What You Need to Know Before You Hire a Digital Marketing Agency
You hire a digital marketing agency because you want help, input, and expertise. You want to give marketing control to a competent partner who can successfully and effectively execute the strategies for you. But, you can’t do that before doing a little work of your own. For a business to hire a digital marketing agency that will give them the results they want, a brand must start by collecting foundational information that will give the agency what they need to be successful. This foundational information gives the digital marketing agency the ability to make the best decisions for your brand, and it also gives you the knowledge and foresight to pick the best potential partner. The rest of this post will tell you what you need to know before you hire a potential digital marketing agency. Before you start talking to potential agency partners, you need have a strong understanding of what marketing initiatives you have already completed or have in progress. The last thing you want to do is hire a company to do work for you that you already have completed. So spend some time reviewing all of your current marketing assets and plans. This list of information helps both you and your potential agency partner. You get a better picture of your current marketing situation which helps you identify assets, holes, and needs in your strategy. And, your potential partner gets foundational information that will enable them to set up a better plan for your business (which is a win for you too). There is one question that almost all businesses owners get wrong when asked about their company. The question is, “What are your marketing goals?” Many business owners get this answer wrong because they respond by saying, “make more money” or “get more customers.” While, yes, those are admirable goals and every business wants to see those results, they are not meaningful goals. They are impractical goals because they are vague and generic. A strong goal is concrete and narrow. It is SMART: You can’t reach a goal if you don’t know when you get there. And, if you don’t know exactly where you want to go, it’s a lot harder to get there. So you must have clear-cut goals that both you and your marketing partner can aim for and accurately measure. A few marketing goals you may want to consider before you hire a digital marketing agency include the following: Going into a conversation with a potential marketing partner with a list of SMART goals will make your meeting and relationship more productive. Early on, you can set clear plans that will outline your strategy and help you measure your success. Another question many business owners get wrong about their brand is, “Who is your target audience?” Because business owners don’t want to exclude potential customers, many answer this questions with a broad, all-encompassing answer. For example, an eye doctor may answer the question saying, “Anyone who has eyes.” But, like your goals, your target audience should be extremely specific and concrete. It should not be vague and sweeping. So before you talk to a potential digital marketing agency, create a specific description of your ideal customer. Create a buyer persona that you can hand over to your agency so they can accelerate their understanding of your customers. To craft a buyer persona, create a description that includes the following details about one your ideal customer. A good digital marketing agency may work with you to refine your buyer persona. But, it helps to have at least a general idea about who you want to target before bringing on a partner. A partner may be able to use business data and analytics to help you develop and better define your customer persona, but you will always be able to offer the best insight into who you designed your business, products, or services for. So bring this information to the table as you interview potential partners. Another insight you can bring to the table as you hire a digital marketing agency is information related to your competitors. Knowing your competitors offers valuable insight to a marketing partner. It can help them better understand your business and your customers. It offers them insight into what other businesses in your space are doing (so they can learn from their successes and mistakes). And, it helps them know how much work they need to do to compete with other businesses like you. As with buyer personas, some agencies may be able to help you dive deeper into a competitor analysis. They may have tools and systems that offer more insight into your industry. But, don’t fully rely on a digital marketing agency for initial information. Come to the first meeting with a least a small list of your competitors to help get the research headed in the right direction from the start. The last piece of information you should have before you hire a digital marketing agency is your budget. Your budget will be one of the first things a potential partner asks for. It’s typically even in the contact form you fill out before you talk to an agency. So you should have an idea about what you want to spend before you begin reaching out to potential partners. You don’t need to know how much you want to spend on individual marketing strategies. You should leave that up to your agency. But, you should know how much you want to spend for the year, a few months, or duration of your digital marketing contract. To help you figure out that number consider: There is no simple formula for determining your marketing budget. But this information should help you shape an estimated budget that an agency can work with. You can review it with the information you collected in this audit to come together to create a finalized budget that will help your business reach your goals. As you put together a budget remember -- marketing is an investment, not just a cost for your business. And, as long as you use the right foundational information to set up a smart marketing strategy, the investment will pay off. So if you are getting ready to hire a digital marketing agency, bring all of the information outlined in this article to initial meetings to make sure you get the best return on your marketing investment. Now that you have what you need to successfully hire a digital marketing agency, is it time for your brand to find a partner? If so, we’d love to see if we could be that partner. MyArea Network offers a variety of digital marketing services and packages for small, locally owned businesses to large, franchises and big brands. We specialize in connecting business with the large base of customers near them, and we look forward to building bridges between your brand and customers in your area. Schedule a free consultation to see how we can help. #1) Your Current Marketing Situation
#2) Your Marketing Goals
#3) Your Target Audience
#4) Your Industry Competitors
#5) Your Budget
Is It Time to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?
Comments