Your business is important, and you want to see success. You don’t have money to just burn on your marketing budget, you need cost-effective results — and you don’t want to have to wait around. If you’re reading this article you’re probably considering hiring a marketing agency to help promote your business and increase sales. You’re off on the right foot.
But finding the “best digital marketing agency” isn’t a concrete answer — it’s actually really subjective. Depending on your business and your individual needs, there could be multiple Phoenix agencies that could equally benefit your company. The better question to ask isn’t who is the best, but who best fits me?
Questions to Ask Yourself
Before submitting a contact form or dialing that 10 digit phone number, you need to ask yourself some questions and understand what your expectations are when working with a marketing agency. You need to go into these conversations with potential firms and know what you are looking to gain from their help.
- Does my industry factor into what agency I want to hire? (Do they need to have experience with similar companies?)
- What is my main need from an agency?
- What type of marketing services am I interested in?
- What level of involvement do I want from an agency?
- How will I gauge success from working with an agency?
- What type of time and monetary commitment do I want to make to an agency?
Questions like these will help you better understand your needs and help weed out a marketing agency that may be a misfit for your company.
What to Look For in a Marketing Agency
Now comes the hard part, interviewing potential agencies. In the Phoenix metropolitan area, there are numerous marketing agencies to choose from. However, one thing they all have in common is that they all are not created equal. Here are a few key aspects to consider when talking with local agencies.
Available Services
Let’s say you are interested in SEO marketing for your business. Great! You get connected with an SEO only agency, seems like a good idea, if it’s the only thing they do, then they must be good at it, right? Well maybe.
What if SEO underperforms or doesn’t actually work well with your business model? Then you’re going to have to terminate your relationship and start looking elsewhere. It’s often a safer bet to work with agencies that offer full-service marketing possibilities in order to better achieve your desired results. If one strategy is coming up short, it is easier to pivot or build on top of existing service with other service offerings like PPC, programmatic advertising, organic social media, etc. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself with just one service option.
Communication Style
Communication is key in nearly every type of relationship, and that still rings true for business and agency relationships. How do you want communication to be handled? After all, you’re the employer here. A common thread that exists with marketing agencies is clients who grow unsatisfied with the level of transparency in communication. Emails go lost to follow up. Phone calls are returned days later. Monthly reporting lacks depth.
Therefore, it is important to ask about an agency’s communication habits and procedures. Do they even have any? You want to ensure that whether you’re a hands-off business owner, or a “give me every little detail” type of owner, that the communication you expect will be delivered.
Experience, Does it Matter?
Again, this all depends on what you want. Maybe you work in a unique industry that has a harder time converting leads. This might make you want to work with an agency that has previous experience within the space. However, don’t ignore a firm just because they don’t have as many years under their belt — sometimes fresh eyes and ideas can be beneficial to a company’s marketing approach.
It is best to ask for some proof of work or past results, so you have an idea of what quality of work they are capable of… so ask for those case studies!
Likability
Simple enough… Do you like the people at the marketing agency? It often becomes difficult to work alongside people who you don’t enjoy or get along with. As a working appendage to your business, your favorability, and communication with a marketing agency is bound to be better if both parties like one another.