The UK Government’s Business Link website has a great list of questions every marketing manager should ask a prospective agency.

We’ve answered them for you, so you’re better informed.

1. Find out the size of the agency
We’re growing. The five of us that form the core of The Hunting Dynasty have run departments of people that run into the hundreds. And recently too. That means we know all the right agents and facilitators to get things done without having an army of staff that have to be shoe-horned into a project (and paid for). From our office space in King’s Cross, London we offer the rarest of combinations – nimble, but hugely experienced.

2. Check if they are members of any professional associations
We’re not members of Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) because The Hunting Dynasty hasn’t been trading for over two years – in all other respects, we’d join.

3. Ask what media they specialise in and if they have any particular creative strategies they prefer to use
We have an extraordinary amount of experience in digital media and big agency work.

It’s very clear that digital media has transformed the way we engage with each other – whether that’s friends, family, or brands. So the strategies we like to use lean much more on Community, Co-creation, Customisation, and Conversation – simply ploughing ahead with E. Jerome McCarthy’s ‘four P’s’ of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion yield fewer and fewer returns.

Oliver recently saw Lorraine Heggessey – the ex-controller of BBC One and now the Chief Executive of the production company Talkback Thames who make X Factor – on a government panel. She was talking about how big brands know viewers are time-shifting the X Factor and consequently fast-forwarding through TV ads. In response, big brands are producing content-pieces around the show, the contestants, and the contestant’s families, using all the mechanisms of digital communication, including websites, youtube clips, facebook, twitter and emails to generate conversation, trial, and recommendation around their product(s).

4. Examine their past campaigns and find out how successful they were
Justin ‘Runningman’ Hall “the ‘Naked Chef’ of the environmental shows” clearly recommends our strategic work for his real-world/digital-world charitable giving project:

“It’s clear you and your team have been quick to absorb the complexity of this diverse and demanding new media proposition and in doing so made a concerted effort above and beyond our expectations… Again very impressive work.”

The directors bring with them vast amounts of success for clients in previous agencies – a peak ROI of 17:1, tens of millions of dollars of revenue, and bucket loads of awards. In addition, they are invited to judge their peer’s work, and can claim world’s firsts, client firsts, and agency firsts in marketing.

(It’s the ROI of 17:1 that really matters though.)

5. Look at their types of clients, past and present
Our portfolio spans advertising FMCG’s in Europe, to generating ideas that effortlessly repositioning global institutions, and communication plans that drive projects forward for years to come.

We have short-hit tactical promotions too, and we frequently find best-in-class partners for clients new and old.

6. Ask about the main people who will be working on your account and their track record
You’ll mainly be working with Oliver and Colwyn. The rest of the team depends on the solution to your need.

Oliver has picked up awards for his work over the last 15 years at Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy, has generated millions of dollars/pounds/Euros of revenue, and is even asked to judge his peer’s work – most recently in website and innovative advertising categories. Colwyn has the same big-brand big-agency experience at Leo Burnett and Bates – at home and abroad. And in 2006 she co-founded a successful brand planning partnership focused on socially and environmentally responsible brands called Green Sky Thinking.

7. See if they have any experience of working for your type of business and if they understand the competition in your field
Direct experience with sustainable products & services includes: Charity, Fashion, Telecoms, Post-Grad Education, and FMCG. These clients span local, European, and global markets.

Broader marketing experience includes clients in: Automobiles, Architecture, Cosmetics, Finance, Food, Fuels, Media, Recruitment, Sport, and Technology amongst others, again globally, regionally, and locally.

One of the most interesting pieces of feedback from presentations we’ve made about sustainable communication is the observation that environmental people have trouble crafting messages for anyone other than environmental people. Evidently, we have a lot of experience crafting messages for anybody and everybody.

We’d love you to take advantage of that.

8. Check how they assess a campaign’s effectiveness
By agreed measurement metrics. Criteria of success aren’t as one-size-fits-all as this question suggests. Is the solution to your marketing challenge increased sales? Or increased awareness? And who is this target at? Age? Sex? Intention? Location? Is the LOHAS scale more appropriate for you? Is it an external or internal audience? And what action do you want them to take? Permanent or transient? Should they be aware of behaviour change? Or unaware? Mass social uptake? Or local are change?

The most common difference in measurement criteria depends on whether the communication required is for an external or internal audience. That will be our first question – there’ll be a lot more after that to make sure we really understand your business problem.

9. Get an estimate of their fees and what’s included – eg whether they would accept a payment-by-results agreement
We normally work on a man-hour basis – with clearly agreed expectations of time needed. We can work on a retainer model much like PR agencies do, but we’d only suggest this if you needed on-going input (some social media campaigns work like this with constant evaluation, adjustment, and generation of content).

But what ballpark fees do we charge?

Ask for our rate-card and we’ll happily talk you through it. To give you a rough idea, we do run a business with all the commitments to your success that that entails, so you won’t find rock-bottom freelance rates, equally do bear in mind that we aren’t propping up a flabby global network with all the indirect costs that that entails. (Making us all happy, I’m sure.)

Payment by results isn’t something we’re often asked. It’s possible, but depends heavily on how those results are being measured. It’s easy for distortions to occur, like: seasonal trends; existing communication polluting results; poor e-commerce punishing a pure sales campaign. We know all this, and – unlike some other agencies – will help you make your business make the best use of your communications all through the supply chain.

10. Take up references from their clients if possible
Feel free to ask us to put you in contact with Justin Hall – an explorer and adventurer pioneering the use of Interactive exploration and “the ‘Naked Chef’ of the environmental shows”, Dr Victoria Hands – Environmental & Sustainability Manager at London School of Economics + Political Science.

And if you want to get a flavour of Oliver’s impact on both collegues and clients over his career you should look at this large amount of feedback here