum.
- Are you looking for the work to be implemented in a
specific way? If so, clarify that.
- Other specs to include:
- What you'll do or provide for each element (e.g., you
may have an in-house writer whom you'd like to write
brochure and web copy).
- Timeframe and benchmarks along the way.
- Approval process.
- Your budget for planning and implementation phases.
- Point person within your organization.
- Write a comprehensive Request for Proposals (RFP),
incorporating all of this information and a reasonable
time-frame for receipt of proposals.
- Request referrals from consultant and firm referrals
from colleague organizations.
- Distribute RFP.
B) REVIEW PROPOSALS THROUGHLY AND CAREFULLY BEFORE
SELECTION
- Review proposals carefully, looking beyond the price.
Make sure you're comparing apples to apples.
- Do the proposals address all of the issues and
specifications outlined in your RFP (written or verbal)?
Good listening is critical to good consulting. This is a
good test.
- Once you've selected one or two finalists, work with
them to fine-tune their proposals as needed. This is the
time to do it. Then, re-evaluate.
- Call references.
- Select a proposal that outlines a clear working process
that will work within your organizational culture.
Ensure that the process includes staff members and builds
understanding among them, rather than just providing a
plan in which staff aren't invested and/or able to
execute or evaluate well, even with outside help.
C) MOVING FORWARD
- Choose one staff member to serve as the primary point
person. This is critical for project success.
- Build an advisory board of colleagues and others who will
be involved in the project. The more the point person
does to facilitate the work of this group, the better
chance for on time, on budget project completion.
- Review the proposed working process with the advisory
board. Work with the consultant or firm to revise as
necessary. Make sure to clarify:
- Frequency of status reports.
- Benchmarks.
- Schedule.
- Make sure all assumptions are clarified, from both
sides, before signing a letter of agreement.
Best of luck, Liz!
© 2002-2008 Nancy E. Schwartz. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Nancy E. Schwartz helps nonprofits succeed through effective marketing and communications. As President of Nancy Schwartz & Company (www.nancyschwartz.com), Nancy and her team provide marketing planning and implementation services to organizations as varied as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center for Asian American Media, and Wake County (NC) Health Services.
Subscribe to her free e-newsletter "Getting Attention", (http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html) and read her blog at http://www.gettingattention.org for more insights, ideas and great tips on attracting the attention your organization deserves.
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Revised April 12, 2008
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