We recently stumbled across a list of 9 steps for effective marketing agency search and selection on the Marketing Profs website and as somewhat expert in the agency search and selection process ourselves, we thought we'd weight in and give our thoughts on their definitive guide.

We were kindly sent this great infographic from creative web agency, Moove and thought it was too good not to share.

Wordpress is a content management system that can play an effective role in any company's marketing strategy. High-profile users include TED, Reutuers, Mashable, Forbes, Time and CNN. The CMS is being used by many a marketing agency to better their online strategy and streamline their online prescence. In fact, 92% of Wordpress users use the site as a full CMS.

What is all this about Google killing PR? If anything the Google Webmaster update has made it more important than ever for marketers to consider PR agency selection and recruitment to help boost SEO.

Shock, horror they have done it again. Google have put another stop to a loophole that cheeky techies have been using as an extra tactic to boost their website SEO.

Here, in the final installment of our Publicis/Omnicom commentary series, Dudley Masters, Account Director of comms and marketing agency, Acumen.

(Catch up on the rest of the series, 'Merger could signal new biz opportunity' and, 'How will the merger affect clients?', now).

In a continution of our effort to see what smaller marketing agencies are saying about the Publicis/Omnicom merger, we asked MD of marketing agency Incite, Kristian Gough what he thought about the upcoming move and how he saw it affecting the industry.

The Publicis Omnicom Group will boast a forecasted £23 billion in share value and 40% of the global advertising market if regulators approve it. Big deal.

However, the risks of the large merger are easily translated into advantages for independent advertising and marketing agencies. For example, the complicated process of orchestrating a merger can be a cause for concern for clients who will be anxious to avoid any negligence of their brand’s needs during the process. Incite found new business potential in the following problems:

Problem #1 – Bigger is not better

Ask the experts. See what the smaller marketing agencies are saying...

The merger between advertising agency giants Publicis and Omincom is one of the biggest happenings in the industry for decades. We asked three MDs of smaller marketing agencies what they thought the impact would be for clients and how the landscape could change.

Jonathon Palmer is the Commercial Director of digital marketing agency, Blueleaf.

Jamie Mollart, Director of Advertising and Marketing Agency, Rock Kitchen Harris, is calling all creative folk to arms in a world of cold, hard stats.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently; how does an advertising or marketing agency maintain the focus on creativity in a world of monitoring?

We've pilfered a great bit of content from the Guardian that we thought was too good not to share.

How do you go about briefing your marketing agency? Are you committing some deadly briefing sins? Improve your briefs with George Foster, who, as Founder and Creative Director of Integrated Design and Marketing Agency, Gravitas spills the beans.

People often ask me how to brief a design or marketing agency.