RSW/US has been supporting marketing agencies’ new business efforts with our outsourced agency new business/lead generation program since 2005. To learn more, click here.
We know that your website is one of the hardest working members of your agency new business team. It’s your storefront. It’s a home base that’s yours to build as an accommodating and frictionless experience for those looking to do business with you.
The purpose of this effort is to help other agencies better the way they present their firms on their websites. The agencies featured have solid sites, but that said they still need some work.
Our hope is the perspective we provide in our reviews will help your agency improve how you present your brand.
Check back every two weeks for a new review of agencies by type and size.
Click on any of the images below to get the complete view of RSW/US’ perspective on what makes for a great digital, media, full-service, or PR agency website.
Each site is evaluated for its UX, results orientation, clarity & crispness, positioning definition, legitimacy, and consistency.
Small Agencies (<50 employees)
Website Scorecards
The quality of smaller agency websites varies considerably, probably more so than any other sized class of agency.
Having a well messaged, solidly built agency website is extremely critical for smaller agencies trying to out-punch their weight in most cases.
The last thing a small agency wants to have happen is to have a marketer come to your site and quickly realize that your agency isn’t near capable of managing their business.
Sound functionality, clear and poignant messaging, consistency, and results-orientation are key to creating a “bigger than reality” presentation of your agency.
Also very important is legitimacy…showing that market that you’ve worked with clients that they can relate to. Careful though…don’t turn your client logo showcase into a barf-fest of client names. Make it meaningful, not unbelievable.
Click Below to View Agency Website Scorecards!
Mid-Size Agencies (51-100 employees)
Website Scorecards
Finding a great mid-size agency can be a real win for a marketer. Usually mid-size shops have many of the capabilities of the much larger agencies, but are much more nimble and agile than the large, slumbering firms.
Mid-size agencies need to project this value – and unfortunately oftentimes they don’t.
Showing more of your good looking team with lots of different types of expertise is a great way of building confidence among marketers.
Showing prospects that you not only know how to put together a well-oiled website but also know how to deliver the results and put that market in a position where you can grow right along with them.
The dimensions to a great site for small agencies also holds true for mid-size firms. You want marketers to come to your site and immediately know what you’re good at, who you are, what you do better than most.
You want that marketer to know that you understand their space and that you’ve solved problems like theirs.
Click Below to View Agency Website Scorecards!
Large Agencies (101+ employees)
Website Scorecards
Larger agencies probably have the most difficulty of any sized agency in articulating a unique, ownable story – because they do so much of everything.
But that doesn’t mean that a larger agency can’t find a differentiating way of talking about their value proposition that is going to make marketers stand up and take notice.
What a large agency should have all put together is all of the other things important to a great site: results orientation, excellent functionality, consistency, clarity, and legitimacy.
Legitimacy for all sized agencies not only manifests itself in the type, number, class of clients they work with, but also in how they live by what they sell.
Agencies (regardless of size) need to walk the talk. If they are big believers in establishing a strong thought leadership position for their clients, they need to do the same for themselves. The last thing an agency (of any size) wants is to have a marketer come to their site and see that the last post was years prior.
Live by what you sell – agencies of all types and sizes!