Working with an advertising consultancy is good business strategy when you need to expand your market base, brand your name or introduce a new product. Once you decide to retain ad consulting services, you and the marketing consultant will determine the solution best suited for your business, whether that's a multimedia or direct mail campaign, Internet marketing, brochure development or logo creation.

Effective advertising consultancy clarifies market trends and variables as well as conceptualizes ways to reach your market goals. Ad consultants also provide assessments and analyses that gauge your campaign's success and measure your return on investment.

In the end, you should have a market strategy from advertising consultants that combines the practical with the creative, that is compelling enough to reach your market and that builds a corporate identity as well as increases your profits. Before choosing an advertising consultant agency, do the following:

1. Learn about marketing strategies to know what ad consultancy you need.

2. Consult with advertising trade associations to search agency profiles in your area or industry.

3. Compare websites of advertising consultants to check services, portfolios and profiles.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn marketing basics to help you make informed decisions about ad consultancy

Don't start your search uninformed. Get basic knowledge about business marketing before deciding on how you want to approach your ad consultancy. Take classes that break down marketing strategies so that you'll know what you want from a marketing consultant.

I recommend: Sequent Learning Networks offers marketing workshops that range from the fundamentals of marketing to product marketing management. Tulane University offers interactive online marketing sessions.

Consult trade associations to find local advertising consultants

Advertising trade associations can help you find advertising consulting firms in your area or in your trade. You can also use other search criteria such as costs and brands to make your choice more on point.

I recommend: The American Association of Advertising Agencies offers free registration that will allow you to search ad consultants by clients and brands, industry, agency experience, specialty and billings. The American Marketing Association offers a download of the 2007 Directory of Consultants and Consulting Services for your resource library.

Compare websites of ad consultants to check services and portfolios

A good way to determine what you're looking for in an advertising consultant is to look at various websites. You can see portfolios of past clients and services, check package costs and evaluate the consultant's experience in areas such as branding, Internet marketing, white papers and multimedia marketing.

I recommend: Greenfeld Belser is a marketing consulting agency with branding experience targeting various industries. It also offers case studies of its past branding campaigns. Sales Sherpas offers direct marketing services, while US Web provides Internet marketing strategies that include search engine marketing.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Take advantage of free initial consultations to determine which ad consultancy agency fits your needs.
• •  The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide by James Stephenson offers cost-effective marketing tips for the small business owner, while Advertising for Dummies, 2nd Edition, by Gary Dahl takes you through the various processes of effective advertising. Both of these can be used as primers so that you'll better understand what type of advertising consulting will work for your business.