If you’re like most businesses, you’re investing more and more in marketing. Marketing spend is expected to grow by 14% this year alone, according to HubSpot.
Often, businesses increase their spend when they’re ready to hire an agency. It’s a smart decision. The right agency can help you scale your business and achieve your marketing goals.
But, for you to enjoy all the benefits an agency has to offer, you need to pick the right agency. Here are the questions to ask.
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1. What do you want?
This question is actually for you. Whether it’s spinning up media assets for a particular campaign or outsourcing your entire paid strategy, having your goals and deliverables nailed down makes it easy for you to interview agencies, and assess whether they’re up to the task.
On the agency side, it helps them determine whether they’re a good fit for your needs, and more accurately scope and price your project.
2. What services do they offer?
Once you know what you need, you can keep it in mind as you start browsing and interviewing agencies. Often, you can get the gist of their specialties before you even hop on a call. All you need to do is take a look at their website.
For example, at Your Marketing People, we specialize in paid search, SEO, paid social media advertising, email marketing, and video production. Our Services page puts these front and center.
If you scroll down, you’ll see that we share details of the types of deliverables and expertise our clients can expect with each service.
Pro Tip: When reviewing agency websites, consider your initial impressions. Smart digital agencies know the importance of a good website, even if web design isn’t one of their service offerings.
3. Who is on their team?
Who will you be working with at the agency? Who are the project managers who will be interfacing with you, and who are the specialists who will be doing the work? Verify their credentials using LinkedIn and client case studies. You want to see years of experience (unless you’re paying for a Junior team member) and work that indicates specialized knowledge in the type of service they’re providing, and maybe even your industry.
Be aware that many agencies outsource their work to freelancers. This is a good thing. It enables them to hire specialists with specific industry expertise for your project.
4. Who are their clients?
When it comes to finding an agency, who is on their client list is more important than the size of their client list. If you’ve been referred to an agency, ask your reference how their experience was working with them.
If you found an agency on your own, ask if they have worked with other clients in your space? Have they served many clients in your industry, or was it just for a one-off project? You want to see relevant case studies, testimonials, or references.
5. What’s their reputation?
Speaking of references, what do people have to say about the agency? Have they been featured in any publications? Are they well-reviewed on agency sites?
Successful agencies aren’t afraid of testimonials. They love them. It should be easy for you to find testimonials, client case studies, and more showcasing the agency’s work and how much clients love working with them.
6. What’s their vibe?
Like a good business partner, a good agency is worth its weight in gold. When you choose an agency, the success of your decision will rely not only on the expertise and deliverables they bring to the table, but also your working relationship.
Your team and their team should share similar values, processes, and work ethic, so they can work well together (and maybe even have a little bit fun).
7. What’s their sales pitch?
You’ll get the feel of whether an agency is a right fit during their sales pitch and initial discussions with you. Do they volunteer information that indicates they care about the same things you do, whether that’s efficiency or ROI? Are they easy to get in touch with? Do they make crazy promises, or do they present genuine and reasonable ideas?
Pay attention to these things. They matter.
Pick us!
Your business deserves the right agency partner. A partner that aligns with you on your goals, your processes, and your team — and knows how to deliver outstanding results. We like to think that’s us, but we encourage you to find out. Check out our portfolio, or contact us today for your free marketing assessment.
