Hiring a marketing agency is an effective way of helping you to achieve your business goals. An engaging and targeted marketing effort can leave you streets ahead of your competitors in terms of customer engagement, sales and positive public sentiment.
But hiring an agency is only the first step on your journey. It takes two to tango and effort is needed on your part as well to ensure the work being produced on your behalf is the best it can be. By building a trusting and respectful relationship you will be well on your way to ensuring your agency is working as hard for you as possible.
Constant communication is critical
Your marketing agency, in order to do the job properly, needs to know everything about your business. Working together on the campaign is key; no one knows your business like someone who is involved in the day-to-day running.
While it’s great to have a fresh set of eyes and marketers who know what they are doing, without the insider knowledge, the rest of it won’t work as well. You should be treating your account managers as part of your team, not an outside consultant.
You should be communicating with your agency at least every week, by phone or email, and be having regular meetings to hone strategy and provide feedback.
Trust
You have hired the agency for a reason. They are experts in an area you may not have much experience in. While you know your business inside out, they know the business of marketing and their opinions and ideas need to be taken seriously. Of course, it is within your right to say no, or question an approach, but trust their expertise and experience.
Be open-minded about their ideas and suggestions and willing to accept their judgement on areas in which they are considered experts in.
Set reasonable expectations
At the start of your working relationship set out a number of goals you want to achieve. This not only helps the agency create a more targeted approach, but gives you an easy way to measure the success of the marketing activities.
The goals should be reasonable and able to tie into the marketing activity you are undertaking. These goals should be flexible and able to evolve over time. In your initial goal-setting sessions you should involve the agency as they will be able to provide guidance as to what would create the best outcome for your business.
Make the most of your time
While constant communication is an important factor in achieving your goals, make sure you aren’t burdening the agency with unnecessary questions or requests. You want to make sure your agency is spending time on activities that will give you the best ROI, not fielding phone calls from you every hour.
Provide feedback
Instead of keeping this information only for internal use, make sure to let your agency know how you are feeling with the results produced. If you aren’t happy, the agency needs to know so they can either change tactics or explain why. If you are not happy with the service provided, let them know in a timely way, don’t stew over it, or just expect them to know why.
Providing positive feedback is also appreciated and welcome and will help the agency do their job better to help to grow your business and engage with more customers or clients.
Hiring a marketing agency is a great way to increase brand awareness and continue business growth in this time of economic uncertainty. Do thorough research before hiring an agency to make sure their business practices are in line with what you want to achieve. Then follow the tips above and your business will be well on the way to marketing success.
– Josh Frith is managing director of The Dubs, a digital engagement agency which creates environments that inspire audiences to interact with brands by connecting them with the brand’s story and each other.
