5 questions to ask before hiring an agency

You’ve decided you want to hire an agency to help run your campaign. But how do you find the right agency for your union? Here are 5 questions you can use to screen prospective creative agencies you’re considering working with. 

1. Are their staff unionized? 

Many agencies burn through staff with unrealistic workloads, deadlines, and limited benefits.

But when you work with a unionized agency, you know the people doing the work are being treated fairly. That means secure and permanent full-time roles, wages that are firmly above the cost of living, paid overtime, generous paid time off, health benefits, strong focus on workplace wellness, and a positive culture. 

Employers invest in full-time staff more than they do in contractors. Supporting full-time, permanent work helps make the advertising industry better for everyone. 

2. Do they outsource their work?

Most agencies contract at least some of their work out, especially in busy seasons. But too much outsourcing is definitely not to your advantage as a client, and it’s not good for workers either.

Relying heavily on subcontractors perpetuates precarious gig work. You won’t know whether the contractors are being treated fairly. Even if the agency pays their staff well, subcontractors typically don’t receive the same benefits and job security as permanent staff. Many of them start as term contractors with the promise of permanent roles that never materialize.

Not only that, but too much subcontracting often means higher costs for you and your union. Subcontractors charge fees that then get marked up by the agency, and that means more of your hard earned dues get spent unnecessarily. 

Lastly, subcontractors don’t get to know you, your goals, and your campaigns as well as dedicated agency staff. Because contractors are two steps removed, their level of commitment to your project is never the same. When you work with a permanent team you get access to a cohesive group that’s been brought together strategically to maximise results.

3. Do they do their own media buying?

Your ad spend is often the largest single line-item in your contract with an agency. 

When done properly, media buys can optimize a campaign’s reach and make it a success. Informed media buying can help achieve the best possible results for your budget. That might include maximizing the impressions and frequency you’re getting among your target audience, increasing the size of your email list, or driving traffic to your website.

Unfortunately, many agencies contract their media buying to outside vendors, and pay premiums for their services. In some scenarios, ad buyers charge up to 30% commission. That eats directly into your ad spend, meaning fewer impressions, clicks, and signups for your campaign.

But an agency that has this type of expertise in house can really make a difference for your campaign and budget. They can better coordinate with the creative, project management and strategic teams to ensure all ads are well tailored for every platform, and no one is working in a silo. 

4. Do their staff care about your cause? 

It’s hard to promote something you don’t believe in. But that doesn’t mean agencies won’t take your money and try to sell something they aren’t passionate about.

Especially when it comes to progressive causes, you want the agency you work with to be inspired, wired, and energized to help you succeed. Make sure you ask if your agency specializes in working with organizations that are similar to yours. If not, they’ll have a hard time understanding you and won’t be able to provide the quality services you deserve. After all, if you’re a union, do you really want to hire an agency that works for big union-busting corporations?

5. Do they have a strategy-first approach?

Taking a shot in the dark is a waste of resources. Even the most creative campaign can fall flat if it doesn’t reach the right people with the right message at the right time. 

A red flag for an agency that doesn’t value strategy is if they start work before conducting a discovery session with you. If an agency thinks they can come up with a solution without first getting to know you, your goals, and the problem you need solved, then that’s a sign the agency is throwing darts while blindfolded. 

When you work with an agency that takes strategy seriously, they’ll make sure they understand your organization, your campaign goals, and what success means to you before they even get started on concepting. There’ll also be the option to consider polling, data analysis, key informant interviews, and qualitative focus groups to help understand where your audience spends their time and what they engage with. This strategy-first approach ensures research-driven insights help deliver work that’s smarter, more targeted, and more impactful.

So, what kind of agency SHOULD you hire?

Your cause and your organization deserve an agency with good, clear answers to all of the questions listed above. If an agency can’t answer these questions satisfactorily, or if they avoid answering them all together, then that’s a red flag. 

At Point Blank, we’re committed to all five of the points on this list because we know they drive better results. 

• Point Blank is one of Canada’s only fully unionized agencies. We offer 50+ permanent, full-time jobs instead of relying only on subcontractors, perpetuating precarious gig work, or paying to use a union bug. 
• Point Blank is Canada’s largest progressive agency made up of the best strategists, campaigners, media buyers, and creatives from across the country–and they’re all employed full-time under one roof. 
• We offer in-house media buying with no double-charging and some of the lowest commission rates in the industry, so your members’ dues go up to 30% further.
• We have long standing working relationships with unions, progressive political parties, and non-profit organizations across the country. That’s because we only work with organizations and causes we believe in. We’re not in it to chase awards–impact work is our expertise.
• We use a strategy-first approach informed by data and research-driven insights to deliver campaigns that are smarter, more targeted and more impactful.

Want to learn more about Point Blank and the work we do? Click here. 

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