As you embark upon selecting an advertising or marketing agency, is their physical location important?  As a marketing agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, we serve clients across the country, in addition to many here locally.  There are definitely some cases where I would say that location is important, but as communication and technology evolve, for many the location of their ad agencies doesn't matter much.

We just began work for two firms based in Atlanta, and they definitely were not looking for a Cincinnati ad agency.  What they were looking for was the right mix of marketing strategy experience, creative talent, business acumen, and knowledge of their industry.  For both clients, R.O.Why! Marketing fit the bill very well.  We've delivered branding, email marketing, search engine optimization, event marketing, advertising and other interactive marketing programs for companies in their industries.  We were familiar with the challenges they're facing, so location was much less of an issue.  In fact, we even offered to visit one of them for the project kickoff meeting and the client didn't feel it was necessary.  They work very well on the phone and over the web.

A great tool for addressing the issue of location of our marketing firm has been online marketing project management and client collaboration software.  We use a great produce called Basecamp from 37 Signals.  It's fast, easy to use, and our clients love it.  The product centralizes communication, files, milestones, and tasks in one place and has dramatically cut down on the email clutter & confusion.

My advice for companies selecting an ad agency in Ohio or anywhere else:  Find the marketing firm that can competently address your challenges with creative marketing solutions.  With great communication and strong marketing results, location becomes much less of an issue.