Patrick Nycz is President of NewPoint, a full-service food industry marketing agency, and author of Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain.

The full-service agency format works best when talent and vision collaborate to create work that moves the needle for clients. Collaboration with top talent is key. From experience, the question often becomes: How deep is your agency's talent pool? Once an agency starts developing a larger client roster, there is a strong chance that new clients will be assigned to the "B-" or "C-level" creative teams.

The best agencies understand their internal strengths and have a vision for the kind of services they want to provide. It also helps to have something I look for in clients: intellectual humility. For example, I'd like clients to hire us because we are experts in our marketing area. I want to hire experts to help execute—at a very high level—professional services for my agency so that I can deliver great work for my clients.

The very concept of an agency means providing services for other businesses. This doesn't mean agencies must have all the services they provide in-house. Traditionally, the agency hires printing, photography and many other professional services to execute projects on behalf of the client.

An agency has several options when planning growth and new revenue streams. As the business development process brings in new clients, a typical "safe" route is to turn to freelancers. Freelance support has always been a mainstay of agency business, and there is much to be said about utilizing cost-efficient, on-call talent to grow agency business. The downside of freelance is the added management oversight and consistent availability of the talent.

Although it may take a little more work than hiring a freelancer, another mechanism for structured, strategic agency growth is moving toward the consortium agency model.

Game Recognizes Game

I'm dating myself, but in the early 1980s, exceptionally talented musicians from the rock bands Yes; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; and King Crimson came together to form a supergroup called Asia. These guys were the best of the best and proved it by releasing a series of top hits that made music lovers all over the world very, very happy.

That's kind of what a consortium does—except replace music lovers with clients. Word gets out when a boutique agency known for doing great work in a specific area gets invited to "white-label" its expertise on a project or two with another agency. This is a great, low-risk testing ground to pull back the curtain on each agency's pricing, skill sets, processes, client communication and support. This may be all it takes for strategically like-minded agencies to explore a more formal partnership arrangement.

Consortium Partnership Criteria

Clients hire agencies to develop and grow their brands. There is a lot of trust in this relationship. The first point of contact may have been a PR agency. What happens when that trusted PR agency is asked to help with a packaging project or social media marketing program? Partnering with a like-minded boutique or specialized agency to augment your services starts with research, networking and a shared interest in growth.

• Specialization requirements: To keep all parties interested and happy, it is best to contact boutique agencies that do not overlap with your areas of expertise.

• Quality standards and track record: Researching specialized agencies with a long track record with their client roster is a sign that this agency is trusted and relied on to deliver excellent work year after year.

Collaboration And Business Development Guidelines

Moving into a formal consortium model requires each entity to have a shared vision regarding a unified branding approach, lead agency designation for client accounts, and transparency with clients about the consortium structure.

In many cases, this may be category-driven. For instance, a PR agency specializing in experiential and influencer marketing in the CPG lifestyle category might be an excellent fit for a boutique digital marketing and e-commerce firm with deep experience in direct-to-consumer CPG products. From branding packages to e-commerce to media buying, the consortium model can cross categories and sales channels without charging the client the overhead a typical big agency charges with all these capabilities in-house would charge.

Bonus for the client: They don't have to work with four to five different agencies; with a consortium, they have just one point of contact and pay only for the required services. This can offer the client a full-service agency at boutique pricing since partner agencies only bill for services utilized.

3 Key Rules for Success

• Maintain A Client-Centric Philosophy: Leaning on each agency's track record of success, the primary focus must be delivering exceptional client results.

• Build Trust And Transparency: It is vital to prioritize communication and foster open access and teamwork among member agencies and clients. Cultivate shared knowledge, reciprocal support and accountability to ensure everyone knows their role and who has ownership of which piece of a particular project.

• Value Specialization And Expertise: Recognize and value the unique capabilities and expertise of each member agency, and work to avoid overlap and competition within the consortium.

My agency, originally named Indiana Design Consortium, was founded in 1972 and—interestingly enough—was never a true consortium. For most of its 54 years, it was a standard, full-service marketing firm with account executives, creatives, admin and media teams. The last eight years have seen smaller agencies evolve toward specialization, and we are no different. I've been lucky to have been invited into partnership with other agencies over the years, and I look forward to expanding our small agency's services in the future through partnerships and even a true consortium.

Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?