The Agency Selection Checklist

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🤝 THE AGENCY SELECTION CHECKLIST

The right partners are force multipliers — the wrong ones waste your budget
FROM “CLICK HERE” BY ALEX SCHULTZ

🏢
The Four Agency Types You Need

1

Technical Platform Agency

Manage tech stack integrations, ad bidding engines, tracking implementation
  • Track record of success with multiple clients
  • Great reference checks
  • Proven experience with YOUR platform (e.g. Shopify)
  • Your engineering team is excited to work with them
Dominated by one big client — couldn’t adapt to others
“Nothing can make a technical agency succeed more than an engineering team that is excited to work with them”

2

Marketing Agency

Traffic ads, use technical tools, scale your campaigns
  • Knows more about the platforms than your team does
  • Proud of RESULTS, not industry awards
  • Excellent references
  • Competitive pricing
Leads with awards rather than ROI case studies
“Can they teach you things about getting results that you don’t already know?”

3

Creative Agency

Produce direct response creative that drives action while respecting brand
  • Focus on results over awards
  • Case studies showing creative that drove sales
  • Strong reference checks
  • Brand marketing team is excited about them
Homepage features awards but no mention of ROI
“Walk me through examples where your creative made the difference on sales”

4

SEO Agency

Optional

Advise on organic search optimization
  • Case studies proving real impact
  • Clean practices (no shady link buying)
  • Implementation team (engineering) is bought in
History of link buying or black-hat tactics — “when an agency takes risks like this then moves on, you’re left holding the bag”
If possible, do SEO in-house — an internal person has a better chance. With the right internal talent, you should not need an SEO agency.

📋
Universal Selection Process
1
Competitively bid to get the best result
2
Get references — both agency-provided AND your own backchannel
3
Ask for case studies where their work got results
4
Have key internal teams (including finance and procurement) interview and vet the agency
5
Make your internal partners feel responsible for the success of integrating the agency
“When stakeholders feel ownership, outcomes improve dramatically”

⚖️
In-House vs. Agency Decision Matrix
Factor Stay with Agency Bring In-House
Scale Fees are manageable Fees exceed cost of building a team
Cross-Client Learning Channel moves fast, agency sees trends across clients Channel is mature, little changes
Pace of Change Industry evolving rapidly — agency stays nimble Industry stable — in-house can keep up
Integration Depth Lightweight integration needed (e.g. SEM tracking) Deep product integration required (e.g. SEO)
Key insight: Meta uses an agency for paid search despite being a tech company — because the cross-client learning, pace of change, and low integration value make it the right call.

“Take the decision of in-house versus outside agency seriously. When I’ve been involved in a project where we have taken this seriously, we have never regretted it — when we haven’t been as careful, we have. Unwinding such a relationship is hard and costly.”

✅
Quick Reference Checklist
  • Determined requirements for each agency type
  • Key internal stakeholders feel invested in success
  • Run competitive bidding process
  • Checked references through backchannel (not just agency-provided)
  • Engineering / tech team has met and approved technical agency
  • Brand team has met and approved creative agency
  • Procurement is included early in the process
  • Evaluated in-house vs. agency on all four dimensions

From Click Here by Alex Schultz | clickheretogrow.com

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