Secrets of success in agencies

How would you measure success? Is it a consistent increase in the number of clients? Is it an expanding company? Is it winning awards? Is it happy staff? Is it happy clients? All of these seem to feature to some extent. We've taken a look at how some iMedia agencies are defining their success to gain some insights.

Tremor Video claims, in this recruitment ad, that it is successful because it drives results through technological innovation whilst representing the brand and objectives of their clients. It is expanding rapidly, needing to increase staff as a result.

OMD is a communications agency that puts people before product and profit. They believe that by creating a happy working environment they will spawn better creativity in their staff. They are positive about winning so many awards too. And they're looking for a communications planner.

Maybe you will create a winning product for social media and define success that way. My Social Agency summarises a few Apps – Thumb, Chirp and Vine – that might feature. Got any ideas?

It seems that success means different things to different market segments. In the end it must be about winning clients and keeping them. Why clients choose one agency over another would appear to be the million dollar question. Alchemy Interactive defines its Top Ten Tips for Choosing a Web Design Agency. They cleverly define these on their site, offer them to educate prospective clients and explain how they meet the criteria. Neat, eh!

Their Top 10 are:

1. Agency’s track record,
2. Availability and responsiveness,
3. Team size suitable for needs,
4. Age of agency proves robustness,
5. Approachable, professional staff,
6. Transparent Terms and Conditions,
7. Capabilities of agency (some are biased not balanced),
8. In-house or outsourced work?
9. Online marketing experience as well as web design,
10. Work meets code standards.

All that remains is for you to define your success in your terms. That should give you a boost in the unseasonable cold spell.