A good marketing agency is passionate about what they do and is always looking for innovative ways to optimise their work. Look at their services to see if they offer what you need. Check out any potential marketing partner’s references, and see what similar businesses say about them. Word of mouth is often the best way to find a good agency. Also seek out some references in terms of what types of clients they have also worked for to date too.
Ideally, you want to hire an agency with values similar to yours. Additionally, any marketing agency you work with should demonstrate important values that will also work with the type of work you need doing too. All of this is very much attention to detail. It is also what will be sure to make something of a lasting difference too. You really need to bear this in mind no matter the scale of the project.
Marketing consultancy
Think of a marketing firm or consultancy as a strategy partner rather than an agency that does the “doing”. A marketing firm will coach you on your marketing strategy, goals and tactics. They might run some internal workshops to help you work out the best approach. But they won’t necessarily be the team you outsource to. This is the case often when it comes to getting the work done.
Digital marketing
A digital marketing agency exists to help you increase traffic to your website or eCommerce site, and convert that traffic into customers. There’s a wide range of digital marketing tactics the agency might use, such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click advertising (PPC), social media advertising, content marketing and more.
A digital marketing firm might also design or redesign your online presence and website, and help you improve your customer experience and user experience. Sometimes a digital marketing firm might not offer all the services. But may specialise in one or two only. This could be SEO and social media marketing. Or content and social media marketing only.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing refers to direct mail marketing – not email marketing. It includes letterbox drops and catalog advertising straight to the door. A direct marketing agency will help you plan your mail marketing campaign. It will be done with creatives and advanced mapping tools, and will often execute it for you too.
Just make sure you dig deep and do your research
I’m about to spill the beans on my industry here. First things first, take the testimonials on an agency’s website with a grain of salt. It’s not always an accurate indicator of an agency’s abilities. I’m not naming names here, but a lot of testimonials out there are either fabricated or fake altogether. In many circumstances, agencies even cut a deal with clients, exchanging free work for a positive testimonial. Instead, go straight to the source. Begin by checking if the agency you’re consider to hire has Yelp or Google reviews. Many of them will not. If they don’t, you can check out sites like Clutch.co, which is a discovery and review tool made specifically for agencies.
Assess their case studies to date
To get the best idea of how legitimate a marketing agency is, take a close look at their case studies provided on their website. If you’re trying to determine whether or not an agency has experience driving results for businesses similar to your own, case studies will almost always have the answer you’re looking for. If they don’t have case studies covering the specific services you’re searching for, reach out to them to see if they have experience in that area given not every client makes it on an agency’s case studies page.
Times when you are not to hire in an agency
There are also times when you absolutely shouldn’t hire an agency, and should go with a freelancer or an in-house specialist instead. Here’s my golden rule when trying to see which option is best for your company. If you can’t do it right yourself, hire a freelancer. If a freelancer can’t do it right, hire an agency. From here, if an agency can’t do it right, hire an in-house specialist. When it comes to properly allocating budget, you should always test small, and only go bigger if the test actually went well. Because of this, it’s always smart to go with the less expensive option first. Do this to determine whether or not your marketing efforts can successfully be done for less.
For instance, between paying for benefits, office space, salary and more, most in-house positions will cost your company much more than partnering with an agency or freelancer. That being said, similar to above, you usually get what you pay for here. The further you go up the ladder of options here, the more refined the marketing services you hire for will be. Lucky for everyone, today there are viable options for entrepreneurs of all budgets . This is the case whether that’s using a platform like Upwork to hire freelancers or hiring a seasoned veteran to be your in-house employee. Hiring a high-quality marketing agency that also happens to be a great fit for your organization is tough. But definitely not impossible. By applying the tactics laid out in this article, you’ll be in a terrific position to begin your search the right way. Best of luck.
Overall
When you’re looking to hire a marketing company, your chances of hiring the right service provider are low. There are so many different types of companies determining who you need can be daunting. To have any chance of finding the right firm, you need to be crystal clear on your requirements, and you need to understand the differences between categories of providers. This is what will be the difference between success and failure.
