How to Choose the Right Marketing Agency for Your Business
Marketing agencies are rather fragmented right now making it hard to know who to choose and what type of agency will align with your business strategy, culture and current growth stage. There are agencies who focus on branding, some focus on PR and communications, others specialize in advertising and creative production and some specialize in SEO and other very specific digital marketing efforts. With the multitude of agencies out there offering a wide array of services, it can be challenging to choose the most appropriate one (or more than one) to satisfy your need.
Investing in a partnership with the right marketing agency is just as important to the agency as it is to the client. That’s why we have steps in place to ensure it’s a good fit for both parties. Here at SpotOn, we have a discovery meeting with a new potential partner to explore the needs of the business. We ask specific questions about audience personas, value proposition and how the business makes money and current marketing structure and resources. Knowing if a strong strategy is in place with documented audience segments helps us know if we can hit the ground running on specific projects or if we need to take a step back and work with agency partners with needed expertise. In every instance, we spend three to four weeks learning the strategy, the audience, the market and doing our own research and messaging development to support the ongoing marketing efforts we’re being asked to lead.
What to Consider When Selecting a Marketing Agency
Don’t know where to start when choosing which agency you’ll partner with? Here are some points to help you in preparing to interview marketing agencies:
Get aligned internally. Outline internal needs from team stakeholders like marketing, sales, and your executive team and be sure there is an agreement on the marketing need, expectations, timeline, and vision.
Share your problems. Communicate open-mindedly with the agency you’re interviewing about where you are as a company and in your marketing efforts. Do you feel totally lost and don’t know where to begin? Then say that. Have you discovered things from previous marketing efforts that worked or didn’t work? Be sure to share them. Do you have a clear path determined, but just need the extra hands to execute your vision? Be open and communicative about that. In the end, it’s all about problem-solving, so really focus on what you believe the problem is.
Be sure you’re a fit. The agency and its team members need to mesh with your company and understand your vision and goals. Ask about the team members who would potentially be on your account and learn about their background and experience. Perhaps talk to them directly. You want to feel confident that your internal team members and the outside team members will work well together. Your marketing approaches should align - fast iteration externally or behind the scenes iteration to a perfect message? Ask the question.
Be Open-Minded. Marketing is a creative function. It’s a creative process. When you’re partnered with the right agency, you both have the same goal in mind, but there are most likely multiple ways to get there. When both parties are open-minded and nimble, big things can happen.
Feel the Flow of Marketing Partnership Success
It feels good when the partnership works. You know when it works as the client and the agency also knows when it works, too. Work gets executed properly, a flow of communication happens and tasks are assigned, approved and implemented effortlessly. Growth happens. Leads come in, they get closed and there’s so much learning that gets applied to marketing efforts. Ah, the flow of sweet success.
Interested in discovering if SpotOn is a partnership fit for you? We have processes in place to leverage a solid foundation built on research, historical data, targeted personas, and key messaging layered with a thoughtful digital strategy to achieve your company’s vision and goals. Let’s talk.