You finally reached that point. The point where your marketing needs can no longer be looked after on the side of someone’s desk, but you can’t *yet* justify hiring a marketing specific role. So, you start to look at outsourcing your marketing to an agency.

Now, this can be where it gets challenging. Choosing the right marketing agency is a crucial decision for your business, as it can have a long-term impact on your brands image and success. And with so many so-called “experts” on social media telling you what you should be doing, it can be hard to determine what is fact, and what is just noise.

So, we’re making it a little easier for you. Here’s our hot-tips for ensuring you hire a marketing agency that is the perfect fit for you:

 

Do people love them?

Now, we’re not referring to follower count here. Instead, you should be checking for evidence that their clients are happy with them. The best way to do this?

  1. Look for positive reviews on Facebook and Google. Happy clients leave great reviews, while unhappy clients…. we know what they do!
  2. Ask around. Do you know of another business who has used them before? What was their feedback?
  3. Look on their social media accounts. Do they promote their clients and their work? This is a great example of a positive client-agency relationship, as only happy clients will be comfortable with a social media shout-out.
  4. Check out their website. Do they show case studies? Examples of client work? This is a great place to start to determine if they have previously worked on similar projects or campaigns to yours.

 

Do they promise you the world?

Ugh, it’s our number-one marketing ick. Any agency that guarantees you *any* kind of result, is a major red flag. Promises of huge returns or increases in followers are just not realistic. Sure, they’re not impossible, but any good marketer will know that the success of a marketing campaign is dependent on many factors, including the competitiveness of your industry, market conditions, your brand reputation, your budget, and the behaviour of your target market. Many of these factors are all outside of the control of an agency, hence why results can never be a guarantee.

Rather, a good agency will work with you to understand your goals and expectations for using an agency.  A great agency will then take these goals and expectations and determine a strategy that defines realistic opportunities and strategies for meeting these goals and expectations. Your agency should also provide regular reports and analytics to track progress, and make recommendations for optimising your marketing budget and activity.

 

Do they talk about other agencies?

Ah, another marketing red flag. If you’ve used a marketing agency previously, it can be easy for your new agency to fall into the trap of downplaying or negatively commenting on the work they have done. When working with a new client, we will often look at what has been done previously, with particular focus on any digital marketing activity. The key here? Understanding that not everyone will do things the same way, and that there’s often more than one way to reach the same goal.

It’s important to remember that talking negatively about another agency is not professional, or productive in any way. Rather, it’s a poor reflection on your new agency, who should be focusing more on constructive feedback and a smooth client on-boarding.

 

Using these tips, you now know what to consider when hiring a marketing agency that aligns with your business goals and values, and ultimately helps you achieve your marketing objectives. If you’re looking for support or want to know more about outsourcing your marketing to Zest, contact our team for a chat!